Pholktales.

Phish General
#10

Phishtails… hmmm… I’m sure this has happened to others, esp tourheads but on many occasions I’d go to a show alone and wind up bumping into friends. I guess I always found that cool since out of thousands of people you find your buddies… if you wanted to find them you probably couldn’t! Now some cases were more freakish than others, I mean if a friend is hanging around the gates then thats a no-brianer but there have been some more interesting meetings. One in particular was at the WENT and I ran into two people at different times in the midst of that sea of people. Oddly enough I was not thrilled to see either of these folks… cosmic joke I suppose. I kinda wish I wasn’t so spun at this show, can’t remember crap. They played a great Gin?? Ah balls I don’t remember.

The ultimate was not at a phish show but Woodstock 94… here was a big show yo… 100,000+??? Alot of peeps… well it was quite the adventure getting in, meeting strange ladies, dumping the car 20 miles outside the gates, taxi and hoofing it a little and then just as I enter the grounds the first people I see are high school buddies… they’re like “Heeeey!” and crack a beer open for me as they try to get passing ladies to give us cheap shows mardi gras style… In my head I was just flamboozled.

Crap I should try to think of a good phish story but none are coming to mind except balls of light bouncing off school busses at night.

#11

yo icc- if you were walking in on saturday afternoon that could have have been me you saw.

and goldphish- i love running into people at shows. When I saw Tea Leaf Green in the city, i had kind of a shitty day that day and I wanted someone to go with, but i couldn’t find anyone. But as soon as I got there all these kids i knew were tapping me on the back. one of the coolest nights ever.

and by the way- the girl who read my piece in class did a decent job. and my teacher enjoyed the mushroom part.

#12

I have been VERY fortunate to be able to see Phish as many times as I did. They played at my highschool in 91 and all I remember was hearing that they bounced on Tramps and the Drummer played the Vacuum.
Well, I guess you all know what happened. That was it for me, it was like seeing the ocean for the first time, or being in love, I was completely and utterly BLOWN AWAY. Sooooo…
The funniest thing I saw at a show… not sure if this is the funniest but I was at Great Woods and they were in the middle of McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters. Right when they hit the line “I’d like to get his autograph, but he looks too much like Dave.” a guy ran by me with a small piece of paper with the name DAVE on it and shoved it in my face and said “Dave??” and then he ran off.
It was hilarios because of the timing.
I miss the little things like that.

#13

^
I miss them too, here’s one…

I’ve been teaching for twelve years and for the most part, my musical interests have not really connected with my students. But back in the 98/99 school year I had a student who was into Phish because of his older brothers. We used to chat about shows I had been to and our tape collections. It was just talk but he’d always end the conversation by saying, ‘When I finally get to a show, we’ll meet up and have some fun.’ I always responded in kind but never thought it would happen. Admittedly, part of me was a bit uncomfortable about crossing paths. Trying to keep the personal and professional lives separate.

Anyway, Fall 99 rolls around and this student had gotten himself into some trouble (not sure why) and he spent a week in ISS (In School Suspension). I stopped by one day to give him work for my class and he’s got this huge grin on his face and his eyes are glassy looking…almost maniacal. I asked him if he was okay. He reaches into his jacket pocket and fans out tickets to the four New York shows for that October (Nassau and Albany) and belts out, “I saw you…with the ticket stub in your hand.” I almost lost it. The supervising teacher reprimands him and gives me a look of disapproval. I nodded to him and walked out.

I saw John in Albany that October as well as the two December shows in Philly and two of the NYE run shows at MSG.

I got a letter from him Tuesday. He finished his B.A. in English last spring and is back in school studying for his M.S. to become an English teacher. Weird.

#14

At Coventry, there was this dude camping by my buddies and me and he was all alone. He had flown in from Seattle and rented a car and was clearly stuck in all the muck. Anyway, he was there on Friday night and slept in his car but left it running and sure enough, he ran out of gas and was really stuck. He called AAA and they brought him some gas. The next night after the first show, he did the same thing but didn’t start the car so his battery died. AAA came again and jumped him and he was okay. Sure enough, the last night rolls around and he does the same damn thing. He was still there when we left Monday afternoon, waiting for AAA to bring him some gas. We offered to sipher him some be he was clearly in no rush. He had spent the whole weekend except for the shows themselves in his car alone, even during the day. To each his own I guess.

#15

This is a great story. Sometimes the briefest encounters have such a lasting impact on us. It’s really what makes life so meaningful.

Thanks.

#16

I was an art major in high school. The teachers in the art department were cool, they wore jeans and birkenstocks and tie dye shirts year round. Our art classes were in the shop wing, so all you could hear were machines running over in wood and metal shop. The kids in my class hated the noise, so they asked the teach if they could bring in a boombox. The teacher was cool with it, and actually brought one in to leave in the classroom for all his classes. He said it was good to get our creative juices flowing.

I should say first off that I’m deaf, but not totally deaf - I can hear music with hearing aids. I can’t always make out the words, but I sure as hell get it when they jam. You know all you need to do is feel it cuz with Phish you know it’s not about the words, it’s about the music.

So anyway I’m sitting there trying to draw a piece of fruit or something stupid like that and this song comes on. Five or six kids start dancing like crazy. I look at the kids and think “what the f…k” My teacher looks at me with the same expression. One of the kids says “Don’t you get it? Can’t you hear it?” They were looking at me like they felt so sorry for me. They cranked it up and moved the boombox over near me.

I closed my eyes and it took about 20 seconds before I got it. It helped that there were kids going nuts around me. It was September 1991. By the end of the year, we were all crazy over Phish, including the teacher who went on to become a major phan. The last I heard, he’d been to over 100 concerts. By the time I went off to college, I had gotten into a different crowd and stopped listening to Phish. (Yeah, I know, how the hell did I do that?)

I started again when I graduated from college. I graduated from college in western NY. I moved out to California after graduation and worked a lot of crazy hours in human services then in the movie industry. I spent a lot of time alone or with cool people. Cali people are the best at what they do - hang out, smoke, and listen to music. I got really into it.

Then I moved back to NY and started working again in the corporate world and it kind of died down until I got back into human services. I know it makes no sense, but when you can’t be who you are at work it makes a difference in what you do at home. When I heard Phish was seriously disbanding, I tried to get out to see them in June 2004 and also at Coventry, but I couldn’t get off from work. I was pretty upset, but I think it’s better this way cuz the last time I went to see them, the world was a different place - and I like remembering the way it was.

That song, by the way, was Divided Sky, 4/21/91 Potsdam. If I went back and listened to it now, it wasn’t that great. The only really good thing on that was Weekapaug Groove. But it was the most amazing thing I’d ever heard up to that point and it got me hooked!

#17

One of the greatest things is that everyone of us has that initial moment when we hear it for the first time. And I really mean HEAR it, whether it is the first note that you everhear or the amazing YEM and your brain says…Wait a minute…this is killer!

I was at the Clifford ball between sets during the day, I told my friends I was going to go the bathroom and I would be back in a second. I walked through the crowd, who were mostly sitting down and hanging out and every 50 yards or so I would hear a whistle or a yell and there would be someone from my past who I had not seen in years. We would embrace and laugh and then part and then it would happen all over again 50 yards later.
It was always such a great feeling. Good vibes and good people

#18

I remember clearly the day i fell in love with Phish.

My husband had been a head since before I met him ( which was during hiatus) and kept playing them in the car, much to my dismay. i never could “get it”, but he swore to me that if only I could see them live… everything would click and there would be no turning back. He was right. a couple of months later I was on Phish.com( trying to gain an intrest in something that meant do much to my then boyfriend) and saw that the hiatus was over. Brian was asleep at the time and I thought that that would be the perfect news to wake him up with. I told him and I still don’t think I’ve ever seen him that happy or in disbelief.

needless to say we got tix to all three nights of hampton, and that first night when the lights when down and the crowd erupted, it finally clicked. The happiness and excitement in that place was infectuous,and I had never been in a crowd of people that large, that was that chill. the music atarted and i just couldn’t stop dancing. the second night they did Possum and the whole plave was shaking!

I grinned at brian and he gave me this all-knowing grin like …" See I told you…" and I’ve been hooked since then.

#19

I never heard their music but bought a ticket on a whim (this is back in 91 or 92) and I was blown away at the show. I’ve been hooked ever since.

#20

Not about Phish but Trey Band…

The second day red rocks 02’ My bro and I get seats 4th row. We are listening and dancing all night and then Trey breaks into Sand. I got so into it I started doing this weird dance and closing my eyes. When I opened them I looked at the stage and Trey was looking at me laughing and started doing the same thing. I got so suprized that I started to stand still.

God I miss stuff like that.

#21

I remember that Amos. I remember how that show blew my f-in mind, too. That was my second ‘jam’ show, the first being the previous night at Red Rocks.

God, those lights…

Yes by the way, I am his brother.

#22

The funny thing about amoswatts post is that he is 6’4 and I am about 6’5, so we must’ve really stood out amongst the little hippie kids twirling around.

Last one, I promise.

#23

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#24

Great stuff Fono! Awesome memory… now if if could just retrieve your memory and pull out my penseive I’d have a good ole time:)

Harry Potter reference btw for the HP uninitiated…

#25

12-29-93 New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven, CT
1: Runaway Jim, Peaches en Regalia, Foam, Glide, The Divided Sky, Wilson, Sparkle, Stash, The Squirming Coil
2: Maze, Bouncing Around the Room, Fluffhead-> Run Like an Antelope, Contact, Big Black Furry Creature From Mars-> Walk Away-> Big Ball Jam-> HYHU-> If I Only Had a Brain-> HYHU, Sweet Adeline, Chalk Dust Torture
E: Nellie Cane, Cavern

I went to this show with my sister and a few close friends. There was a huge snowstorm and we were forced to stay in the city instead of heading to a friends house in Maine. The show was great and we were in the hotel and starving (nothing was open because of the snow) and lamenting the fact that we couldn’t get any food when there was a knock at the door. My cousin answered it and it was the Dominos guy. He was obviously trying to deliver it to another room but when he said “you guys order a pizza?” we said YES.
If it was your pizza, I am sorry. It sure was good though and just what we needed.

12-30-93 Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME
1: David Bowie, Weigh, The Curtain-> Sample in a Jar, Paul and Silas, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent-> Famous Mockingbird, Rift, Bathtub Gin, Freebird
2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Mike’s Song-> The Horse-> Silent in the Morning, Punch You in the Eye, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters > Weekapaug Groove-> Purple Rain, Slave to the Traffic Light
E: Rocky Top, Good Times Bad Times

So we drove up to Maine the next day to see the above show. I got into an accident with my roommate and had to stash the car in a lot while everyone else piled in the other car and continued to the show. Along with my roommate, we ditched the car in a lot and ran to the show as fast as we could. We ran in right as they were playing the Sweet Emotion jam during Bowie. It was Awesome and one hell of a show. It was also my first PYITE, so that was sweet as well.

Ahh all fond memories

#26

OK, here’s why I try to avoid eating at Waffle House*…(LONG STORY)

Hampton, 98.

Before the HCA shows I’d seen only 1 phish concert in aug 98 and I was hooked. When the fall tour was announced myself, my brother, my best friend from high school (who got me into phish) and another couple of guys who had no idea what they were in for all got tickets to both shows. Since there were five of us we borrowed my mom’s minivan to cart us all down there and back. Of course on the way down we had to play some phish to make sure the 2 new guys had some idea of what was in store. All it took was one YEM and they were as pumped as the rest of us (nearly ;)).

We get down there and check into our hotel (days inn across the bridge) and get ready for show one. We get to the lot and there’s a great scene but nothing too insane. We get our buzz on, go see an incredible show, and head back to rest up for day two. We weren’t exactly prompt leaving our hotel room, but left what we thought would be plenty of time to get to the show and have a bit of fun again…little did we know that somehow the travelling circus that is phish’s lot scene would double in size over 24 hours. When we get to the venue there is no parking at all left. We try to explain to no avail that we actually have tickets and surely they can fit us in before those without tickets. We proceed to find the nearest parking space available which just happened to be in a Waffle House parking lot. Fine. Loads of kids are doing the same thing in any lot within walking distance of the mothership. We manage to enjoy the lot for a little bit and go see another incredible show. We’re speechless (and pretty stoned; one of the newbs took some gel tabs too) walking back to the car, reflecting on what a great time…when we get to our empty parking space. Whoa. What happened. Was it stolen? towed? did we really park here? Holy shit what’s goin on? Note: My brother was the eldest of the group at 20, we had a bunch of open/unopened bottles of various alcoholic beverages, not to mention a gravity bong that has undoubtedly spilled all over my mom’s van…major buzzkill to say the least…

Eventually we determine that it was in fact waffle house that had our car towed (after first having a cup of coffee in waffle house and them denying that fact). About an hour later the guy who actually towed our car (and many other cars) arrives to get some money. Now this guy is wasted. I have no idea on what but his eyes are twitchin. His wife in the passenger seat looks to be in a similar state, but even more nervous. Sooo, he wants something like 80 or 100 bucks for each car to let it out of the fucking car prison. Now that was a problem since we’d spent nearly all of our money in the lot before the show (as you do). LUCKILY this was in my more responsible days and I actually brought some ‘emergency money’…UNLUCKILY it was back in our hotel room across that bridge…at first the guy wasn’t havin that but we explained our situation and he was kind enough to take us back so he could take our money.

I can not explain the amount of relief that I was flooded with once we finally got my mom’s van back. We get back to the hotel and take the nicest gravits we’ve ever taken, wake up the next day, steal come cleaning supplies from the room service cart and do our best to mask the scent of bong water and spilt beer. I still can’t believe we got away with it.

    • I have since eaten at WH, but it’s never been my choice and I always have to tell this story to whoever makes me eat there
#27

lets get this thread started up again too, for those that feel the need.

#28

bump!

#29

It wasn’t my pizza but I remember the domino pizza guy and thinking how damn good that pizza woulda been. I had a great time at this show. Driving from PA thru the storm. I had some trusty mesculin lined up for me and my buds for the show but we got so damn drunk and high the night before we knocked the tin they were in on the floor and forgot to pack it. So were at the show frantically looking for the goods and it was a nada. Upon arriving home there it was under the coffee table. We had to settle for the bud and beer… and phish searing our brains.

I got my favorite phish shirt at this show… see if I can find it on the web… nope i can’t.