A Phish Show 15 Years in the Making

Fifteen years ago, when I was 14 and my sister, Allison, was 18, both of us were in love with Phish.  Actually, correction: she was in love with Phish, I had one or two of their albums, but wasn't quite at her level.  Regardless, when she asked if I wanted to road trip with her six hours to Noblesville, Indiana, to see them play, the answer was yes.  I have this memory of not really caring if I went or not but of feeling honored that my big-sister had even asked me to join her.  

It was a last-minute invite (as in late the night before). Allison had just seen the band play in the Chicago-area and called home with news that the friend she traveling with was sick.  Essentially she wanted to go to another show, had no one to join her, and wanted to bring me a replacement.  And to quote my journal which I dug up just for this post, "Of course, I said yes!"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I remember the morning we were leaving the uneasy feeling my parents had about us going.  It was storming at the time, so early it was still dark outside and they worried the roads would be bad.  Nonetheless, we were allowed to go and we hit the road in the family's Chevy Cavalier, with the goal of catching Phish that night.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     To make a long story short, we never actually saw Phish.  We had headed to Deer Creek without tickets.  Allison made a sign that read something along the line of it being my first Phish show, that we needed tickets.  We stood near the venue, holding the sign, trying our luck, but had such a small amount of money on us we never would have been able to afford two, or even one, ticket.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               My big memories?  Despite what my journal says, "There were a lot of hot guys everywhere.  People were doing drugs, smoking, and drinking.  I bet Al and I were the only sober people."  They are actually all related to spending time with a big sister who had just hit the age where she started to enjoy my company, rather than despise it.  Allison lent me clothes to wear on our trip (she didn't want me to look like a teeny-bopper in a Sugar shirt), she inspected food we bought off street vendors (trying to protect me from scary drugs that could be hidden inside), made me promise I wouldn't tell mom if she did anything rebellious (at the time I was so innocent that I had no idea she was likely referring to smoking pot), and insisted that even if we could only afford one ticket to the show we needed to buy it, so I could go inside and experience Phish.

Allison trying to get us tickets.

My other memories involve my being a cranky 14-year-old with little tolerance for discomfort.  I was hungry, so sick of eating the Chex mix and plain bagels Allison brought.  During the show, as we sat outside listening, I was cold, tired, still hungry.  Really, I was so miserable at times.  Seriously, look at my face the morning after the show right before we headed back home:

Since that show I've seen Phish twice, in 2003 and 2004.  In both cases, I was with friends, not with my sister.  Which brings me to this past weekend.  They played at Northerly Island in Chicago.  Allison, her husband and eight-month-old daughter, my boyfriend, and two of my good friends (who I actually saw Phish with ten years ago) all together to jam out.  As Allison said as we drove to the venue, the five of us (minus Maddie and Ryan) squeezed into her Scion, this really was a "Phish show 15 years in the making." 

Allison, Walker, Johanna, Ryan, Maddie, me, and Spencer.

Lawn seats. 

The newest Phish Phan in our family.