Phish at the BGCA

Happy New Year

Phish live at MSG 12/31/11 > 1/1/12
Steam > Auld Land Syne > Down With Disease



Commentary on the meaning and creativity behind the performance on Mr.Miner's blog.

Outside Lands 2011

Trey Speaks

Trey Anastasio of Phish shares a little on his emotional connection to music as part of the film, Music by Andrew Zuckerman.



His words have a much broader application than to just music.

Phish in Broomfield,CO

An early bday present for me was to see Phish for 3 amazing nights in Broomfield, CO with a few of my good friends.

The Ballad Of Curtis Loew

Phish is back on tour - Summer 2010
Cuyahoga Falls, OH - 6/12/10 - Set I

Originally performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd

I just want to understand and get an idea of why and how much you love Phish?

I was asked to explain the reason why I like Phish so much. Why would I go so far out of my way to go to shows and plan for multiple shows. My response came from the heart. Thought I would post it.

I have always loved music. In high school I listened to classic rock a lot, got into the grateful dead, and was lucky enough to see a few cool concerts.

I entered college and was in a very impressionable point in my life. Ithaca had an amazing music scene for a small town in upstate New York so I started seeing music a lot more. Within a month or so of being in college, I saw Phish at a bar called the Haunt with a few hundred people. I was 17 years old.

They left a lasting impression. Throughout my 5 years in Ithaca I saw a ton of amazing music, but seeing Phish (who toured the northeast a lot in the early 1990's) was always the crown jewel.

When I moved out west, I saw Phish less and drifted away from listening to them. Then they started to suck. Then they went on hiatus. Then they broke up.

Now in my near middle adulthood, they are back and they don't suck. They remind me of my youth and every time I see them in concert I am reminded of how it felt to have that musical awakening 20 years ago. I also feel like this is limited, they will not be doing this for another 20 years - and NO concert experience will ever do this for me again.

That said, it is not more important to me than being with my family.

Phish Pics I Keep Adding To When I Find Them

Corinna

Corinna: new favorite Phish song of the day (a Taj Mahal cover). This recording is from 12/30/09; Miami,FL (New Years Run 2009-2010).



Seeing this video of Taj Mahal singing it makes me love it even more:



THE Taj Mahal?
Surrre, you know The Taj?

2009: Year of the Phish

Reflection...

By far one of the most exciting things that happened in 2009 for me, was the reuniting of Phish and my ability to go to 3 shows (Shoreline and the Gorge) plus Festival 8.

From their exciting reunion at Hampton in March 2009; which showed me they were back for real and were still good; to ringing in the new year in Miami with crazy onstage antics reminiscent of the good old days - wow what a year for Phish.

Bring on 2010 tour dates please.

iTunes Sucks

I have to say, I have always had problems with iTunes. First it was their DRM on all of their audio tracks. Then they lifted the DRM, but if you bought DRM music in the past and wanted the DRM lifted, you had to pay. Now, I hate them because of POOR QUALITY!

I ordered "Dub Like an Antelope: The Legends of Reggae Celebrate Phish" from iTunes. It's a fantastic reggae compilation album of reggae stars performing Phish tunes. One of the songs, however, is cut off at the last 2 seconds! (Makisupa Policeman) How could that happen? The guy who ripped it must have made an error. Seems like an easy problem to fix, just rip another copy of it and upload it to the store.

I complained, expecting that result. Instead, they gave me a credit for 1 song. I used the credit to download the exact same song that was damaged to prove to myself it wasn't a problem on my end. I was right, the 2nd version I downloaded was still messed up. I complained again and they gave me another song credit.

Totally, Totally, unacceptable. If I bought a CD from the store and it skipped, I would return it and probably get a full refund. I fought for a refund from iTunes, and got it (rightfully so). It might seem like a minor problem, but I expect the download to be in perfect order just like you would expect your brand new CD to work perfectly.

But SHAME ON YOU ITUNES! They continue to sell the same poor quality track to other people!!!! Instead of fixing the problem, they tried to make me go away with a song credit. Poor customer service. I tried to leave a comment in the iTunes store warning people of the problem, but iTunes censored me and did not post it.

WARNING: DO NOT BUY THIS ALBUM FROM ITUNES!

How could they accept such poor quality in their store?

Question: Why don't online music vendors sell FLAC files? I want FLAC files for my music downloads. WE WANT QUALITY!

Phish at the State Theater; Ithaca,NY

This was one of the best Phish shows (that I have been to) of all time. It was located in the intimate State Theater in Ithaca, NY (upstate) on February 14, 1991. I was a college student at Ithaca College at the time and Phish was in the early years of their rapid fan base growth.

At the time, Ithaca had a diverse music scene and many bands passed through while on tour in the northeast. Phish was quite popular in Ithaca back then, as they had performed at a local bar/venue called The Haunt for the past few years prior (The Haunt is in a much larger space now, but back in 1991 it was a small bar with a stage on Green Street. I always considered it a fire trap, but boy did they get great acts to come through town - which kept me coming back!). The Valentine's Day Phish show in 1991 at the State Theater was sold out.

State Theater in Ithaca, NY

The State Theater was a great venue. The seating without an open floor in front of the stage allowed you to move around. Even though the show was sold out, they didn't oversell it so it wasn't so crowded that you couldn't move around. The theater itself was built in the 1920's and had a lot of charm. Finally, Ithaca was a pretty small town. I knew a lot of people at this show, including my friend Marc who was part of the "security" detail. Here's his shirt on our cactus from Festival 8!


This show was particularly memorable because they gave away their old tour van by throwing the keys into the audience. The lucky fan who "won" the van was a friend of mine named Eric (aka "Toast). The van ended up being more of a curse than a gift, as it ended up needing a lot of work and I think it cost him all sorts of money in repairs, tickets, tows or whatever. I don't recall what we did with it, but I know he didn't keep it for long. Too bad, it would be quite a relic today.

The end of the video has the announcement about the van giveaway.

Invisible

I love this song!



(Invisible from Phish's acoustic set at Festival 8 on 11/1/09)
Lyrics

Festival 8

Phish's Festival 8 was a fantastic time. I am so glad I was with "the crew" that I was with. All together there were maybe 15-20 of us, staying at various different locations. However, we'd all meet up inside the venue for the show.

Festival 8 Video Set

There is something to be said about the "pack mentality" when at a large show (Festival 8 was estimated to be between 35k-40k people). For starters, a group of people is more likely to get a relatively close spot. Someone will get there first, and the group will follow.

Next, everyone has bags with extra clothing in it, water, whatever. We make a huge pile in the middle of our group with all of our baggage. This way you can enjoy the show without your backpack on, and not worry about it disappearing because everyone around the pile is your friend. We'll put some glowsticks on the pile at night so other people passing through won't step on it.

Finally, we need a "beacon". Say you have to go to the restroom. You leave and then try to come back. Wading through thousands of people, trying to find the exact spot you left, is difficult. We will have a unique item which someone in the group will hold up in the air. You will be able to see it over the crowd, and be guided back to the pack.


For this festival, the inflatable cactus served as a fantastic beacon. I brought a dozen of them to the show. I found them cheap on ebay, and thought they would be a good daytime toy. Not only was it a great beacon because of how easy it was to see and identify, and because of how unique it was, but it was also something we kept seeing throughout the weekend. It was also very fitting because we were in the desert. With a dozen of these, most of them ended up being "released into the crowd". Over the course of the weekend, we would see other people with one of the cacti, one person had one close to the stage that I kept seeing way up in front of me for each set, they were on the jumbo screen, they got decorated, and one even made it into the LA Times (3rd photo down).

Overall a great time with a great group of kids!

CACTUS!!!

Why is Phish so cool?

I remember the first time Phish announced they were going to play at Madison Square Garden in NYC in late 1995. I was flabbergasted! How could this band I had first seen in a bar in Ithaca, NY in 1990 with maybe 100 people in attendance have garnered such a huge following? How could a band who has 0 Top 10 billboard hits be playing several nights to a sold out crowd at MSG? How could this band most people, at the time, had barely even heard of be so successful? I'll try to explain it as best I can.

Unique Experience
One of the most important aspects of Phish is that they try to make each show a unique experience. If they play a 3 night stint somewhere, all 3 shows will be different in that the setlists will vary. Phish creatively tries to mix it up (and succeeds). This is a step away from the mainstream music concert tour where everything is choreographed and, as a result, each show in the tour is the same. Also notable about Phish shows is the lighting. It becomes a performance with the work of Chris Kuroda, who synchronizes the light show with the music (which is no easy task considering the band is improvising a lot of the time). All of this makes Phish fans want to see more that just one Phish concert in a tour if they can.

They also try to play in venues that are fun and friendly for the audiences. Venues like The Gorge Amp in Washington State or Red Rocks Amp in Colorado have absolutely beautiful surroundings. The Thomas & Mack Center in Vegas is, well, in Vegas! Hampton Coliseum in Virginia has also always been a favorite. Additionally, Phish will periodically host festivals where they will play a 2-3 day stint in a remote location where fans can come and camp out; usually with fun activities and art installations to help make it a destination.


Taping Is Allowed
Phish allows their fans to tape their live performances! Again, this is a step away from the mainstream music concert tour which considers such activity illegal. In fact, Phish designates a specific area of the venue they are performing at (called the “Taper Section”) where people who wish to tape the show can set up their equipment.

There are official rules about taping though, which from my experience, most tapers/fans abide by. Here is a summary of the policy:

1. You can only tape in the designated taper section (usually behind the soundboard). Sometimes you need a “taper ticket” to enter the taper section, and sometimes it is first come first served.
2. You cannot interfere with someone else’s enjoyment of the show. For example, you can’t tell the people next to you who might be cheering to be quiet so your recording will come out better.
3. I’m pretty sure there is a limit to how tall your mic stand can be, but not sure.
4. And finally, you cannot sell or profit from your recording. You can trade it for other recordings; but that’s about it. The only people who can sell a recording is Phish - and they do sell nice soundboard quality recordings of their shows on livephish.com
   

Taping was (and may still be?) the common denominator amongst fans. Early on, in the early/mid 90’s, many fans traded audio cassettes. This is pre-Internet, pre CD burning for the masses, pre MP3, & pre iPod. It was technically challenging at the time to transfer digital recordings to the layman so audio tapes were used (some people used DAT but that was rare). In fact, I recall at this time I was purchasing most other music on CD’s and had a CD player, but I also had a tape player specifically for Phish tapes (and other live music recordings) because I had no Phish music on CD. I had a nice sized tape collection of Phish and traded with people I met or knew.


Audience Participation
Phish often times involves the audience in their shows.

• I recall a tour where they played chess against the audience, where every show they would make moves on a huge chess board (I forget who eventually won; the band or the audience).
• For Halloween, they have costume contests for audience and often play a 3rd set where they will cover another band’s album (most notable was the White Album in Glens Falls, NY in 1994 where this tradition started)
• One year (early 90’s) at the State Theatre in Ithaca, NY they gave away their old tour van by throwing the keys to it into the audience (and a guy I know nick-named “Toast” caught them).
• They used to have giant inflated balls they would send into the audience and each band member would “play along” with one of the balls, thus giving the audience “control” over what they play.
• They created a “secret” language of sorts, where Trey would queue the audience with a signal of some kind and everyone would react (for example; Trey would quietly play the first verse to the Simpson’s song and the whole audience would say “DOH!”)
• Sometimes fans bring glow sticks and start throwing them around, which looks really cool, and the band will reciprocate with appropriate lighting and music.

These examples and many others not listed, contribute to the whole “unique experience” that keeps fans coming back and makes it worth it to make a show a destination trip.


Frequent Tours (and side note on age demographic)
Can’t travel to see Phish? Not to worry, over the course of a year they will likely be playing somewhere that is within reasonable driving distance to you. They tour frequently, usually coinciding with the seasons (Summer Tour, Fall Tour, etc). During Summer Tour you are likely to find a lot of kids out of college for the summer going to multiple shows (as I did when I was an undergrad). During those days, there were pretty much ONLY people in their late teens and early 20’s going to shows. While there is still people in that age group going, a lot of the people who were going to shows in their 20’s during the 90’s are now in their mid/late 30’s and still going (so the demographic has changed a bit).


Comparisons to the Grateful Dead
Comparing Phish to the Grateful Dead is a double edged sword. There are definite similarities in form, but many differences in style. The most significant similarities in form are the band’s focus on live shows over studio albums, frequent tours, making each live show unique, fan taping policies, the availability of live recordings as a commodity among fans, and the fan’s tendency to follow the tour around from city to city. As far as style goes, the only thing really very similar is that both bands could be considered jam bands. This article on wikipedia describes the difference as: “Phish tended to more closely follow a jazz language or tradition in their playing, which is very distinct from the Grateful Dead's roots in folk and Americana”. It did seem to me during the rise of Phish in the early 90’s that they were on their way to taking over the helm for the next generation on what the Grateful Dead had started with touring. Despite the similarities, I still find it to be politically incorrect when people compare the two groups as almost synonymous.


Death of Jerry Garcia
On August 9, 1995; Jerry Garcia passed and pretty much ended the Grateful Dead as it was then known. The Grateful Dead were still a regular touring band at the time, and they stopped touring due to Garcia’s death. Looking for a similar scene (again, with the similarities being in “form”), may Grateful Dead fans began taking to touring more frequently with Phish. There was a noticeable increase in attendance at Phish concerts and demand for tickets starting in late 1995. Although some may argue that it isn’t the case, I believe Phish's popularity explosion had a lot to do with the fact that Phish was no longer sharing the tour scene with the Grateful Dead after 1995.


Communication (From The Shivice to the Internet)
Phish and Phish fans have always made efforts to use whatever media means possible to keep connected. It started first with the Phish mailing list. Before the Internet and widespread use of email, Phish used to send a periodic newsletter to fans via snail mail called the “Doniac Shivice” (which I used to absolutely love receiving). I’ve read somewhere that at the height of circulation they were sending out 200k copies per issue.

Since the proliferation of the Internet, Phish stopped circulating the Shivice and started communication via email. They built out a website that now includes livephish.com, where soundboard quality recordings of their shows can be purchased in MP3 or SHN for less than the cost of a CD just hours after a performance. Fans also distribute their audience recordings, legally according to Phish's taping policy. Before digital distribution you could probably find a copy of a particular show within a few weeks, but with the Internet and digital distribution you can download an audience copy of a show within hours of it's completion.

Fans also started various independent websites where people can connect about Phish, trade music recordings, look for tickets, find tour information, etc. Most recently, Phish began using Twitter to send out setlists from shows in real time - which I think is ground breaking use of Twitter for live music.


On the Fringe of Pop Culture
It amazes me that a band that sells out festivals in the middle of nowhere to 70k people, or 3 night stints at MSG, can remain on the fringe of pop culture. There are references to Phish in the mainstream, like with cameo appearances on the Simpsons or with the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream flavor (Phish Food) named after them – but they still are not considered mainstream. I honestly hope it stays that way, b/c nothing can ruin a good thing or a best kept secret faster than too much media attention.

Added 8/26/09:
Phish's Secrets and More For Growing A Cult Following

NEXT BLOG POST ABOUT PHISH (coming soon):
Debunking The Stereotypes
(are all Phish fans *really* pot smoking neo-hippies?)

a few choice words on SCALPING

It's no secret among people who know me that I like the band, Phish. I came to like them during a very impressionable part of my life (early college), when they were still a bar band. The first time I saw them was at The Haunt in Ithaca, NY in 1990 (The Haunt was on Green Street back then). There couldn't have been more than 200 people there. Today, you can't see them with less than 20,000 people - and it has been incredible to follow them throughout the years and be a part of their growth.

I've always admired their taping policy, which basically allows fans to record shows and trade them for personal use (not for profit). Not many musicians allow this, and this has greatly contributed to their popularity - and the fact that they try to make each show a unique experience. On the same note, they have a "strict" policy on scalping tickets called "A FEW CHOICE WORDS ON SCALPING". It reads:

Phish Tickets has a zero tolerance for scalping and insists that all patrons of our service abide by our policy stated herein. Tickets made available through this site are intended only for fans who are actually planning on attending the shows requested. It is strictly prohibited to resell any tickets obtained through Phish Tickets for more than the purchase price. If you are found to be reselling, trading or brokering tickets that you purchased through our site for profit, Phish Tickets may at its discretion cancel your ticket order and all other pending orders in your name. This cancellation will result in a refund of the total price for the tickets minus a $7.00 per ticket processing fee and any shipping fees that have been incurred with respect to the order. We reserve the right to investigate all orders suspected to be in violation of this policy. (Source)

Before the proliferation of the Internet (and at the most basic level), this may have meant under cover cops posing as fans in the parking lot before a show trying to find someone who will sell them a ticket for over asking price. Today, they have to contend with over the asking price sales of tickets taking place on Craigslist, Ebay, StubHub (just to name a few) months before the event.

My latest experience in trying to obtain tickets the "right" way for the Summer 2009 Tour confirmed; Phish isn't doing nearly enough to prevent scalping. They can spin their wheels all day trying to take down individual ebay auctions or StubHub postings and cancelling people's orders for a mere $7 penalty - but being so reactive is a complete waste of time and barely makes a dent on the problem. Phish needs to find a way to sell tickets so that more people who actually intend on going to the show are the ones receiving the tickets.

I did everything right to get tickets to some summer tour shows:

1. I ordered via pre-order and followed the rules. My order was for the number of tickets I actually needed. Result? DENIED.
2. I waited to the exact second that tickets went on sale to the public and tried via phone AND internet to order. Result? DENIED.

I can go on about how both TicketMaster and LiveNation do not have sufficent web applications that can handle the demand of selling for a show that sells out in 5 mins (It was a HORRIBLE website sales experience full of errors). Phish should just completely eliminate allowing TicketMaster and LiveNation to sell tickets - b/c they clearly can't handle the load on their websites. I digress though...

So after being denied tickets by the legitimate avenues, I of course had no problem buying tickets for DOUBLE the face value on StubHub. There were hundreds of tickets available on StubHub for double and I had no problem ordering, but I could not not obtain a signle ticket through the legitimate channel - and I'm the target audience!!! (a fan doing everything right). What's wrong with this picture?

I sent Phish an email expressing my displeasure with their ticketing process (Here's someone else who did the same thing). This was their response:

Dear Fan,
We are aware that tickets to the Hampton shows are being resold on EBAY, StubHub, Tickets.com, etc. We went to great lengths to cancel any suspect or fraudulent ticket requests before the successful orders were selected.
Now that the ticket request period is over and the public on-sale has commenced, we cannot confirm the source of a given auction.

Please understand that the only way to eliminate scalping is to simply not cooperate with it.

Sincerely,
Phish Ticketing Customer Service Dept

So this means, Phish, that you were basically reactive to the problem. You are just chipping away at the top of an iceberg. How about thinking of a proactive solution to prevent so many tickets going to scalpers to begin with? Check out how FIFA sells tickets for the World Cup. Eliminate TicketMaster, LiveNation, and the like.

Also, your advice that the "only way to eliminate scalping is to simply not cooperate with it" is noble. I have never sold a Phish ticket for more than the face value. But now that I am left without a ticket myself, does that mean I should BOYCOTT the shows? Does this mean I should just give up and not go? What if everyone did that? Then what you'd have, dear Phish, is a CANCELED TOUR because there would be tons of tickets on sale for double the price (or more) and no one going to the shows!

Scalping has become the backbone of the Phish ticket sales process! What is Phish going to do about it? (other than cancel people's orders, refund money, and penalize $7 - oohh big deal).