Box of Rain
March 20, 1986
Hampton Coliseum
Despite feeling under the weather, I drove my piece of shit 78 Chevette down from Baltimore, twice almost turning around on hitting traffic. Made it there, parked, and found my seat. Actually dozed off for a bit before the show started. After a nice Althea, Bobby cracked to the audience "now we're going to prove that practice makes perfect." They began the song, but they had reworked the intro a bit so no one knew what they were hearing. Just before the first vocal lines, the first folks started realizing what they were hearing and you heard the beginnings of a roar --a HUGE, tsunami-like howl that grew larger and louder exponentially when the audience heard that long-missing opening line, "Look out of any window..." The rest of the opening verse was completely lost as the roar built to an INCREDIBLE, MIND-BOGGLINGLY LOUD crescendo. The Coliseum absolutely shook under the power of that roar, the likes of which I have never heard anything remotely like again. The rest of the song was just pure joy as the audience sang the last few stanzas along with Phil. The Box was back! After the song, another enormous roar erupted from the audience, as the band members, all grinning from ear to ear, exited the stage. I looked around me, and the Heads were all ecstatic -- some applauding, others with the tears flowing freely, everyone hugging. A moment I will never, ever forget, and that I will cherish until my days are up. It really was one of the top highlights of my life. I feel incredibly lucky to have been there, and I always feel a little prickle of horror that I almost turned back and missed it. For these reasons, I strongly recommend one of the audience tapes -- the soundboard versions mute the audience reaction, which is an incredibly beautiful and poignant testament to how deeply this song has touched the community of Heads. So, so happy D&Co have put it back into their repertoire -- JM does a beautiful job with it.
