I was at this show. It was my first show. It was 23 years ago today. I'm giving it a 5 because it rocked my world. I haven't listened to the show in over 20 years so I'm pulling from memory of being there experiencing it live, and seeing a band I'd been anticipating for a year.

The Spectrum was a tiny club in Toronto. I don't know what the capacity was but it seemed in the lower half of the hundreds. Really really small. I saw only 3 shows in such small venues so it skews my rating. Even a bad show in an intimate environment like that deserves a high score if you were there IMO. I lived around 40 minutes from downtown and I was super excited Phish was coming to Canada and basically showing up in my backyard. It was my first time and I was hyped!

It was a cold wet night in Toronto. I went with my one Dead touring friend who also knew Phish. All my other Deadhead friends still shunned Phish at the time and rolled their eyes when I brought them up. Josh and I were more into the music geekery of the Dead than the party or the scene so we took to Phish like fish finding water. We had been voraciously gathering, trading, and sharing Phish shows for over a year at that point and although we often drove around the North-East to hit Dead shows we hadn't made that sort of effort yet for Phish.

This night changed everything.

SOAM and YEM were already, remained, and still are my favorite live Phish songs so getting them both that night was huge. I remember a blazing fast Sparkle, Reba, and Poor Heart and having a blast trying to sing along to each (laughing out loud through it all). I remember hearing and participating in all the signals in Antelope and thinking it was super neato.

Lots of fun in the second set, but YEM eclipses the other songs for me. I remember hold->brain->hold and thinking it was hilarious, and loving the band even more because that just happened and nothing like that could ever happen at a Dead show. I love the lyrics in Squirming Coil and I remember a huge wave of emotion when it started.

And the encore, well that tune has been a long time favorite so hearing them sing it cemented my appreciation and support for this band. It was like an allegory for what Phish meant to me: "Ride, captain ride Upon your mystery ship, On your way to a world THAT OTHERS MIGHT HAVE MISSED!".

Great night. The start of something wonderful for me. I do love this band and I'm stoked they're still killing it.