This show was my introduction to the Phish parking lot scene. I had been to a lot of shows at this point but I never really made friends with anyone or really had any idea what the tour scene was all about.
The night before was the final show at the Beacon theater. I desperately wanted to get into that show but I had no ride and no ticket. So I said f*** it and I hitchhiked from my house in the Catskills to NYC and got to the show right as doors were opening. I got shut out along with probably 1000 other kids and that's when I met the tour rats who are the soul that keep the whole scene going IMO. I hooked up with this one guy who said hey you want to go to Amherst tomorrow and that was that.
We drove up to Amherst that night and slept in his car I think. Details are fuzzy of course. So we were at the lot way early and it was a pretty small scene and very friendly. Everybody was just there to see Phish so that's always a beautiful thing. That was the first time I ever smoked out of glass and also the first indoor for me. I was in a hypnotic state for like 4 hours and sat on this girl's beanbag outside of her van for the entire afternoon.
Show wise I was taken aback because it was a really large venue and I wasn't totally used to that yet. This was a weird stat day for me because they debuted Axilla 2. I had also seen the debut of Axilla 1. so thats kind of weird. Not that I knew it at the time they played either of them. 2nd set was a lot of fun with YEM + narration and a Fire encore.
This whole experience made me realize that you didn't need tickets or a ride if you wanted to see Phish. All you needed was free time and a few bucks to put gas in someone's car and you could see all the shows you wanted. This was a major revelation for me...