Tweezer > A Day in the Life > Possum > Tweezer Reprise - Phish
08.17.96 - The Clifford Ball, Plattsburgh NY

I don’t know if I have been this excited about Phish in over 10 years. Next week, Phish is releasing the DVD box set of their monumental festival, The Clifford Ball, which just happens to be my first show(s). Oh, and you thought I was all giddy over Hampton? Ok, I confess - I’m giddy about both.

I’m a little lucky and got my hands on a copy of the box set early and am writing this post as I watch the DVD version of my audio post. Before I begin my recollection of this life-changing weekend, do yourself a favor and buy yourself this piece of Phishistory. You will not be disappointed.



I went to college in 1989, and am from the South. Almost instantly after I left home, I started listening to the Dead and caught my share of Dead shows from ‘89 to ‘95. I also became a fan of Widespread Panic and began seeing them in ‘92. I had many friends encouraging me to see Phish back then. I didn’t listen. I was too busy caught up in the Dead and Panic. I did buy Rift when it came out in ‘93. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. It took me about 2 to 3 years to love it. I just didn’t get Phish at first.



In 1995, I found this crazy thing called the internet. My oldest memories of the internet were finding out about Jerry’s death and learning of the Clifford Ball. Every afternoon, I’d visit the computer lab at my place of work to check out the messages from rec.music.gdead on the green screen. In the Spring of ‘96, most of my time online was spent setting up tape trades or reading sob stories about Jerry. I stumbled upon a post about this Phish festival in upstate New York. There was such an anti-Phish vibe on rec.music.gdead back then, which I never could understand and luckily never agreed with. So even though I wasn’t that into Phish at the time, the Clifford Ball seemed intriguing. It could also fill a big void. It had been a tradition every summer for our crew to see the Dead at RFK. Instead of letting our annual summer trip die with the Dead, why not kick up a notch?



I managed to rope in five others, all good friends, but I wouldn’t say that we were the best of friends at that time in our lives. Five of us left from Annandale, VA around 11pm the night before the first show in two cars - a maroon Honda Accord and white Acura Legend. We drove all night to New York state so we could pick up the 6th member of our crew (Sparky). I took the late night shift along with the owner of the Acura (who we like to call Phatback). It was a beautiful trip through a part of the country I had never seen. We were wide awake on pure excitement (ok, maybe some caffiene), but the excitement was different than any other RFK trip before. I was excited about a new experience, a new script, a new scene.



Sometime in the early morning we arrived at Sparky’s place of residence. He was working in upstate New York, living out of a hotel. I have no memory of where in New York, but I do recall crashing for about an hour before hitting up the local grocery store for lots of beer and bacon (plus a few other things). We rolled into the de-commissioned Air Force Base sometime in the middle of the day on the 16th. We were blown away instantly. I have the videotape to prove it, but unfortunately it’s still on VHS instead of YouTube. It was unlike anything I had ever seen at any concert/festival before.



We parked on the tarmac with about 4 hours to explore before show time. I was amazed with the lack of security. Keep in mind that my perspective at the time was the Dead parking lots from 1995, which was not a good scene at all. Lots of people were at Dead shows just for the buzz and not for the show. Thus, there were lots of cops there too. I couldn’t believe some of the things I saw in the lot at the Ball. Three foot bongs in broad daylight in the middle of the lot. That shit would never fly at any summer tour stop for the Grateful Dead. Of course, that would change quickly in due time. Two years later, I’d see helicopters circling the Merriweather Post parking lot after a show.



I was probably familiar with one-fourth of the songs that Phish played at the Clifford Ball. Here was another contrast with the Dead and Panic shows I had seen in the years before. I knew about 98% of the songs played at those shows, but it didn’t matter here. I was taken aback by the energy from the band and the crowd. It was on a whole new level that I had not seen before at any other live show. Phish was actually having fun! You could see it on their faces through the big screens, and I see it again on the DVDs. It was refreshing.



The concert grounds were also like nothing I had ever seen before. Ball Square (the town square, which I should not have to explain - just buy the box set if you don’t know what I am talking about), Earth Wind and Fire (the names of the three beer gardens), and Mr. Sausage (a sausage vendor) were parts of an elaborate playground inhabited by 70,000 phishheads and the occasional man on stilts.



The performance was phenomenal. As I watched the first set of the first show today, I was reminded of how “on” they were at this time in their career. 1996 is often overlooked in Phish history because of 1994 and 1997, but the fact that they delivered one of the best sets in Phish history right off the bat in front of the largest crowd that they had ever played for proves that Phish was at the top of their game in August of 1996. The jams in Gin and AC/DC Bag are face-melting, and the Divided Sky at sunset over the Adarondacks was, well you had to be there.



I watched all of second set, day one from Fire (or was it Wind?) slugging beers and watching the big screens. This set had great balance. Following a four song acoustic mini-set that highlighted their upcoming Billy Breathes release with a monster Mike’s > Simple > Contact > Weekapaug was a perfect combination.



On the final set of day one, I was introduced to 2001. Whoa. Another new frontier reached this weekend.

What a day. What a first Phish show. I was tuckered out. Time to fall asleep in the Honda accord. Unfortunately, I missed the flatbed jam.



Day two was just as wonderful as day one, if not better. We woke up to a small rain shower, but the skies cleared in the late morning. Bacon grease was flying as hangovers were wearing off. The show started earlier with an afternoon set to make room for the “Clifford Ball orchestra”, who would play just before and at sunset. Of course, our crew thought that was just a cover up for a guest performance by the one and only Carlos Santana.




TheButterRoom.com: It’s Ice - Phish [8/17/96] from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

The second set from Day two is the musical highlight of the festival. It’s been often called the best set in Phishistory. I’m not going to agree or disagree with that statement. I just know it was damn good. Lucky for us fans, a video of this set was leaked shortly after the shows, named “Jimmy’s Dream”. The quality sucked, but we don’t need to worry about that now. The Slave to close this set might have been the musical highlight of the weekend for me. This Slave along with the one from A Live One are the two best Slave’s I’ve ever heard. Hands down.



As the night ended, reality set in. We had to hightail it in the early morning to get one member of our crew to Albany for a flight so he could make it to VASAP class in Richmond. Well, even with a dead battery, we somehow managed to get him on his flight. So what if we had to drive 90 mpg the whole way south to Albany?

The Clifford Ball is one of the few shows that I was truly able to appreciate the epicness of while in the moment. But, it even resulted in something much greater. I saw Phish 16 more times over the course of the next 2 years. So, obviously The Clifford Ball is where and when I began to love Phish. But more importantly, it built the foundation for lifelong friendships with the people that joined me on the Clifford Ball and later festivals. It truly changed my life in a couple ways, and for that I am thankful. See you at Hampton.