That was an absolutely beautiful piece of writing. Before the show started I met 2 couples, the one couple had been seeing shows since 1994, the other couple was a new couple, the guy had told me he grew up in Burlington down the street from the University of Vermont and his father was good friends with Mike, it was his girlfriend's 7th show (mine too!). These couples said something to me that I will never forget a so called "Jaded Vet" saying..."I'm happy to see younger kids at shows..." they all agreed that if getting younger people to come to shows that they keep playing like they have been "...then they can play Fuego every night if they have too!" That made me laugh, but at the same time it made me wish that there were more veterans like that. I explained to them that I was raised on Phish and The Grateful Dead...and I would give anything to have gone to even a 1/4 of the shows they were talking about. In the middle of Tweezer-fest one of the guys bends down to say something to me (I'm short as hell)...I know it's important because he (like me) didn't like people talking during songs. He said "Thank you for bringing Phish back, thank you for spreading Phish to your friends. This right here is more important than any show you could have gone to in the 90s...you brought Phish back for us."
Now of course he meant people my age in general...but still I haven't been able to stop thinking about that...and the fact that he told me I rage harder than anyone he has been show neighbors with since 2.0.