Being a Gen X Deadhead means I also was in my early 20s when Phish started to make a splash on the scene. I had first heard of the band while in England in late 1991 from a UCLA student that was in the same junior study abroad program I was a part of and who was at the same university I was. The album he turned me on to was Lawn Boy.

When I returned home from my time abroad I settled in with my crew and got busy seeing as many Dead shows as I could. A few of the friends that I was hanging out with and seeing shows with indicated we needed to go see Phish. Having been introduced to them already, I was down with that. Of course, this was also the time that I was introduced to Widespread Panic by a Southern refugee from Auburn University who crashed on our couch for a few months in 1993 (he was a high school buddy of one of my roommates).

As it happened, I saw both Phish and Widespread Panic for the first time in 1994 at the venerable Warfield Theater in downtown San Francisco. That venue was the site of the some legendary 1980 Dead shows, and for me and my friends, some super fun Jerry Garcia Band shows in the early 90s. Deal, anyone?

It was 32 years ago today, on May 25, 1994, that my friend JC and I walked into the Warfield to catch Phish for the first time. I remember we sat in either the very last row of the venue or the second to last row and had an absolute blast. I didn’t know the band’s catalog all that well, but it didn’t matter because JC and I knew how to have a good time, even in the very back of the venue!

In hindsight, the set list isn’t one I’d like to see or hear today. Rift as a set opener? No thanks! There are some nuggets in there though, including Chalk Dust Torture, Tweezer, and Maze. I have seen 69 Phish shows in the intervening 32 years and still love the band. Indeed, the joy I’ve experienced with my friends at those shows is, in my mind, the ripening of extremely good karma.

Here’s to a bunch more in the future!

Hat tip to Phish.net for sending me an email reminding me of my first show!