Oh, good lord. Gonna' date myself now…
Been so fortunate to see numerous bands "break" into the big time. HS and early college it was R.E.M. playing small venues believe it or not, U2 the arenas. Late 80's, fell in love with the Dead. '89 Greensboro shows were my first, needless to say, I was hooked. Followed them around, when I was not on Dead tour, DMB, Blues Traveler, WSP and Spin Doctors where heating up the local club scene. Also started hanging out with Leftover Salmon coming through NC for the first time(s), festivals, Merl Fest, etc… Toured a lot with the Dead before Brent died and Jerry kept declining. Saw some epic Dead though - Warlocks at Hampton '89, JerryWeather '89, etc… 1992, dead- head friends put Picture of Nectar on the CD and I was like, "holy shit, who are these guys???". Phish destroys Ziggy's bar in Winston Salem, NC which I miss due to being out of town. All my homies were like, "Dead who??". Saw first Phish show in Summer 1992 at Floodzone - Richmond, VA. After that, I was immediately off of Dead tour and on Phish tour. Loved seeing them work on Rift and Hoist material live. Can you imagine your first, real "Maze"? So, saw so many good, early shows culminating in Phish Hampton '98. Got to go backstage on Sat. at Hampton shows and again at Merriweather I think the next year (ref. Meatstick).
So, loved on the Phish through a lot of good and rough times. Enjoyed so many other good bands in between - Leftover, String Cheese ('99-2000 were pure fire), Moe. , Jatoba, and early WSP. Would have to say, my post Phish hiatus fix was Raq. Love me some Raq, still worth checking out.
Then I hit the ditch. Been looking for something all over satellite, FM, local record store. Heard Spafford on XM Radio nugs.net weekly show and the rest is history for me! Spafford kicks ass and as a frustrated/aspiring musician, they have so much going on - wicked hooks (Brian), killer bass (Jordan) , massive rhythm section (Cam) and of course Red on the Ivory. Spafford bootstraps their deep funk right into your boogie bone, you are helpless to not like these guys!
