So this one goes down as my favorite show. I have a lot of near favorites but this was the best show I attended and one of my favorites to listen to at home. This show was on the same day as the Dead's Highgate Vermont show. Their one and only Vermont show. My friends and I debated and debated should we go to Vermont or should we see Phish. We were coming off a pretty great string of shows (7/2,8 and 10) and we decided to see Phish. Our logic was that very few people would be there and the band would reward us. Well we were totally right.

The thing I love most about this show is the flow. Every song from the Buried Alive on is just perfectly placed. It's all good not a bummer in the bunch. The gig was at a ski slope called Big Birch know to locals as the Big Bump. not much of a slope. The scene outside the show was total mayhem. The security were all bikers who did not get in anyone's way. You were allowed to do whatever you wanted. It was totally peaceful and wild at the same time. Inside the venue had set up probably 1000 or so folding chairs in the front of the stage. They may have been ziptied together but in no way permanent. As soon as the show started the chairs went flying in every direction including the stage. There were piles of chairs in random spots through out the crowd. They were also being thrown on stage and the band was dodging them. I remember Brad Sands standing a bit offstage and corralling what he could... It took awhile for all that to settle down. During It's Ice you can hear some feedback and Page sounds like he's fidgeting around a bit. I think that was due to chair chucking. So first set was totally solid but no real hint of what was to go down.

Second set was fire from the second they hit the stage. The Possum from this show is still my favorite version. Trey was totally on fire and the crowd was synced into him. Cavern>Wilson>Cavern was a head scratcher and I think everyone was confused as to what was actually being played. That combo set the tone for the rest of the set which really has to be heard to be enjoyed. NICU was pretty new and pretty rare at the time and it was my first time hearing it. Then they went into the whole Tweezer madness with the bluegrass version of BBFCFM which is really musical improv at it's best. Slave>Suzy with Slave highlights really tied the whole thing together. I walked out of there feeling like my brain had been flushed.

We were too burnt to even consider driving home after that show so we pitched a tent in the parking lot and slept until like 11 the next day. The biker who woke us up was totally nice and understanding. All around best scene/show ever. After this is it was no contest if Phish and the Dead were competing for my time Phish won out every time.