At the time I was into The Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band, and Allman Brothers. I didn't need another band to consume any more of my time. I hadn't heard much of their stuff, but nevertheless thought that they were a poor grateful dead rip off. He always was talking about how great phish was and I was like yeah, yeah whatever.

Anyway back to November 1997. I get a call from my buddy (who also didn't like phish that much either) saying that his older brother had 2 extra tickets to see phish in North Carolina in a couple of weeks. Now mind you we live in Michigan, which was 12 hours away from Winston Salem. I told him no and he said that he probably wasn't gonna go either, but he thought he would offer just in case.

The next day he called me back and all of a sudden he had changed his mind about going and wanted me to go. All of a sudden I find myself wanting to go see a band I didn't like, in a state that was far away that I didn't like, I had no money, and would also have to miss a college exam on that monday. But I said I would Go.

I sold my playstation (which I loved more than life itself) to get the money to go. Again there wasn't one good reason to go and I had to sell my favorite thing in the world to do it but I went.

After we got there I started to realize this scene was exactly what I was looking for. All of the phishheads took over this part of town. It had such a good vibe. We got into the show and it was awesome I was hooked from song one. Which by the way was my soul.

Now halfway thru the second set is where things start to get mysterious. Me and my buddy were passing some kind bud when I looked over and saw that the guy in front of us looked just like McClain. I'm not talking like kinda looked like him, it looked exactly like him to the point that I got chills.

It was at that moment I realized the reason that I went and saw a band that I didn't like, 12 hours away, missed a test, and sold my playstation for no good reason was bc McClain Knew exactly what I needed and it was this. He may have been dead but he was there that night. I have been to 8 shows since and have 200 on CD. Phish is what I eat, sleep, and breathe at his point.

At 3 of those shows I have seen a guy that looked exactly like him again. Whereas at first it gave me chills, it now puts a smile on my face because I know he is still sharing in the groove. I didn't realize this until I wrote this but he died July 23 and the show was on November 23. What a story from a Ghost.

Funky Phall 1997 -- The best jam tour ever

- yemjamboy