I had seen Phish maybe a half dozen times before this show going back to 1994. I would never categorize myself as a hardcore fan, but I was certainly more than a casual one. I took in shows when I could which mostly meant Deer Creek and Dayton. I wasn’t online until maybe 2002, so any tapes I had came from friends I knew. By the time this show rolled around I knew all of the songs from each album to date plus the more common concert songs and covers. So with that preface, at the time, I thought this was a good show. I had no delusions it was some barn-burner which people would be talking about for years to come. I attended the show with a friend from college who’d I seen a show with previously. I liked her a lot in that she was just so laid back and fun but there was never any kind of romantic stuff between us. She was simply an easygoing friend who shared my taste in music. We had a good time. I’m glad we took in this show together.

I saw maybe another half dozen shows after this one before the band’s hiatus. Maybe a decade later I found this show on YouTube and gave it another listen. I think it holds up well and if anything I enjoy it even more today, 26 years later.

Here’s the thing for me. I get the other reviews on here. For the hardcore fan, there isn’t any groundbreaking music on here or anything special about the set list or show. For somebody’s first show, I can see why it was special. For me, I value it for something else which I appreciate more fully as I’ve aged and gotten out in the world. And here it is, Columbus/Central Ohio is full of really nice people. I hear it remarked by so many people who’ve moved here for work from other parts of the country. We may not have sandy beaches, mountain ranges, or other unique landmarks. What we do have is our ability to choose how we treat one another. Sure, a Phish crowd draws its own community and regardless where you see them you’ll find that vibe. But within that 30,000 you have individuals. I got to spend a couple hours with a really decent person. We loved listening to Phish together. We didn’t care if a song hadn’t been played in 100 shows or not. We didn’t need a song to track 20 plus minutes for it to be great. Given this set list, there aren’t too many extended jam opportunities for that anyway. We also didn’t need flawless perfection. Honestly, I find it rather charming when they aren’t flawless. What these sets did have were a number of beautiful tunes, musically. They didn’t play over top of another, they didn’t overplay any songs, and they didn’t have any glaring flubs. In the dozen or shows I went to that couldn’t always be said was the case. If you’re searching for that rare show or song, this isn’t your show. What it was though was four buddies earnestly playing a good show for good people. It’s like bringing home a grade card to your parents with a bunch of A- and B+ on it. No A and no C.