This was my first show, and i knew nothing about the band except that they could supposedly do pretty good covers and jam well. Accompanying me on this adventure were two of my friends from high school. They had always been hardcore phans and had been following the band all summer. When they were back in town for this show, they convinced me to go with them, since it was our "hometown show" of the tour. From the second i stepped into the lot, i was in awe of the great vibe. It felt like a close-knit community, even though most people were strangers.

I dropped a few geltabs in the lot to enhance the experience. Right from the start, i fell in love with the band. When i heard Trey sing the "let's get this show on the road," line from the Bag opener, i was hooked.

But something was missing. And i soon realized that since i was a Phish virgin, i didn't know any of the lyrics. I watched people all around me singing along. It seemed like i was only experiencing the band 75% as much as i could if i was a veteran head. This bothered me. Then they played gold soundz by pavement (their only pavement cover to date). I love pavement and sang along with the band. Now i didn't feel like an outsider anymore.

Then it happened. This guy was just staring at me. He wasn't smiling, trying to look badass, or anything. The dude had a poker face. I was tripping semi-hard by now and i just stared back at him, wondering why he was choosing me out of everyone... me, just some dude that didn't fit the description of a stereotypical phishhead. He could have stared at the beautiful "glitter girls" in their patchwork dresses as they danced here and there, giving people stickers and hugs. 

He could have stared at some treat dude with dreadlocks down to his shoulders, glasses held together with tape, and a youth small-sized, coral colored, ripped t- shirt with a picture of grover from sesame street on it. Why was he looking at me? While i was wondering this, the first set ended. Towards the end of the setbreak, my friend Trevor decided to hurry to the bathroom before the second set started.

Then he approached me. He started out about thirty feet away, and he was slowly coming for me. I was scared but curious at the same time. The dude just walked up and said hi. I said hi back, and thought, "that's it?"

Then he said, "Hold out your tongue, man." I obeyed this man as if he knew something i was yet to learn. I did what he said, and he dosed me, and i mean, he DOSED me. Wow. I could feel it instantly grab me by the balls. There was really no delay since i was already feeling great from the gellies. I was spun. 

Then he asked me who i was here with, and i pointed to my other friend Mike, his sister, and one other dude. The guy dosed all of us. Then as quick as he was there, he was gone. I never got to thank him. As soon as he disappeared into the sea of phans, my friend Trevor returned from the bathroom just as Mike's song was opening the second set. We told him what happened and he just replied, "YEP!!! that's my luck." He always did have bad luck, and so it seemed fitting poetically for him to get screwed.

I was digging the second set and i was having the time of my life, but i still felt like the veteran phans knew something i didn't. I didn't understand all of the lyrics and how so many of them intertwine, or tell a story, but i knew from that day on that phish was going to be the most important band in my life.  i just wish i already knew about them so i could understand every little inside slang word, or jam segue, song title, lyric, secret code, audience participation chants or claps, etc.

Then came the moment that changed my life. Phish played golgi to end the second set after an incredibly ambient mike's groove. Right when Trey was melodically belting out, "I saw you!!! with a ticket stub in your hand..." i looked diagonally to my right, and about twenty feet away was the dude who dosed us all, and as he gave me a "gnarly" sign with his thumb and pinky finger outstretched, i looked in his other hand and saw him clutching his ticket stub. 

All of this happened during the first chorus. And in that split second i simply understood phish. It just hit me. I understood the scene, the lyrics, the passion behind the music, why people drop their lives to follow phish around the country (i put my own life on hold and continued on part of the tour with my friends after this show). I sang along with Trey for the remaining choruses, and now i felt like i fit in.

I'll never forget how my life was changed forever that night by the band, the phans, my friends, and "the free liquid guy," so wherever you are, man, thank you, thank you, thank you.

- zack b.