December 30, 2010. I remember the feeling of walking through a packed Madison Square Garden and knowing that it would be in that very establishment, or church if you will, that I would validate a budding obsession that spread its fibers in the last few years prior. Unfortunately my hometown is a bland suburb of Essex County, New Jersey. My home city on the other hand is arguably the most grand, being the five boroughs of New York. Taking this step forward in such a monumental place in my heart was instrumental in affirming Phish’s role in who I am.

None of this would have been possible without what I like to refer to as the online Phish support group, or The Phish Twibe. As evident in its part in my Phish geekery, this is a clear indicator that I am without a doubt a 3.0 era phan. Some obsessive groups run on the ideas of seniority and experience, but the social media tribe took me in during its infancy and never have I felt inferior because of my lack of participation in the previous versions of Phish. Interacting with people on a daily basis, and just reading the day-to-day of others will form a bond after a given amount of time. By my first show, I was apart of a community. Before attending my first show, I had already made friends through the music. Most of them got on cars, trucks, buses, even planes to spend a large chunk of the Holiday week with Trey, Mike, Jon, and Page. I guess you can compare it to someone who practices Buddhism and then makes a pilgrimage to the Bodi Tree. While some people visit a monumental spot to liberate themselves through spiritual development, I found JEMP in a mythical world tree known as Madison Square Garden. The difference here is that it’s not the sacredness of the location, but rather the vibrations in the air that are shaped by the four forces onstage. After listening for three years, there was something holy about finally seeing it unfold before my eyes.

It’s easy for people to be critical of the band’s recent shows, sometimes those who saw the famed moments in 1.0 and have lived to tell the tales. In the grand scheme of things, 3.0 is not for you. People argue that 3.0 is for kids like me that wouldn't have had the experience otherwise. In reality, every reincarnation has been for the band. They have the following to go off on their own and live comfortably, I’m sure. As a musician myself, there are certain people that lock in creatively with you, and such a match should not be neglected. Once drugs overrun the flow of creation, things need to be sorted out. After cleansing takes its course, you are still left with that same brain, just functioning slightly different. The band can continue to play without fear of other factors and build from the ground up, with new material and a rejuvenated scene. Our Earth is in the right spot in our universe to harbor the right conditions for a plethora of life. Phish found themselves in the appropriate place in their careers to continue something they started without any indication of what it would become. This time, they have a better grasp of what routes they can take, seeing that they've traveled all over the map in the past 30 years. How we decide to involve ourselves in their journey and how we interpret what is put out is up to us, individually. We are all practicing Transcendentalism.