Ahhh my first show. It's funny looking back and thinking about how little I knew about Phish just 19 months ago compared to where I am now.
Anyways, here we are at Great Woods. 3 days after my 21st birthday. Me and 3 other friends all at our first show. We got to the lot as soon as it opened, didn't really venture around too much but I could tell that the vibe in this lot was much different than what it was for 311, Tool, NIN or any of the other shows I saw in Mansfield at that point. We made some burgers and chicken, gobbled some fungus and headed into the show.
First off I just wanna say that there a few things in life that give me the feelings of joy and liberation that dancing barefoot on the lawn at a Phish show bears. Now with that said, time for the review.

Lit O Bit: Made me feel like a noob because I had never heard that song before (of course I didn't know that it was a debut at the time) but I still loved it. Very catchy and danceable. And the chorus is simple enough that it's easy to sing along to after hearing it.
Camel Walk: Another song I had never heard. But once again: funky, danceable and very fun.
Possum: Finally! A song that I know! Even though I didn't immediately recognize it (I remember thinking that it was gonna be Back on the Train) I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a pretty standard (but well played) version and it since it was my first I think it could have been terribly botched and I still would have enjoyed it.
Divided Sky: Yay! Another song that I know! Simply beautiful.
Dirt: Yet another song I had never heard. One thing that will always make this version special is that one of my friends bailed last minute so I got another friend to come that wasn't really into Phish. He liked them but he was more into DMB and never really listened to a lot of Phish's material other than a handful of songs and apparently Dirt is his favorite so that made me pretty happy.
Sample: Another standard that I was quite familiar with at the time. Very fun, well played and good placement in my opinion.
KDF: Probably my favorite song on Joy and they nailed this version. Nothing too crazy, some good stuff from Trey in there but once again, a pretty standard rendition with good type I jamming.
Now before I go on with the Dr. Gabel synopsis I just have to say, nothing drives me crazy like seeing a band in Mansfield and having the band refer to the crowd and venue as being in Boston. Is it really that hard to say Mansfield? We're like a half hour away from the city.
Dr. Gabel: I really enjoyed this song. Catchy melody, Silly, nonsensical lyrics and the boys seemed to have a lot of fun with it. I loved Trey's little bit after the song about the difficulties of playing new songs. So many bands these days seem to enjoy creating a distance between them and their fans and this just further justified my idea that the Phans and the band share a mutual feeling of gratitude towards each other. We love their music and they love that we love their music so everybody ends up happy.
Antelope: What a great song to close out my first set. Just all around great playing. Trey and especially Page stood out in this version. LEO ESQUANDOLAS!

Set Break. Time to catch my breath, get some water, see some more friends and then sit on the lawn to play with the grass and puff a j before set II.

Mike's Groove: How lucky am I? My first show and so far i've seen two debuts, 5 classics, my favorite song off of Joy and 1 song to relax and smoke to. Then what do I get to open my 2nd set? A f'ing solid Mike's Groove. A strong Mike's Song, Mike and Fish we're laying down some great stuff and Trey and Page knew exactly how to compliment it. Hydrogen was great too, in fact I still think it was absolutely perfect. Then they started up Weekapaug. This is when I wished I had a bucket to catch the thick, fatty fluids that were formerly known as my face in as it melted off of my head. I play bass and when I hear Mike play it sometimes makes me depressed because I know that I will never be that good, the beginning of this song was a prime example of one of those moments. Great stuff from Trey and Mike in this version.
Sneakin' Sally: Another song that was new to me, it was somewhat recognizable. I knew it was a cover and that I had heard it somewhere but it was the first time I heard Phish play it and I was not disappointed. Incredibly funky and a great vocal jam taboot.
Light -> 46 Days: Ahh yes Light, yet another one of my favorites from Joy. A great song with lots of room to really explore and get into some deep improvisation. Not even the gritty segue to 46 Days could ruin it for me. 46 days was sublime, one of my favorite songs at the time andit was a real treat.
Limb By Limb: This didn't really stand out too much for me. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful song and I enjoyed it but like a lot of the songs on this night, it was tight, well played and standard.
Golgi: Love this song. So much fun and a great energy raiser from the mellow LxL.
Slave: Absolutely beautiful. Totally left me in a state of happiness and euphoria.
Loving Cup: I was never a really big Stones fan so I had never actually heard this song before. Not too much to say about this version. Well played and a good finish to a great set.
First Tube: Had the whole place rocking. A new song to me that totally blew me away and sent me out with a big ole smile on my face and ready to sit in the parking lot trying to leave for the next 2 hours.