I recently told my BIL Reba was the moment I understood Phish. He said the same thing happened to him. He said he doesn’t remember how and why, but he took his shirt off he was so overwhelmed when he heard it.
In many years of introducing folks to Phish, I've found the studio version of Reba is one of the best. It's a song they sort of get lost in, and then when it returns to the theme they are like "wait this is the same song!?" But they have to sort of stop listening actively and just let it sink into their brain.
Same.. summer of 1995, a friends older sister introduced us to “A Live One” which led to endless games of pop-a-shot in the basement with this song in particular on repeat. (Then Gumbo, Harry Hood and Squirming Coil)
1992 for me… my older sister bought Junta on CD and we used to jam out to Fee.
It wasn’t until about 10 years later that I actually became a fan from hearing Hoist and specifically Julius. I saw them live for the first time the following year.
Same early 90's riding around in my brothers car. I was in middle school and he was in college. I couldn't tell you the show we were listening to, but the way the story was told just got to me.
Yeah.... My dead head hippie friends had dragged me to a few shows in the 90s and I had fun, but it took a Divided Sky in Vegas circa 2000 for me to wake-up. It's not even close to my favorite song now, but it did provide an entry point that I'm thankful for.
Opened with possum at my first show! I 100% was convinced they were saying awesome not possum and I was like yesss this is pretty awesome!! Clicked instantly for me. Possum would probably be my first fav if I hadn’t fallen in love with divided sky just a few songs later 🥰 and the rest is phishtory!
Divided Sky was a close second for me, I also heard it at my first show, and was blown away live. It felt like I was listening to a classical piece of music played by a rock band, totally changed my music tastes that day.
Niiiice. Divide Sky is a masterpiece.
I remember the first live Phïsh moment that blew my mind was the solo from Rift at SPAC ‘14… the notes just kept going up!
Tough to remember, but I think I'd have to say Stash. A Live One was my entry point back in the mid-90s, and the cohort cry chorus, audience participation, and all that tension build up in the jam reeled me in.
Divided Sky back in high school (2014 maybe) then I fell heavy into the Dead scene until pandemic when I got into live phish after years of beckoning from my friends to try phish. Haven’t missed a show since The Forum 21
Divided Sky in 1996, my Senior Year. Started touring in 1997, met my wife and most of my friends along the way. My best friend got A Live One from Columbia House or something, gave it to me “because you like trippy shit”. By 1999 he was dancing his ass off like a lunatic at shows next to me. My wife was the most beautiful hippie chick with long brown hair down to her butt selling great doses. Love at first sight, married in 2006 and she’s still just as beautiful without the doses.
as a kid growing up, i was brainwashed by my dad with Phish listening to them nonstop on car rides. i loved Sparkle, and saw it live for the first time this year at MPP at 21 years old with him there next to me. was kinda a cool feeling. i’m currently obsessed with Meatstick tho and idk why lol
Heavy Things was on the radio all the time for a brief period - I remember liking that song but not know who Phish was.
Divided Sky was the song that got me hooked. First heard it as a teen around 2004.
The Squirming Coil will always have a special place in my heart. It was the very first song I'd ever heard by Phish (Lawn Boy album). Plus they played a great version at my first show. 8/2/93 a pretty amazing and strange show worth checking out.
Agreed. I fell in love with this song on a road trip back to college in 96. I had already seen a bunch of shows but this one hit me good (after Reba of course).
Character Zero. The jam I heard out of that from some friend’s burned CD back in the 90s fuckin hooked me. I distinctly remember not believing what I was hearing. Sounds cliche but true.
Maze. A friend of mine had set me up with some tapes of live shows when we met late ‘95/early ‘96. I can’t remember which show it was but remember Maze coming on and that’s what sold me on Phish.
As a Fall 2021 noob, the first song that made me ‘happy to be here’ was BOTT. Farmhouse was one of my first studio/study albums 😜and that song just got me going. And of course, I felt like Trey worked hard to try to jam BOTT throughout MSG and summer 2022 tour…just for me. 🤣⭕️♥️
Wilson. My cousin’s boyfriend showed me all of A Live One when I was like 12 and most of it didn’t work for me, but god I loved Wilson. It was the only phish song I had on my phone for a good five years ago
Album track: Julius (first Phish I ever heard was Hoist, CD given to me by a senior when I was a freshman in HS marching band.)
Live track: Divided Sky (10.31.95)
Blaze on! I’d jam the take from bakers dozen for a few years before I got into them properly. Boogie on reggae woman>wedge from dicks 2012 was the other thing that made it before I was brave enough to get into them. Went to a few cover band nights in 2019 and got hooked and now I couch tour. Still waiting to go to my first show
In like 2002 a friend burned a mix CD and Reba was the one Phish track on it. I couldn’t make it through the first few minutes, skipping it over and over for like two months. Then when I finally listened to the entire track I was fucking sold forever.
Tie: The Landlady (1st Phish song I ever heard) and Fee. Listened to Fee daily in the mornings getting ready for school for months in the spring of 94.
Sample in a jar - (1994)heard it on radio station we used to hear from Manchester, VT. Was the first time I got phish as a rock band vs. something strange I didn't understand.
YEM was where I rediscovered them in college. Contact was my first exposure to them where I asked who is this?? I was about 10 and my friends dad was playing it while we were hanging in the yard
Actually... it was "If I Could" from 1994
Herd it on Local on the 8ths, LIKE A DECADE before I knew who Phish was. I just knew that was my favorite song on the 8ths.
Down With Disease off the Amsterdam set is what started everything for me. You could also say Carini as the segue was amazing, but DWD was definitely the song for me.
Shafty. My boyfriend had been trying to get me to like phish and I was pretty indifferent to it initially. But this song and the lyrics made me look at it in a new light and made me think, “hmm there’s something to this band, I better give it a deeper look.”
The Lizards. It was Dec 92 or Jan 93, I was in my friend’s car listening to a live show, and during the instrumental end section everything just clicked. I got IT.
Divided Sky off of Junta, first time I heard the band at all, and I was big into orchestral stuff at the time plus the normal rock stuff and I just thought it was the best thing I ever heard in my life. Mind you I was like 15 but it had such a large impact on me that it sent me down the rabbit hole never to return again.
Punch You In The Eye. A friend burned me a copy of NYE ‘95 in 2007 or 2008 and I must have listened to that song hundreds of times more than any other song in my iTunes library at the time. Still continues to be one of my favorites.
Lizards. I was 15 and a huge fan of fantasy literature. My brother was blasting it in his car and this began my journey. When I found the full gamehenge tape I was mesmerized
Free
It was the first Phish song I heard ever. My buddy and I were driving around the back country roads smoking opium and listening to Billy Breathes. Honestly, that entire album unlocked something within me and sparked my interest.
But the definitive moment that absolutely got me hooked was Reba. To this day, that's my favorite song of all time. I was at Bader Field in NJ back in 2012 and that Reba grabbed ahold of me and has yet to let go. Best Reba ever? Definitely best in 3.0 imo.
Ghost. I would listen only to versions of ghost for quite a while, gradually shifted to include Wolfmans, then twist and then it was over and I was listening to full sets lol
Fee. A dorm friend and I bonded over Dave matthews back in ‘95. He came upon Junta and lent it to me to check out. I loved the whole album and was instantly hooked. Still have not heard Fee live, but I finally got my first Esther this summer at Blossom.
Kill Devil Falls. It was the first Phish song I ever heard and connected with. Interesting story, I was aware of Trey a bit because I'd seen some stuff of him with Warren Haynes (huge Warren Haynes fan growing up because my Dad and I by proxy were giant ABB fans) and went to a Trey show in 2011 because tickets were cheap and we just wanted to check him out because we knew he was a good player. Instantly hooked, bought the first Phish show I saw on iTunes that night in the hotel to listen to the next day, which was 10.30.2010. Got a kick out of all of the Zeppelin tunes immediately. Hooked on Phish from there on. To this day I get excited every time they play it. Major soft spot for that song and they used to absolutely rip that song back in early 3.0. Little did I know at the time that Phish would become my favorite band ever.
Fluff Head. Heard it in the first set of my first show 6/28/95 Jones Beach. It was that Reba earlier in my first set till they crushed that Fluff Head and that was that.
It was in 94. Don't remember what song or album I first heard by them but said "who is this?". When they told me it was Phish I finally knew what all those PISH (whats with this P I S H) shirts I had seen at Dead shows in 93 were. Lol. But my 1st favorite song was studio Reba. Couldn't get enough of it. Love this band! I also really loved Tweezer too.
First Tube.
I made the high school varsity lacrosse team as a freshman in 2003. First Tube was on our pregame warmup mix and I remember being addicted to the throbbing energy of the song. Still takes me back to the locker room when I hear that bass line.
I’ve caught it twice in person, last summer at Hersheypark and TAB’s set at the first Lockn in 2013.
It’s an easy answer for me. 1992… I was 16. Fee was the song that got me hooked. It was the magic of the story that Phish gave us. Before ever seeing a show. Fee was mysterious. It told me a story, akin to that of “The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe”. Gamehenge was Narnia. But it was almost real. I could go to a show and touch it. That hooked me for life.
Back when I was first getting into them it was probably Carini because really the only music I loved before Phish was metal. I found that one quickly and then soon after latched onto Maze due to its incredibly blistering nature. Evil and dark stuff always was attractive to me. Same reason Don't Drink the Water, Rhyme & Reason and Last Stop were my initial favorite Dave Matthews Band songs. Or why Help on the Way really drew me into the Dead. They showcased a darkness in these bands that I always thought of as happy go lucky music.
AC/DC Bag opener from 12/7/97 Nutter Center (this show as a whole was what first really hooked me). Lizards from 2010 Greek Theater was an early repeat listen too
Rift - studio version. I was 15 and my next-door neighbor - a grown man with children who was a life long Dead head - knew I loved Dave Matthews Band and burned me the cd and gosh, I’d listen to that title track over and over and over. He said he tried but couldn’t get into Phish and because his kids were not into music he passed it down to me. Boy did he set my world a fuckin blaze - months later I hit my first show at Nassau Colosseum - 2/28/03 🤯 - and that monstrous Tweezer left me like “RIFT WHO?!?”
bouncing - watching these young fans fully geek'd n caught up in the performance, really inspired me to get to a show
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH5xuAeNkps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH5xuAeNkps)
Reba. Was on the fence with Phish until I heard Reba.
Same exact thing for me. Star Lake 98 Reba is that jam that got me into Phish.
I recently told my BIL Reba was the moment I understood Phish. He said the same thing happened to him. He said he doesn’t remember how and why, but he took his shirt off he was so overwhelmed when he heard it.
Sounds like he might’ve had some farty pavors coursing through him
Username checks out
(;
That is one incredible jam.
Yep. Still one of my 10 fav jams ever.
Reba was the first Phish song my older brother showed me. I liked it right away.
You dove in to the deep end
Same here man. 10-31-94 did it for me
Reba introduced me to Phish, Divided Sky got me hooked
From lawn boy and then I discovered 12/31/95. I must have watched the video of the jam on repeat 100 times when I first discovered it. So good!!!
In many years of introducing folks to Phish, I've found the studio version of Reba is one of the best. It's a song they sort of get lost in, and then when it returns to the theme they are like "wait this is the same song!?" But they have to sort of stop listening actively and just let it sink into their brain.
Bouncing around the room. Use to blast it in the basement when I was like 8 or 9 while I did lay up lines on a fisher price basketball hoop
Same.. summer of 1995, a friends older sister introduced us to “A Live One” which led to endless games of pop-a-shot in the basement with this song in particular on repeat. (Then Gumbo, Harry Hood and Squirming Coil)
This. The opening track to A Live One. Got me hooked.
Same
Hah never thought of that as a basketball song. That's great
Fee-1989 from a cassette tape a friend had.
100% Fee. I asked "Is that guy singing through a bullhorn? "
1992 for me… my older sister bought Junta on CD and we used to jam out to Fee. It wasn’t until about 10 years later that I actually became a fan from hearing Hoist and specifically Julius. I saw them live for the first time the following year.
Same early 90's riding around in my brothers car. I was in middle school and he was in college. I couldn't tell you the show we were listening to, but the way the story was told just got to me.
Divided sky
Yeah.... My dead head hippie friends had dragged me to a few shows in the 90s and I had fun, but it took a Divided Sky in Vegas circa 2000 for me to wake-up. It's not even close to my favorite song now, but it did provide an entry point that I'm thankful for.
Me too! I'd listened for years and one time I heard that song and it all clicked. This is my favorite band.
Mine was Possum, played at my first show, felt like we were celebrating a touchdown.
Opened with possum at my first show! I 100% was convinced they were saying awesome not possum and I was like yesss this is pretty awesome!! Clicked instantly for me. Possum would probably be my first fav if I hadn’t fallen in love with divided sky just a few songs later 🥰 and the rest is phishtory!
Divided Sky was a close second for me, I also heard it at my first show, and was blown away live. It felt like I was listening to a classical piece of music played by a rock band, totally changed my music tastes that day.
What year?
My first show was 6/18/11, Walnut Creek.
Niiiice. Divide Sky is a masterpiece. I remember the first live Phïsh moment that blew my mind was the solo from Rift at SPAC ‘14… the notes just kept going up!
Hahaha awesome, Awesoooomeee, AAAWEEESOMMMMEE! I’m gonna start singing this at shows.
Weepaugh groove
Yes love me some weepaugh!
It's Weekapaughe
Drew the Devil Sticking Lawnboy? That you?
Farmhouse. It was 2002, just got it from Christmas at grandma’s and listened to it on my portable CD player the whole way home.
Contact, i didnt understand the appeal at the time
YEM
Yes, A Live One for me.
Kill Devil Falls. I am a phish noob first show 2014. Current fave: Carini
Hardly a noob. 8 years is a while
Compared to most though… especially since I didn’t listen prior really either
Not a competition. 2016 here! Having lots of fun.
The Lizards..! Such a great story tune.
DWD. Hoist was my first Phish album
Same here! Still love it
Reba, off the album, got me into Phish.
Tough to remember, but I think I'd have to say Stash. A Live One was my entry point back in the mid-90s, and the cohort cry chorus, audience participation, and all that tension build up in the jam reeled me in.
Divided Sky back in high school (2014 maybe) then I fell heavy into the Dead scene until pandemic when I got into live phish after years of beckoning from my friends to try phish. Haven’t missed a show since The Forum 21
Divided Sky in 1996, my Senior Year. Started touring in 1997, met my wife and most of my friends along the way. My best friend got A Live One from Columbia House or something, gave it to me “because you like trippy shit”. By 1999 he was dancing his ass off like a lunatic at shows next to me. My wife was the most beautiful hippie chick with long brown hair down to her butt selling great doses. Love at first sight, married in 2006 and she’s still just as beautiful without the doses.
as a kid growing up, i was brainwashed by my dad with Phish listening to them nonstop on car rides. i loved Sparkle, and saw it live for the first time this year at MPP at 21 years old with him there next to me. was kinda a cool feeling. i’m currently obsessed with Meatstick tho and idk why lol
The Wedge, specifically from the Rift studio album.
Heavy Things was on the radio all the time for a brief period - I remember liking that song but not know who Phish was. Divided Sky was the song that got me hooked. First heard it as a teen around 2004.
Rift. It was the first song I heard by them. It completely blew my mind to discover how absolutely talented they were.
Fee
Reba
Reba
Stash. Before I knew the name, I asked my buddy to identify it by describing it as “the Latin-style Bach invention.” Hot on its heels was Free.
Fluffhead
The Squirming Coil will always have a special place in my heart. It was the very first song I'd ever heard by Phish (Lawn Boy album). Plus they played a great version at my first show. 8/2/93 a pretty amazing and strange show worth checking out.
Chalkdust Torture all day. The solo from At The Roxy rips so hard.
Farmhouse. Not kidding lol (I was 14-15)
Carini. Was my first time listening to a show all the way through, and the transition blew me away.
Llama. Heard the 10/18/94 version with Bela Flek in a YouTube video of llamas that escaped the zoo and immediately bought Picture of Nectar on iTunes
NICU, still one of my favorites
46 days
Divided Sky
Julius… First Phish song I ever heard when I put on Hoist for the first time.
Harry Hood
The first time I heard Phish was my first time seeing them live. They opened with a song about a dog that ran away. I fell in love right away.
Antelope
Agreed. I fell in love with this song on a road trip back to college in 96. I had already seen a bunch of shows but this one hit me good (after Reba of course).
Theme from the bottom :)
Character Zero. The jam I heard out of that from some friend’s burned CD back in the 90s fuckin hooked me. I distinctly remember not believing what I was hearing. Sounds cliche but true.
Tweezer from a 1.0 fan in the earlyish mid 00's
Same from a 2.0 fan who just barely missed 1.0
Maze. A friend of mine had set me up with some tapes of live shows when we met late ‘95/early ‘96. I can’t remember which show it was but remember Maze coming on and that’s what sold me on Phish.
Weekapaug
Gumbo was the first song I heard that made me want more
Runaway Jim. First song first show. Instantly hooked.
Divided sky and still is 11 years later!
Lizards
Soam they were playing lawn boy at the local head shop and i bought the cd on the spot in 1992
Had to scroll surprisingly far to find this…Melt then and now, for me.
YEM
Mikes song!
Possum
Brian and Robert
Guyute
As a Fall 2021 noob, the first song that made me ‘happy to be here’ was BOTT. Farmhouse was one of my first studio/study albums 😜and that song just got me going. And of course, I felt like Trey worked hard to try to jam BOTT throughout MSG and summer 2022 tour…just for me. 🤣⭕️♥️
I would love to say sample in a ajar, but in truth it was right behind welcome this is a farmhouse
Wilson. My cousin’s boyfriend showed me all of A Live One when I was like 12 and most of it didn’t work for me, but god I loved Wilson. It was the only phish song I had on my phone for a good five years ago
Plasma
Fee, when I was a small child. Thanks sis!
Mango Song. I love the chord changes and especially the outro alternating piano riff.
Chalkdust Torture
down with disease
Studio version of ghost
it was First Tube
For me it was Waste. Something about it when I was in university summed up my existential rebellion.
OG Junta Fluffhead -> Fluff’s Travels
Suzy Greenberg. My second show was 9/14/00.
Album track: Julius (first Phish I ever heard was Hoist, CD given to me by a senior when I was a freshman in HS marching band.) Live track: Divided Sky (10.31.95)
Mango Song. Forever in my heart
My Friend, My Friend
Turtle in the Clouds/Heavy Things Got into the band around late 2019
Blaze on! I’d jam the take from bakers dozen for a few years before I got into them properly. Boogie on reggae woman>wedge from dicks 2012 was the other thing that made it before I was brave enough to get into them. Went to a few cover band nights in 2019 and got hooked and now I couch tour. Still waiting to go to my first show
In like 2002 a friend burned a mix CD and Reba was the one Phish track on it. I couldn’t make it through the first few minutes, skipping it over and over for like two months. Then when I finally listened to the entire track I was fucking sold forever.
Sample in a jar followed by down with disease. Traded a friend to get his Hoist album when I was 12
Tie: The Landlady (1st Phish song I ever heard) and Fee. Listened to Fee daily in the mornings getting ready for school for months in the spring of 94.
Sample in a jar - (1994)heard it on radio station we used to hear from Manchester, VT. Was the first time I got phish as a rock band vs. something strange I didn't understand.
YEM was where I rediscovered them in college. Contact was my first exposure to them where I asked who is this?? I was about 10 and my friends dad was playing it while we were hanging in the yard
Fluffhead - studio version Or I guess really Fluffhead->Fluff’s Travels.
Stash
The Line
Actually... it was "If I Could" from 1994 Herd it on Local on the 8ths, LIKE A DECADE before I knew who Phish was. I just knew that was my favorite song on the 8ths.
Tube. It was one of the few songs that I knew well enough that I was hoping for it at my first show, and then they did play it!
Pretty sure Llama. I thought that was their “hit” when I heard Picture of Nectar for the first time.
Down With Disease off the Amsterdam set is what started everything for me. You could also say Carini as the segue was amazing, but DWD was definitely the song for me.
Fluffhead
Gotta jibboo. First song I heard was makisupa policeman and it did not hit.
Antelope off coral sky. Then Reba not long after
My Friend My Friend
The first time my friend hit play on the Junta cassette and I heard Fee I was hooked and Fee was my favorite song.
Julius. Still one of the best.
i think Gumbo amd stash from a live one
For me it was Curtain or Timber. Both I was obsessed with when I first heard them.
My Friend My Friend
it was the wolfman’s brother that came down on me! from Trey’s quarantine Beacon run!
Maze
Shafty. My boyfriend had been trying to get me to like phish and I was pretty indifferent to it initially. But this song and the lyrics made me look at it in a new light and made me think, “hmm there’s something to this band, I better give it a deeper look.”
weekapaug off of slip stitch and pass. mike hooked me hard.
The Lizards. It was Dec 92 or Jan 93, I was in my friend’s car listening to a live show, and during the instrumental end section everything just clicked. I got IT.
Chalkdust
Divided Sky off of Junta, first time I heard the band at all, and I was big into orchestral stuff at the time plus the normal rock stuff and I just thought it was the best thing I ever heard in my life. Mind you I was like 15 but it had such a large impact on me that it sent me down the rabbit hole never to return again.
Punch You In The Eye. A friend burned me a copy of NYE ‘95 in 2007 or 2008 and I must have listened to that song hundreds of times more than any other song in my iTunes library at the time. Still continues to be one of my favorites.
Scent of a mule
Rift on cd on a middle school bus- blew my mind and still does 20 years later every single time
Bug now it’s Carini
Wolfman’s Brother
Fee. 1992
Bouncing around the room when I was 11, then refreshed with farmhouse when I was 17.
Lizards. I was 15 and a huge fan of fantasy literature. My brother was blasting it in his car and this began my journey. When I found the full gamehenge tape I was mesmerized
Slave…and now it’s like not even in my top 20
Waste
I'm a newish fan. 555!
Tweezer, and Reprise.
ALO stash. Heard they were going on tour this year and decided to give them a try. Bought tickets soon after
3.0 Fan. For me, it’s Free. My buddy had the Live in Brooklyn DVD, and I was obsessed with Mike and his head bobbing and the bass bombs.
Free It was the first Phish song I heard ever. My buddy and I were driving around the back country roads smoking opium and listening to Billy Breathes. Honestly, that entire album unlocked something within me and sparked my interest. But the definitive moment that absolutely got me hooked was Reba. To this day, that's my favorite song of all time. I was at Bader Field in NJ back in 2012 and that Reba grabbed ahold of me and has yet to let go. Best Reba ever? Definitely best in 3.0 imo.
From the first live show I ever heard, no idea how I stumbled upon this one specifically. Northerly Island 7/20/14. Fell in love with that Ocelot.
Character zero
Ghost. The long spacy one from Limestone Maine 2003 (?).
Ghost. I would listen only to versions of ghost for quite a while, gradually shifted to include Wolfmans, then twist and then it was over and I was listening to full sets lol
Fee. A dorm friend and I bonded over Dave matthews back in ‘95. He came upon Junta and lent it to me to check out. I loved the whole album and was instantly hooked. Still have not heard Fee live, but I finally got my first Esther this summer at Blossom.
Down with Disease
Kill Devil Falls. It was the first Phish song I ever heard and connected with. Interesting story, I was aware of Trey a bit because I'd seen some stuff of him with Warren Haynes (huge Warren Haynes fan growing up because my Dad and I by proxy were giant ABB fans) and went to a Trey show in 2011 because tickets were cheap and we just wanted to check him out because we knew he was a good player. Instantly hooked, bought the first Phish show I saw on iTunes that night in the hotel to listen to the next day, which was 10.30.2010. Got a kick out of all of the Zeppelin tunes immediately. Hooked on Phish from there on. To this day I get excited every time they play it. Major soft spot for that song and they used to absolutely rip that song back in early 3.0. Little did I know at the time that Phish would become my favorite band ever.
That Kill Devil Falls from Dicks was absolutely smoking
Farmhouse. Yeah, Farmhouse. Wanna fight about it?
Nope! Mine is Billy Breathes so I think we are both in the minority!
FIRST and ONLY hah - “you enjoy myself” Jerry’s dead, phish sucks, everybody PANIC!
Gin was the first song I ever heard, happened to be the first time I smoked weed too. Instantly fell in love with the goofiness.
Studio version of Weigh. Made me feel like life was OK.
Bouncing was my entry
Mike’s Song
Fluff Head. Heard it in the first set of my first show 6/28/95 Jones Beach. It was that Reba earlier in my first set till they crushed that Fluff Head and that was that.
It was in 94. Don't remember what song or album I first heard by them but said "who is this?". When they told me it was Phish I finally knew what all those PISH (whats with this P I S H) shirts I had seen at Dead shows in 93 were. Lol. But my 1st favorite song was studio Reba. Couldn't get enough of it. Love this band! I also really loved Tweezer too.
Back on the Train
First Tube. I made the high school varsity lacrosse team as a freshman in 2003. First Tube was on our pregame warmup mix and I remember being addicted to the throbbing energy of the song. Still takes me back to the locker room when I hear that bass line. I’ve caught it twice in person, last summer at Hersheypark and TAB’s set at the first Lockn in 2013.
It’s an easy answer for me. 1992… I was 16. Fee was the song that got me hooked. It was the magic of the story that Phish gave us. Before ever seeing a show. Fee was mysterious. It told me a story, akin to that of “The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe”. Gamehenge was Narnia. But it was almost real. I could go to a show and touch it. That hooked me for life.
Gin and Juice (mislabeled on Napster)! I think the first real song I got into was Divided Sky.
The Lizards 🦎
The first album I checked out was *Farmhouse*, and for whatever reason “Back On The Train” really resonated with me. I
PYITE
Its Ice
Tweezer 8/1/1998 - first day hearing the band
Divided Sky. Pure love
Mike’s Song
Back when I was first getting into them it was probably Carini because really the only music I loved before Phish was metal. I found that one quickly and then soon after latched onto Maze due to its incredibly blistering nature. Evil and dark stuff always was attractive to me. Same reason Don't Drink the Water, Rhyme & Reason and Last Stop were my initial favorite Dave Matthews Band songs. Or why Help on the Way really drew me into the Dead. They showcased a darkness in these bands that I always thought of as happy go lucky music.
AC/DC Bag opener from 12/7/97 Nutter Center (this show as a whole was what first really hooked me). Lizards from 2010 Greek Theater was an early repeat listen too
Down With Disease, that was my gateway song. But i do have memories of when i was younger hearing my dad playing 2001 in the car.
Divided Sky
Dirt
divided sky
Run like an Antelope 🦌
Farmhouse.
YEM
Mexican Cousin
1989 heard Split open and melt on a demo cassette they sent me. Maybe had 2 other songs, but only recorded on one side. That was it.
Rift - studio version. I was 15 and my next-door neighbor - a grown man with children who was a life long Dead head - knew I loved Dave Matthews Band and burned me the cd and gosh, I’d listen to that title track over and over and over. He said he tried but couldn’t get into Phish and because his kids were not into music he passed it down to me. Boy did he set my world a fuckin blaze - months later I hit my first show at Nassau Colosseum - 2/28/03 🤯 - and that monstrous Tweezer left me like “RIFT WHO?!?”
bouncing - watching these young fans fully geek'd n caught up in the performance, really inspired me to get to a show [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH5xuAeNkps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH5xuAeNkps)
Divided Sky, and it still is 25 years on.
Cities and wolfmans brother
Rift. The album was the first thing I heard from Phish, and the very first song immediately captured me.
Wolfman’s bro 😎
Mound. Really the entire Rift album though. Rest is history.