At this time no one was sitting, though, because everyone was dancing to the music. The taper explained that his seat in the middle of the tapers section had been taken, so he had no choice but to set up where he was. The lady became very irate and told him to get the hell out of what was now her seat or she would go get someone to move him. They yelled a little bit at each other and she stormed off. Her husband then walked over to the taper and grabbed him by the neck. I saw how hard he squeezed, it must have really hurt. The taper later told me that the man said, "I am going to kill you after the show!" Whoa.

I've since decided that the couple was on some pretty harsh drugs because they were very, very angry over nothing. The taper seemed a little nervous, but he couldn't very well move because he had all of his equipment set up and recording. By the actions of this couple, their friends became very embarrased and left them, all four friends! So now, this irate man and his irate wife had five seats all to themselves; but those five seats just weren't enough.

The lady came back and conversed with her husband a little bit. Then she turned to the taper and said, "Get out of my seat! I have a ticket for that seat and you better move!!" Her husband then joined her in the cussing of this poor taper. They yelled at each other some more, and the woman once again left the row. Her husband did a little more threatening and went back to dancing.

A song or two later the woman returned with a security guard. She screamed at the taper to get out of her seat. The security guard reluctantly agreed with woman, that the taper must move. He turned to start packing his stuff so I urged my sister to give up her seat. She leaned close to the taper and said, "Come on back here!" he looked at us with glowing eyes, as if trying to say, "You saved me!"

Then there was the feat of moving his equipment. At least ten people surrounding our seats all jumped at the chance to help move this guy's equipment. We sat the tape recorder in my sister's chair and my boyfriend, my sister, and I squeezed into two seats, all of us dancing still. The security guard asked if we were sure that it was okay, because he just wanted everyone to be happy. We okayed the move and he left.

Now the couple had six seats to dance in and they were taking up every bit of space that they could. People around us patted our backs and commented that the couple seemed a bit deranged. Everything seemed fine now until my sister decided to open her mouth. She leaned up to the woman and asked her," Do you smoke crack?" The lady's face turned bright red and she cussed my sister up and down. I really thought that it was going to turn into a fight. Even her husband jumped in and cussed my sister a little bit. These people were just absolutely intolerable! I felt like my Phish show was ruined.

After the first set was over, the couple left. Everyone sitting around us commented some more to us about the crazy couple. We were all just having a good laugh about it. During the break, a bunch of kids came up and sat in the row in front of us. I asked this boy if he was with the couple that had been sitting there. He replied, "No way. Some people just gave him their stubs and said 'Enjoy!'" So, once again everything seemed great and the second set started.

We were all dancing and then I spotted the couple coming back to reclaim their seats. I warned the kids in front of us that these crazy people were coming back to get their seats. The couple yelled a little bit at the kids and finally got their seats. They began dancing again. The woman was flailing her arms everywhere and sticking her big butt out as far as she could. She kept bumping into the kids next to her, where the taper had been sitting, so much that they left these great seats.

So the couple had five seats to dance in once again. The show ended and the couple ran off. The taper thanked us profusely and gave me his address so I could get a tape of the show. And, just to add this tidbit of information, I think Mike's parents were sitting just two rows behind us and saw the whole ordeal. There was a gray haired man that looked exactly like Mike and a woman that could have been his mom. They smiled at me after the show.

I felt good about what we had done for the taper, but sad that people like that would even come to a show. That's really the problem with the growing scene today; there are a lot of assholes out there too concerned with themselves to help others have a good time. 

- Anonymous

Editor's Note: I wonder if this is how it really went down... maybe so, maybe not.  One thing's for sure, this irate lady with a phishier-than-thou attitude had a different perspective...