In all of the Pharmer's Almanacs and on-line reviews, I've never seen anyone write about this gig. It was my first show and I'll never forget it. It was hot and muggy, the crowd was pumped, and the venue was fantastic. The stage backs up to the Cuyahoga River and throughout the night, river barges would pass through and Kuroda would shine his lights on them as the band jammed. It rained before the set leaving the ground and fans wet and sweltering. Fishman walked out to center stage with his vacuum and began sucking on it. Noise filled the ampitheater and smiles were everywhere. I had no idea what the hell was going on. I'd never heard of the NO2, let alone the White Tape. I have to be honest, I thought I was in for a night of bullshit SPACE music for a minute there, but the band walked up and rocked right into Rift. I was hooked immediately. There is something about the opening notes that Phish played in those smaller venues and the crowd reaction that isn't really duplicated anymore. The entire venue burst into excitement. I knew pretty much every tune after that and will always have that Trey smile plastered in my memory while he jammed out to You Enjoy Myself. I giggled to the opening notes of Cracklin' Rosie, I rocked my ass off during Suzy, and the feeling of exctasy that I felt that night made me a firm believer in Phish. It's still that way to this day. 6/12/10 was just as amazing as it was on 6/25/94. Oh, by the way, musicians can't get worse unless they lose a limb. Stick around and watch this thing just get better!

My first show. Drove the 2 hrs from Toledo to Cleveland with a casual friend Brad, who was a big stoner (maybe liked it a little too much, but we got along well) and who had heard offhand it might be a cool scene but had never heard a single Phish song. I had picked Rift up on one of those 12 for a $.01 mail order deals a few months before on a whim based on hearsay from some random co-workers and really liked it but I was not really familiar at all with the jamband scene or with Phish and was unsure what the hell was happening during NO2 just like previous reviewer. Kinda scared me a little actually. lol. Then I remember enjoying Rift and then I don't remember too, too much of the rest of the show but I do remember being impressed especially with Mango, Stash, Maze and Gin but also being confused and bored by alot of the jamming (lol silly young me) but also that I had wished I was there with someone who got it more, and that some of the other people there were REALLY into it. On the drive back I found out Brad pretty much hated it. While the show was not what I expected, I absolutely did not hate it. In fact, I bought Junta, PoN, and Lawn Boy shortly thereafter, then got with PhishNet and got some bootlegs and was able to coherently and spiritually digest much more of my second show in Ann Arbor a few months later and it all took off from there. Brad never went to another show I found out after running into him about 20 years later. He became a huge Ecoustic Hooka fan seeing over 400 shows! A band I don't much care for. To each their own I guess.