Can we talk about Phish?

[DerekTheater]

I had no idea so many Phans were into Dream Theater!

I'm not much of a fan myself, but I was close friends with a group of heads in college, and ended up going to a few shows. What a great live act. I can't stand their studio stuff though.

[bout to crash]

Yeah, I don't really listen to their studio stuff much (other than Lawn Boy- I just love that one!) but the live show/atmosphere is such a fucking blast.

[YtsePhish]

Ok guys and gals- pay attention to current Phish summer 2016 tour. Best so far, imho, since they came back in 2009. Anyone catch the shows at Wrigley? Wow wow. That disease > Fuego > 20 Years Later > Also Sprach Zarathrusta was MONEY. Not to mention an a Capella rendition of Space Oddity! And Night #2 Set 2 flowed like buttah. Best Fluffhead in a long time. And the I Am The Walrus encore!!!  Wook hoooooo!!!!!

[darkshade]

I'm going to night 2 of Mann, Night 1 of SPAC, and Hartford. This tour is great so far.

By the way Magnaball (Phish's 10th festival in 2015) rules, and is one of the best things they've ever done. 8/21, 8/22, 8/23 2015. I'm not just saying that because I was there.

[YtsePhish]

Nice darkshade! Totally agree with Magnaball. Never listen to jaded vets that say Phish is no longer good since the 90s. I been seeing phish since 95 and they are just as exciting now, if not more- if just by the fact their repetoire has expanded! That Tweezer > Prince Caspian from Magnaball which I really consider Tweezer > Caspian > Tweezer (Fishman clearly returns to the Tweezer beat) .... WAS JAW DROPPING amazing!

Mann is going to be awesome. Have a good time!!!

[darkshade]

I like the Magnaball Bathtub Gin a lot. Yes, that Tweezer>Caspian is epic stuff. The Drive-In Jam from night 2 blows me away every time. That's some deep music.

Thanks. I always make it to at least one Mann show since they went back there in 2014.

95? That's awesome. IMO there's great stuff from every year they've played.

[YtsePhish]

Yes, that Gin is definitely the best of the 3.0 era (2009+) Drive in jam blows my mind too - wasn't there but was listening live on the Bunny radio.

FYI - interesting info coming in on their new album. Apparently that awesome percussionist that does a lot of Broadway (Hamilton) plays on almost every tune and described one track as 15 minutes w/ classical percussion!

[darkshade]

In case you haven't been following, the band has been on a roll with releasing archive shows during the pandemic. They've released some epic shows recently, 11/28/94, 6/14/95, 7/8/94, and 8/1/98 just to name a few.

They just released 7/23/97 today, multi track recording. Sounds absolutely amazing. One of the best versions of Ghost. I love 97 Phish.

[Zantera]

Since I first listened to a Phish album in April last year and until now they have pretty much become my favorite band. Wonderful in every way.

[darkshade]

Live Bait vol. 17 dropping at midnight tonight.

Live Baits are free to download on livephish.com when they're first released.

Tour starts in two days.

[darkshade]

For the 3 or so phans on DTF:

It's not every day Dream Theater announce a new album AND Phish tour starts tonight in a couple of hours after a year and a half 'hiatus'.

[ReaperKK]

Sorry for the necro bump but I've recently gotten into Phish. I had a roommate in college who was obsessed with them, we'd get stoned and watch live shows but I never dug deeper.

A few months ago I was partaking solo and I remembered watching them live so I put some stuff on youtube. I'm really enjoying it, it's so chill compared to most of what I listen to that I just like having a show playing on my second monitor while gaming.

I know they have a huge bootleg culture, are there any must listen to shows?

[Stadler]

I went through a phase back in the late '90s, saw them I think twice.  They are great live, but I wear thin on the music pretty quickly.  It's obviously technically proficient, but sometimes the humor is lost on me, and I'm never really a fan of "quirky" so there's that.  But if you know what you're getting, you get it at a very high quality. 

[ProfessorPeart]

I also went through a heavy Phish phase probably in the late 90's into the 00's. Went crazy with buying live shows. I have the entire Live Phish run which is 20 live albums and I even have the zip up binder that was released for it. Plus I have several other live releases. I have a lot of live releases.

Then I discovered Umphrey's McGee. After that, Phish sort of disappeared for me. I still like Phish, but UM is just head and shoulders above.

Never seen Phish live. Have seen UM several times.

[Zantera]

Sorry for the necro bump but I've recently gotten into Phish. I had a roommate in college who was obsessed with them, we'd get stoned and watch live shows but I never dug deeper.

A few months ago I was partaking solo and I remembered watching them live so I put some stuff on youtube. I'm really enjoying it, it's so chill compared to most of what I listen to that I just like having a show playing on my second monitor while gaming.

I know they have a huge bootleg culture, are there any must listen to shows?

There's a bunch of great shows, and it's great that they have captured so much of it and released a lot of it. Some of my personal favorites would be:

Live Phish Volume 4 - Fukuoka, Japan (June 14, 2000) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Phish_Volume_4

Live Phish Volume 11 - Denver, USA (November 17, 1997) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Phish_Volume_11

Amsterdam (3 nights in 1997) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_(Phish_album)

Ventura (2 nights, one in 1997, one in 1998) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventura_(Phish_album)

Brooklyn (2004) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phish:_Live_in_Brooklyn

There's also a great 4 show run from 1998 referred to as the Island tour, here's the first night but you can just find the next few through this article for the other nights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Phish_04.02.98

If you really get into the band though and become a big fan, for me the most interesting thing they did and the most impressive on a large scale is the box set The Baker's Dozen from 2017. They played 13 nights in Madison Square Garden and they did not repeat a single song at all over these 13 nights. It's a crazy achievement because all these 2 ½ - 3 hour concerts are packed with quality, variety, great covers and they all have themes - different flavor donuts for each night. It's one of the coolest things any band has done live that I know of. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baker%27s_Dozen_(concert_series)

[Orbert]

I also went through a heavy Phish phase probably in the late 90's into the 00's. Went crazy with buying live shows. I have the entire Live Phish run which is 20 live albums and I even have the zip up binder that was released for it. Plus I have several other live releases. I have a lot of live releases.

Then I discovered Umphrey's McGee. After that, Phish sort of disappeared for me. I still like Phish, but UM is just head and shoulders above.

Never seen Phish live. Have seen UM several times.

I was kinda the same with Phish, collecting live stuff (including all the LivePhish but not the binder), and also found Umphrey's McGee at some point.  Somehow I never really dug into them, though I remember meaning to a few times.  I guess I was just past that "phase" or something.  They did seem like taking Phish to the next level, a little harder here, a little funkier there.  I may still check them out.  Thanks for reminding me about them.