About a half hour before the show, my girlfriend, Sara, and I partake in the ingestion of fungal matter. It hits us both pretty quickly, and I decide that my bong suit would be too cumbersome for the show, so I take it off, leaving just me with a painted face (remember the black circles). So now it is time to go into the Rosemont Horizon for an experience never to be forgotten. Did I mention that we had smoking 4th row seats basically center stage? 

So after an eternity of anticipation, the show finally begins with an intense Icculus opener. This is going to be a crazy night. What does Trey mean, evil spirits?? The set builds up and up in intensity, and I can hardly keep my composure. Just when I don't think I can take anymore, we have silence and then the familiar... "oom pah pah, oom pah pah, oom pah pah aaaaahhhhhh" Yes, it is Harpua, and who knew what surprise it would hold. 

Now comes the crazy part. Trey starts talking all about dreaming this same dream and the lights all go down, and all we are left with on stage is Trey holding a flashlight under the face of one Mike Gordon, who happens to be looking me right in the eye! I flinch at the eye contact and he says, "I see something scurry, and it's a raccoon (me with the black circles painted around my eyes), and I say WATCH IT ROCKY!!!!" 

After that, I just thought to myself, "Was he just talking to me??" Puzzled, I turned toward Sara, to which Gordon says immediately, "I push the raccoon into the bedroom". Now I KNOW he is improving on my moves, so I stare back at him and try to hold the stare, to which he replies "There are many, too many raccoons coming at me. Hundreds of raccoons..." Then I turn to Sara again, "In the bedroom..." 

I decide to try to stare Gordon down one more time and he says, "and I start coming towards them, and they start coming towards me."  This is too crazy. I couldn't handle being in the spotlight... so, completely freaked out, I sit down... to which Gordon says, "then I realized that they were tiny raccoons, BABY RACCOONS!!!!!!" 

In retrospect, it's cool to say that I am part of Phistory, but I did not enjoy it at the time, so if you ever read this, Mike Gordon, thanks for scrambling my brain even more than it already was. I think that is worth some free tickets and backstage passes sometime, OK? 

So, I ended SITTING in my 4th row seat for almost the whole quadraphenia set (I find it funny that there is a song called "Is it in my head" on that album, by the way). I finally snap out of it during Fishman singing Love Reign O'er Me, which was just too cool to sit for. Thanks Phish, for all the shows, all the fun, and especially for Harpua 10/31/95 when you made me one of your instruments.

- Brian