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H.O.R.D.E. Stories: Kyle Hollingsworth (A Fan’s Perspective)

The H.O.R.D.E. Tour debuted in July 1992 with four shows featuring Blues Traveler, Phish, Widespread Panic, Spin Doctors, and Col. Bruce Hampton and Aquarium Rescue Unit. Then in August the H.O.R.D.E. resumed with four additional dates, with Bela Fleck & The Flecktones swappin in for Phish.

Future String Cheese Incident keyboard player Kyle Hollingsworth attended the performance at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD on August 9, 1992. His memory of the event appears below (to check out all of our special H.O.R.D.E. content, which we will post over the coming weeks, visit www.relix.com/HORDE).

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I read the most recent Relix article about that first H.O.R.D.E. show and I wanted to share my memories of this event.

During that time, I was studying music in Baltimore and was a fan of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones. I had heard “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo” on the local college station and said, “man, that is a cool sound, I would love to be in a band like that one day.” So when I heard they were coming to Merriweather Post Pavilion, I was psyched. And because I was a fan of Spin Doctors as well, I went out bought tickets the first day they went on sale.

My friend and I arrived on the day of the show holding two tickets in the AAA section. I had no idea where that was and I assumed we were going to be in some nosebleed section. We ended in the front row. Like very, very front row, I could literally lick the stage.

I saw so much music that day. ARU, Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, and my favorites Bela and Spin Doctors. It was a wild environment. I had been to many Dead shows and was used to the hippie scene, but this was different. Everyone was younger, much more my age. It was like all the “Touch of Grey” kids from the Dead shows were finding a new scene of their own. And as I look back, I do feel that this was an emergence of a new generation of live music fans. We were finding music that spoke to us and we were bringing some of the elements of The Grateful Dead vibe to a new generation of “jam” bands.

It’s so weird that less than five years later I was touring across the country in an old ski bus playing music to a similar fan base, and ultimately meeting and playing with some of these same bands and musicians that I saw that day.

That was a great concert. It not only introduced me to a new set of artists, but also perhaps changed the course of my life.