This past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, Phish played their first shows in five years at the Hampton Coliseum (aka “the mothership”) in Hampton, Virginia. I was one of the lucky ones who saw them in their very early years, during their first forays outside of the northeast. In 1990 and 1991, Phish stopped through my college in Colorado three times, and I was introduced to the wonder and weirdness that was the live Phish experience (two of these were costume-required Halloween shows, which added to the weirdness).

Since those college years, I’ve seen a healthy pile of shows here in Arizona, Las Vegas, Alpine Valley, and London – and have watched them soar in popularity as one of the premiere live acts of our time. I was saddened when they shut down shop in 2004, possibly for good.

But this weekend, the boys returned for a much anticipated run of shows in Hampton. And what has to be a first for an act of their caliber, they are offering free high quality MP3’s of the shows, released just hours after the last notes of the encores are played. This weekend was Phish weekend, not only for those inside the coliseum, but anyone around the world with a computer, who wished to share in the experience.

I haven’t listened to anything else since I downloaded Friday’s show on Saturday morning. Each morning has been met with a good dose of music geek excitement, as I get the opportunity to listen to the previous night’s Phish show. For this long time fan, it means a lot.

Check out LivePhish.com, where you can download these shows for free (for a limited time).

Phish – Fluffhead (mp3) – their first song on Friday, 3/6.

Phish – 2001 (mp3) – from last night’s show (3/8). I love Phish’s take on Also Sprach Zarathustra. They don’t get any funkier…

Thanks to my college cohort Jason, I now have a living breathing document of our early Phish experience. It was Halloween 1990. That night, Phish would play our college’s 740 seat theater, Armstrong Hall. Judging by my first Phish show in April of that year, I knew we were in for something special. Costumes were required for this performance. So I dug up a poncho, a cowboy hat and a water pistol and called myself Josey Wales. Jason got a little more creative, and dressed up like a droog from A Clockwork Orange.

That night, we filed into Armstrong Hall and had our minds blown by these four strange fellows from Vermont. Page seemed the most normal of the bunch, nestled behind his keyboard. Mike was a cartoonish figure with his moppy hair and deadpan expression as he laid down those great bass lines. Fishman was a fascinating sight on drums, dressed in his standard attire of goggles and a dress. I had never heard / seen such drumming live before. The rhythms he banged out had me wondering how one person could muster up all of those sounds.

And then there was Trey: red hair, red beard, and his perma-grin throughout the show. With his stack of amps and electronic equipment blipping and flickering behind him, Trey was a veritable guitar god that night (and every other time I saw him).

Phish obviously evolved into a phenomenon, selling out tours for years with minimal album sales & radio play. In 1997, when Phish was playing America West Arena here in Phoenix, I scored a backstage pass and got a chance to introduce myself to Trey. I reminded him of this night in 1990, when he and his buddies from Vermont took the stage at a small auditorium in Colorado Springs, and did proceed to tear the roof off the mother (not to mention my brain).

*Embellishment follows* As a distant neon sign flickered in Trey’s eyes, he began to nod emphatically and hoarsely whispered, “Hey! Weren’t you dressed like Josey Wales?” A tear fell from my eye, and we embraced like two long lost brothers, as we shared the common bong bond of a simpler time. A salivating silver and black dragon then burst through the ground beneath, swallowing us both whole. *End of embellishment*

Phish
Armstrong Hall
Colorado College
October 31st, 1990

1: (Buried Alive -> Possum, The Squirming Coil, Lizards, Stash, Bouncing Around the Room, You Enjoy Myself, The Asse Festival, My Sweet One, Cavern, Run Like an Antelope

2: The Landlady, Reba, Runaway Jim, Foam, Tweezer, Fee, Oh Kee Pa Ceremony -> Suzy Greenberg, HYHU -> Love You -> HYHU, Mike’s Song -> I Am Hydrogen -> Weekapaug Groove

E: Uncle Pen, Big Black Furry Creature From Mars

Set 2 preceded by costume contest. *Vocal jam included “A Night in Tunisia” (Dizzy Gillespie).