Ahh, my first show! I was 17, have always lived south of Pittsburgh. By this time I was already hooked, from the first time my buddy played me Fee in his car on the way to hockey practice 3 years earlier, but my live experience up to this point was limited to A Live One and the live tracks off of Junta. I had all of the Phish studio releases at this point and listened to them religiously. This show set the hook like a harpoon.

Amoreena was cool, more in retrospect though, cos at the time I was not very into Elton John and definitely didn't understand the importance of a "debut" in general. And never again played to this day. That's the shit that gets me off about this band - stats. (2nd to the tunes, of course, duh.) Oh, to be a noob again!

This Gumbo is one I go back to again and again, long and experimental, just the way I like it. The Sweet Adeline was great in person cos I really had no idea they did the a cappella thing. I was impressed.

Izabella is another rare one, so I dig that I caught that live. And who doesn't want to hear a Jimi cover at their first show? When I heard Also Sprach, I was like, "Shit, I know this!" I still love a good 2001 to this day. I was also psyched for Frankenstein, cos I was familiar with the Edgar Winter version.

So, I left feeling like I was finally a part of it all, ya know. A live show under the belt....it's just too funny to look back and realize that it was the covers sticking out more than the rest for me. Yah, I was definitely a noob one time, long ago.

Writing this has just made one thing apparent, for sure: Phish is so one of a kind that even after 3 years of "religious" listening, after finally seeing them live, that's when you realize you are now finally and only "just a noob". For me, at least.

I MUST give my first show 5 stars. It wasn't a bad one, and hey, it's personal!