by Joshua, Philadelphia, PA

It was the summer of ‘98 and I was in college in Philly. A couple buddies and I piled into the car to catch the southeastern leg of the Phish summer tour. We arrived at the Virginia Beach Amphitheatre to catch our last show on August 9th. Like the majority of Phish fans, we were big deadheads. Show after show, we always held out hope that we’d hear some of favorite dead tunes covered by the band. Always reticent to acknowledge the connection to the dead, Phish always deprived us of that pleasure.

As the band returned to the stage for the encore that night in Virginia Beach, everything changed. As I heard the first few notes of the song, I instantly recognized it as my favorite Dead song, “Terrapin Station.” I remember standing there thinking I must be missing something as there is no way they’d play a Dead song. I think the whole crowd felt the same way, not letting themselves believe that this was actually happening lest they be disappointed.

Despite the long, distinctive vocal-less intro, I continued to doubt my ears. The roar of the crowd grew until Trey unleashed the first line and everyone’s hopes were realized. After that, there was an eerie silence as the crowd sat back and soaked up a moment long in the making. It wasn’t till after the show that I learned that it was the third anniversary of Jerry’s death and everything made sense.