My, oh my, the years go by... 20 yrs later... I remember right well... My first Phish show was also my first time buying a concert ticket to a non-arena show... under age and all in Colorado... I'd heard bootlegs from friends on the East Coast and knew I was obliged to go as a Deadhead, but had little to no idea what to expect... It was spring in the mountains... Friday night... my brother and I rolled in all of 16yrs and 18yrs old between us. Ski bums we knew from town were in the parking lot, furious that they'd been sold out of their first Phish show... call it the begging of the end of the Early Days.

The band was set up on 1ft risers in the back of a banquet hall that felt empty when then they took the stage. A few feet from the front I was grinning nervously as house lights dropped... here comes Trey like he's straight out of an NFL pre-game huddle... jumping up and down, completely pumped... except he's all of 120 pounds, scrawny and white as a redhead can be... I seem to remember it as one of those really bad cut off tank tops from back int he day... he's counts out Landlady and just tears into it... Carlos eat your heart out.

Up until this point the only bands I'd seen were arena sized rockers who'd earned their place in the pantheon. Here was this group of what felt like kids not much older than me, completely dedicated, completely ripping, and making it happen... a new thing made new to me right there on stage. Didn't know a single song, but I was swept up. It was new and it was magic and once it was done, I wanted more of it... a lot more.

So 20 years later... good times, bad times... there was a lot more magic and certainly more lows to come. But the feeling still hits me every time the house lights go down. 20 years later... I'm still upside down.