100 Concerts / Concert #2

Headline Act: The Police

Touring Album:Synchronicity

Opening Acts: Eric Burdon & The Animals, The Fixx

Date: October 28, 1983

Venue: The Orange Bowl, Miami, FL

Ticket price: $17.50

Bass Ticket Outlets and Fantasma Productions present...

The OB was the site of 5 Super Bowls (II, III, V, X, XIII)

Stadium shows are like the condoms of live music. They're awkward, they prevent the experience from going the way you'd like, and they give you the sense that you are witness to something being enjoyed by someone who is far away.

It was a Friday afternoon of my junior year of high school. My friends and I were determined to get to the Orange Bowl in Miami to see the The Police, with opening acts The Animals and The Fixx.

How do you get to and from a concert that's 30 miles away when you are in 15, in high school, don't have a driver's license and have no easy access to public transportation? Parents. Ick.

We wanted to be cool but we had to settle for being dropped off. My buddy Dan's mom gave us a lift to the old stadium, where I'd enjoyed numerous Miami Dolphins games. Now, the OB was hosting an intimate concert for 50,000.  I've seen several stadium shows since, this was the only one I saw at the Orange Bowl.

While U2 was making their name, 1983 was the year that The Police staked their claim as the biggest band in the world. By the early '80s, many big bands of the '70s (Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd) had burned out and faded away thanks to all those years of drugs, groupies, and the excesses of fame. But mostly drugs.

Police Academy, hold the Guttenberg.

The Police were the first "new wave" band of the late '70s / early '80s that had put together 5 excellent albums, while also evolving musically and gaining mainstream commercial success. They had gone from the punk-reggae hit "Roxanne" to the misunderstood radio smash "Every Breath You Take" which became one of the most popular wedding songs of all time despite being about stalking an ex-lover.

 "Synchronicity" knocked "Thriller" off the top of the album charts.

On top of their musical momentum,  lead singer
Sting looked like a movie star and was an instant MTV favorite with the girls. They had hit the big time, and were now filling football stadiums across the world.

Hey, this  tour was so big that VJ Martha Quinn was on hand to rev up the crowd, check out this MTV clip at 35:00 into the video.  I must confess I kinda had a thing for Martha.

The first opening band was Eric Burdon & The Animals, 20 years removed from their British Invasion success of the early '60s. With "House Of The Rising Sun", "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place", "It's My Life" among their hits they seemed better suited for an oldies tour. While I was probably one of the few high school kids at the show who admired their catalog, I remember thinking they were old and really didn't belong at this show. I mean they were OLD! I was 15. In 1983, Eric Burdon was 42. Age is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. The Animals sounded fine, but when they came on stage around 5:30pm, the still-arriving crowd of teenagers weren't exactly captivated. They never had a chance to win over the fans, I felt bad for them.

Rare photo from Eric Burdon's Bar Mitzvah.

The second opening act was The Fixx.  They had made an MTV splash with some catchy songs and highly produced videos: "Stand Or Fall", "Red Skies", "One Thing Leads To Another", "Saved By Zero", etc.  In the U.S. they were destined to be a supporting act for other bands for many years, never making that jump into headline act.  The Fixx were the '80s version of Ned Beatty,  a talented character actor but not the leading man.

Squeal like a pig!

Always the bridesmaid, never the bridezilla.

I'd like to say I remember something about The Fixx's performance, but do you remember Ned Beatty's performance in "All The President's Men"? No, that movie had 2 movie stars, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford.  Well, The Police were Robert Redford (except for "The Electric Horseman", I'm pretending that movie was never made).

When The Police finally took the stage that night, Sting did so not just as the lead singer and bass player of the most popular rock band in the world. He did so also as a sex symbol and bona fide "rock star", it was a stark contrast from the persona Bono presented at the U2 show, though he surely mutated into "rock star" in later years.

They were excellent performers, Stewart Copeland is one of my favorite drummers and he's an impressive player in concert.  Hit after hit had the crowd singing along and it was certainly an enjoyable show, though maybe not the most passionate performance.  They were world-famous, ultra-successful, filthy rich... and they couldn't stand each other.  A couple years later they split up while trying to record the follow-up to "Synchronicity".  Sting's inevitable solo career and their personality differences kept The Police apart for 20 years until they realized how much money they could make with 2007 ticket prices! I also saw them on their reunion tour, but you will have to wait for that one, my friends.

The sleeveless concert T-shirt, another '80s artifact.

Aside from the music, I remember clearly that my buddy Dan met a girl - Sheri (or Shari or Sherry or Sherri or however the hell she spelled it). Can we establish a standard way of spelling certain names? Is it Kathy or Cathy or Kathie? It should be Jeffrey not Geoffrey! Jonn should never have 2 n's. Also, can we vote on certain names being male or female - but never both.  Terry, Dana, Fran, Kyle, Lee, Tracy, and Pat (it's time for androgyny!) etc., these names to get cleared up.  Thank you.

RIP Orange Bowl, now the site of the new Marlins ballpark.

Anyway,  Dan met a girl. At  the concert. So, wait a second, let me get this straight. Not only can you see great musicians perform at a show, you can also meet girls? And they may want to date you? Hey, this concert thing might be cool.  So Dan met a girl whose name started with an S and rhymed with berry.  She lived in Miami, kinda far away from our neighborhood. But Dan was way ahead of our group of friends when it came to charming women and getting his "fun-stuff touched" (as they said on "That '70s Show").  She was a short-term on-and-off girlfriend of Dan's, not a major relationship but to me that wasn't the point. The possibilities of what could happen at a concert suddenly changed.

After the show, our group of friends took a cab, we crammed into a station-wagon taxi and managed to get 20 miles north, to the HoJo's at the Golden Glades exchange. Being the big cool guys we were, we had to call my dad, Al, to come pick us up and shlep everyone home.  Being a teenager and getting picked up by your father after a concert doesn't make you feel like a man, but I learned that night, just get to the show and the rest will take care of itself. 

Sting, the movie star in "Dune" (1984).

It worked out that night for Dan, he was about to have a girlfriend for the next several months.  Just get to the show, by any means necessary.

Here is the unofficial setlist: (Set 1) Voices Inside My Head, Synchronicity I, Synchronicity II, Walking In Your Footsteps, Message In A Bottle, Walking On The Moon, Oh My God, De Do Do Do De Da Da Da, Wrapped Around Your Finger, Tea In The Sahara (Set 2) One World (Not Three), King Of Pain, Don't Stand So Close To Me, Murder By Numbers, Every Breath You Take, Roxanne, (Encores) Can't Stand Losing You > Reggatta De Blanc > Can't Stand Losing You, So Lonely

100 Concerts / Concert #1

Headline Act: U2
Touring Album: War
Opening Act: The Alarm
Date: June 23, 1983
Venue: Sunrise Musical Theater, Sunrise, FL
Ticket price: $10.75

$10.75 for this ticket. I've paid more than that for a beer at recent shows.

I was 15 and still had my virginity. With rock concerts? Check. With women? Check. I've lost it on both fronts, but this evening in 1983 was far more memorable.

The Mohawk. Objects on head are larger than they appear.

The Sunrise Musical Theater, since converted into a church, was a cozy 4,000-seat venue with very few bad seats. My brother, my very good friend Brian (still to this day) and I didn't look like many of those in attendance this night. While U2 was not a true punk band, they were cool enough to draw several hundred mohawked, avant-garde-looking concertgoers needing to be noticed for their artsy "new wave" style.  As a straight-laced kid, this felt like a pretty wild scene, I felt cooler by association and in those awkward teen years you will take a cool-boost anywhere you can.
 
Before I open a giant can of word-ass about U2, I must talk about the opening act, The Alarm, from Wales, who played as LOUD a set as I've ever seen. Their hair was higher, spikier and teasier (yeah, I made up my own words) than any group I have ever seen. Like U2, they had political and spiritual themes in their music. Among their most popular songs at that time, "68 Guns" and "The Stand". I immediately loved their energy and sound; within days of the show I  bought "Declaration", their debut LP which is still one my favorite albums of the 1980s.  

Early promo photo of The Alarm. These guys were frickin' loud and good.

Years later they had a radio hit with "Rain In The Summertime", but they broke up after just six studio albums.  In 2004, VH1 rounded up the members of the band for the awkwardly satisfying show "Bands Reunited".  As a longtime fan of The Alarm, I was emotionally invested in this made-for-TV reunion, and they still sounded really good.  If not for U2 being bigger, better, and more talented, The Alarm might have been a really big band in the '80s.

As for the performance by U2? Wow.  I don't want to overstate this - but those next 2 hours changed my life.

For me, this was a perfect storm of concert greatness. I was at an impressionable age, seeing a future Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame band on the support tour of their first significant album ("War") and first major political statement ("Sunday Bloody Sunday"). In the MTV rotation, this song stuck out like a Hell's Angel at a Girl Scout meeting.

1983 MTV, Journey's "Separate Ways" = Cheese.

Consider this quick list of some 1983 MTV hits: Hungry Like The Wolf, Electric Avenue, She Blinded Me With Science, Come On Eileen, Separate Ways, Down Under, Der Komissar, and on and on...

Those are some memorable pop songs, but all of them combined don't convey 1% of the cojones that explode out of the drums and the piercing guitars that begin "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The song is built from genuine anger and frustration stemming from years of violence in Ireland. Unlike many of the groups churning out MTV fluff, U2 brought a punk attitude to their early music (Iggy Pop and The Clash were influences) combined with some of the theatrical qualities of their musical heroes (David Bowie, The Who). Here's a classic performance of the song, captured at Red Rocks in Colorado just 2 weeks before our Florida show. This version was immortalized on the "Under A Blood Red Sky" EP and video.

According to Wikipedia (the website's motto: "Most of this shit is true."): "The band have said the lyrics refer to the events of both Bloody Sunday (1972) and Bloody Sunday (1920), but are not specifically about either event. The song takes the standpoint of someone horrified by the cycle of violence in the province. Bono rewrote The Edges's initial lyrics, attempting to contrast the two events with Easter Sunday, but he has said that the band was too inexperienced at the time to fully realize that goal, noting that "it was a song whose eloquence lay in its harmonic power rather than its verbal strength." In the 1972 incident, 26 unarmed protesters were shot,14 were killed by gunfire from British soldiers in Derry, Ireland.

When U2 performed the song, the crowd was eating out of Bono's hands. We were chanting "NO MORE!" over and over as Bono led us on. His passion and anger were theatrical but sincere. He carried around a large white 'surrender' flag, marching to Mullen's militaristic cadence, trying to impose his will not only on the crowd but on to the culture of violence itself.

Henry Rollins is to Black Flag as Bono is to White Flag.

So here was this young band - still in their early twenties and just beginning to hit their stride.  This was like seeing a young Mickey Mantle swatting 4 home runs in a game while stealing 3 bases and making two spectacular diving catches - making it look easy, winking at the camera while walking off the field with two pin-up models. In 1952, his first full season in the bigs, The Mick hit .311, belted 23 HR's with 87 RBI - all at the age of 21. Like young Mantle,  U2 on the "War" tour was just a glimpse of greatness to come.

Back to the show. During "The Electric Co." (from "Boy"), the band moved into an extended jam. Edge noodled on the guitar as Bono worked the crowd. Without warning, Bono stopped singing, ran off the stage  and up the side aisle of the theater as spotlights followed him (without any apparent bodyguards nearby). He boldly burst into the frenzied crowd as the band played on and the spotlights shut off.  We knew Bono was somewhere among his adoring fans, but where?

The Mick, long before Jagger.

The tension was building. Moments later, the spotlights blasted awake and there was Bono, in the middle of the crowd, being supported 5-6 feet in the air by fans who were pawing at him while never daring to let him fall.  The Edge, Adam, and Larry continued to jam as the crowd body-surfed Bono back to the safety of the stage. He never appeared flustered during the risky experience. He retook the stage to finish the song without missing a beat. Like the young Mantle, he never took his eye off the ball.

During the song "Gloria" the song is stripped down to bass and percussion for a moment while The Edge slowly builds to a crescendo and the vocal chorus of "Gloria - in te domine". I must admit I'm a bit rusty on my conversational Latin, but according to Wikipeda: "Gloria in te domine / gloria exultate" translates into "Glory in you, Lord / Glory, exalt [him]". Thank you, Mr. Wiki.

Bono at the US Festival showing off some great '80s hair.

At the climax of the song, spotlights from the back of the stage shot up high and hard directly into the upper center balcony of the theater, seemingly right at our seats. The band was silhouetted from behind, it felt like I was caught directly in the spotlight at the very moment the music peaked and the crowd swooned. It only lasted for a few seconds but it felt like a perfect alignment of the planets.

Yes, I still have the original T-shirt from this show.

With the set now concluded, some fans headed for the exits. Moments later, the band returned to play "Party Girl" and "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" before leaving the stage. More fans headed for the parking lot. Again, the lads came back with their first hit, "I Will Follow", bringing down the house and walking off to thunderous applause. They were done, it seemed. As more fans left, many of us remained, wishing for more, more, more. Unbelievably, they returned again, a 3rd encore! The song was "40", the closing song from "War".  The chorus asks "How long to sing this song?" and the crowd eagerly sang along over and over.  Finally, Bono waved goodbye and left the stage. The Edge, Larry and Adam kept playing as the crowd sang in unison "How long?" The Edge retired his guitar for the night, waved farewell and walked off.

No, it hasn't fit me for 15 years. No, I will NOT throw it out.

"How long to sing this song?", we continued over the steady drums and bass. Eventually, Adam stopped his playing,  handed his bass to a roadie and waved goodbye.

"How long?", we pleaded, hoping the night would never end. Larry hammered out the beat a few more times as the crowd sang in full throat. He crashed his cymbals and bass drum one last time and disappeared.

The show was over. "How long to sing this song?", we sang and sang and sang for another minute or two.  No one wanted to leave. We had all witnessed something special, and we knew it immediately.

For the first time, I had a new favorite band that felt like my band, not my brother's or sister's.  It was an instantaneously strong connection, one that has led to many more memorable concert experiences and thousands of hours of musical enjoyment.  I will have much more on U2 later in this blog.

Here is the unofficial set list from this show: Out Of Control, Twilight, An Cat Dubh, Into The Heart, Surrender, Two Hearts Beat As One, Seconds, Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Cry-> The Electric Co., I Fall Down, October, New Year's Day, Gloria, (encore) Party Girl, (2nd encore) 11 O'clock Tick Tock, I Will Follow, (3rd encore) 40

Bono has been well-decorated and admired for his incredible political and humanitarian efforts. If you are interested in reading about his inspirational charitable work, I recommend the book "Bono" by Michka Assayas.

This series of conversations between the singer and the author cover a variety of subjects, most of which are not about music. You can't help but admire the man who has given so much effort and gained great political clout while striving to achieve the end of Africa's debt and starvation. 

100 Concerts / Opening Act Part 2

Before I jump into my individual concert experiences, I'd like to share a little about my musical influences while growing up and how I came to be such a music fiend and persistent concert-goer.

My late father, Al, was a music lover. He was an accomplished violinist as a teenager and as an adult he collected LP's, mostly symphonies, standards and Broadway soundtracks. Against the wishes of the rest of our household, Dad loved to crank up the orchestral music as loud as his crappy 1970s hi-fi living room speakers would allow.  It wasn't rock music but he had his own jams for sure.

My parents were settling down into suburban New Jersey married life in the late 1950's just as Elvis Presley and rock'n'roll began to shape pop culture forever.  By the time The Beatles made their historic debut on 'The Ed Sullivan Show" in February, 1964, they already had two kids, my sister Libby was 4 years old and my brother Roger was 1.  For Al and my mom Lois, the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion groups of the 1960s arrived too late to capture their imaginations. Instead of being weened on Dylan, Donovan and The Doors, we got Broadway soundtracks from "The Music Man", "South Pacific" and "The Most Happy Fella" - yes, show tunes of the 1950's were the main diet of music we heard as a family each Sunday morning.

To my folks' credit they would also throw in edgier material like "Hair" and "A Chorus Line", each with not-so-subtle sex and drug references. We never really did get around to discussing "Ass 10, Looks 3" from "A Chorus Line" or that "Hair" diddy, "Sodomy".  Whatever they exposed us to (Barbra Streisand, Perry Como etc.) at least we got to listen to music, and lots of it.

They ask me why I'm such a hairy guy...

In Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical film "Almost Famous", the protagonist is William,  a teenage boy in the '70s. Through sheer talent and a little bit of luck, William, still in high school, becomes a rock journalist for "Rolling Stone" magazine.  There is a scene in this movie that struck a chord with me (no pun intended).  William discovers the joys of rock music while he flips one-by-one through his older sister's killer record collection of influential artists and memorable album covers. His sister leaves him a note, "Listen to 'Tommy' with a candle burning and you will see your entire future." The Who's "Sparks" plays, setting into motion William's adventure. 

The back cover of "Piano Man" used to kinda freak me out.

This scene perfectly captured the amazement I often experienced while growing up with my older sister and brother. I absorbed as much as I could about their favorite music and artists, forming my own tastes along the way.

Remember when LP's came with cool posters?

Libby's LP collection consisted of artists as dangerous and controversial as The Osmonds, The Carpenters, Cher, and John Denver.  One day I was startled to hear loud bells clanging, a noisy, beautiful cacophony of sonic chaos. My ears perked up. I walked down the hall and saw a strange-looking poster of pyramids. The music ("Time") and the poster (shown here) were part of the same masterpiece - Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side Of The Moon".  My Spidey senses told me there was a lot more out there in the world than Donny Osmond.

Meet The New Boss.

My brother Roger is nearly 5 years older than me. I remember that as a teenager he became a passionate music fan. Some of his favorites at the time included Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, The Beatles, and more.  One Saturday afternoon, Springsteen's voice loudly filled the air. Our father screamed for my brother to "turn down the goddamned record player!"  only the music was too goddamned loud for my brother to hear him scream.  My father solved this problem by storming into Roger's room and ripping the goddamned record needle off the goddamned vinyl. Music that our parents hate? That appeals immediately to kids on some level, doesn't it? I knew something was different in this equation. I knew this music was something I needed to know more about, something I needed in my life.

The first album I bought with my own money.

My musical tastes were developing, thanks in large part to FM radio of the late '70s and early '80s (Queen, Styx, Foreigner, Boston, Dire Straits were a few favorites). But this post-disco / stadium rock era  made it difficult to get exposed to newer, edgier music (punk wasn't mainstream, New Wave hadn't arrived yet). I had yet to really digest the majority of the Classic Rock catalogs of The Who, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills & Nash and others that would eventually consume me.

In 1982, I was  a gawky 14-year old high school freshman (long before I became the gawky 44-year-old writer of this blog).  I would come home from school and spend hours watching MTV for the thrill of discovering new artists and new video "tricks" (cue the smoke machine), and of course such legendary hair-do's as the lead singer from A Flock Of Seagulls.

JJ Jackson, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Martha Quinn, & Alan Hunter

Some of my early MTV video memories include Devo, Haircut 100, Madness, The Specials, Pat Benatar,  Aldo Nova, Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby, Missing Persons, Culture Club, and of course the prolific Adam & The Ants.

It was a tapestry of sounds, looks, fashions, tight pants and overexposed lip-synching videos shot on all-white stages. The variety was interesting but, like eating a box of Pop Tarts, not satisfying.

Somewhere around this time, I remember seeing a band called "U-2" and their no-frills video for "Gloria".  I immediately took a liking to these mysterious scruffy Irishmen.

Soon after "Gloria", there they were again, these nameless U2 dudes (now minus the mistakenly placed hyphen). There they were, riding horses in the snow (thanks, bigger budget!).  "All is quiet on New Year's Day" the lead singer growled (I didn't even know his name yet).  The piano, the guitar, the drums, the bass, their style - I was hooked on this song and this group!

Fast-forward to the summer of 1983. Roger was home from college when he asked me if I wanted to go with him to see U2.

My first concert!  My life was about to change...

100 Concerts / Opening Act Part 1

"When people are screaming and roaring and shouting, the humbling thing is to realize it's not really for the band or artist on the stage. It's for their connection with the songs. A song just can own you...I think that's why concerts are so powerful. If that song is such a part of your life, and you hear it, it's too much almost." - Bono from the concert film U2 3-D

Some people think concerts are an excuse to get fantastically shit-faced drunk, or as a step in romancing that special someone, or as a means to kill time on a Friday night instead of hanging out in the same old bar, or as an emotionally fulfilling life-altering event more satisfying than really good sex. They are all right.

"It's just a concert" you say? Well it's not usually a spur-of-the-moment decision (though there are some exceptions, more about that another time). When you're 19 and in college, your ability to make impulsive decisions is nearly unlimited. When you're on the plus side of 40, going to a concert tends to involve planning, budgeting, and babysitters. 

MTV High-Rotation Hall Of Famers, Duran Duran

I mean, do you really go to see just anyone perform? Sure, you might have been dragged by your girlfriend to see Duran Duran or by your mom to see Englebert Humperdinck, but most likely the path of shows you have chosen to carve out indicates something unique about you, your personality, and your musical tastes (or lack thereof).

How was this man never cast as James Bond?

Just like the aging photos in the album on your bookshelf (or the ones you take with your iPhone and upload to Facebook) concerts are snapshots of your life. The shows you see and the way you behave there combine to paint a picture of you.

Who did you go to the show with? Was that the person you really wanted to go? What drugs were you on? You didn't leave them in the car, did you? Did you buy a T-shirt? Do you still own it? Do you secretly try it on sometimes when no one's looking? Which songs did you strategically use to take a bathroom break? Do you sing along really loudly with the songs you know? If so, do you ever fear that the people sitting in front of you might turn around and punch you in the larynx? Did you arrive in time to see the opening act? Did you leave early before the encore to beat traffic? Did you listen closely when the artist played some unfamiliar new music or did you use the moment to check your email on your Blackberry and make small-talk with your date? Do you feel the need to clap along clumsily to a song that has no discernible beat or rhythm? Are you the guy who screams during the ballads? Would you please stop, sir?

Deadheads are a special breed. They also make
grilled cheese sandwiches like nobody's business.

This blog is one man's reflections on more than 25 years of attending concerts. I have lived the lifestyle (as much as one can with several months between shows) but I never morphed into a full-fledged Deadhead or traveling devotee of one particular band or scene (though I might have loved it if I weren't so fond of air conditioning and showers).

I am not here to suggest that my concert experiences have been so much better than yours or that my taste in music is superior. I am here to suggest that my concert-going experiences have made a significant impression on my life and lifestyle, as much as I claim to have both.

Among my concert adventures: memorable male-bonding with high school and college friends, intense peak experiences, meeting the famous headline acts before and after shows, and the random meeting of a young woman who over a 13-year span (and many concerts) would become my girlfriend, my fiancee, my wife, the mother of my child, and then my ex-wife <no spoiler alert>.

More recent concert experiences involve my beautiful, lovely girlfriend and my older, semi-wiser perspective on the collective, unpredictable, undefinable energy event that is created by the symbiotic relationship of artist and audience. Rabid music fans like myself seek the Holy Grail out-of-body experiences to sustain us through the rat race and real-world challenges.  Sometimes 2 hours of live music can set you right for a good while.

At shows I have also had a range of profoundly emotional moments: from blissful nirvana (not the band Nirvana, I never got to see them) to the lowest points of my marriage and all the emotions in between. I even cried briefly at a Roger Waters' 2010 performance of "The Wall", I'll explain why in a future posting. Concerts have been the backdrop and the impetus of some of my life's highest highs and some of its lowest lows.

Clarence & Bruce - a legendary bromance.

I hope Pete and Roger don't die before they get old.

I have been privileged to see many legendary artists: The Who, U2, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Yes, The Allman Brothers, Rush, Billy Joel, Van Morrison, Santana, Simon & Garfunkel, R.E.M., Elton John, Eric Clapton, John Mellencamp and dozens of other all-time greats. 

I have also seen a variety of talented up-and-coming artists who flamed out far too soon (Blind Melon, Jellyfish) and many who are still building their legacies (Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Lenny Kravitz, The Black Crowes, The Avett Brothers and more).  Each of these artists, each of these shows have written their own pages in my mental scrapbook now mutating into the shape of a blog. If you've read this far you will probably relate to many of my experiences, from the thrilling to the frustrating.

When it comes to the discussion of the bands and the music itself, I hope to educate a little but this is not intended to be a definitive rock-a-pedia. These will be my own personal experiences, reflections and insights combined with some trivia, cool backstories and social commentary.

Okay, sit down, keep your lighter nearby. The show's about to start...

The light shows at a Phish concert are totally sweet, dude.