Agreed here. It’s nice the boys are still active but it sucks they seem to skip the same cities every tour now.
Yeah I dunno I ended up putting in a request for Hershey and got a refundable hotel room. I can’t help myself.
Though I’d prefer to do AC…I just don’t think my friends can get their act together early enough to grab a hotel/Airbnb before they got up in price even more.
i’m doing string summit for one UM show, over phish @ the gorge.
skipping the tues/wed shows in eugene because im stingy with my vacation time.
Admittedly I haven’t heard Tahoe in quite a while so probably some recency bias. I should go back and listen to it. I guess what I meant to say was along the lines of this quote from the Phish.net jamchart that I just looked at:
Inarguably among the most sublime masterpieces of improvisation in Phish’s illustrious history.
I hate the way that I feel about Phish right now. Really want to fall back in love with them.
Just put in requests for ATL shows. $200 for two nights…
Yeah they’ve gotten to be pretty expensive to see. With face/fees you can pretty much count on spending $100/show on a ticket anymore.
They’re still my favorite band and I always look forward to seeing them. But for how expensive their shows are its frustrating to have to feel like you need to hit 3-4 shows in the hopes of catching 1 heater.
Yeah, I’ve been fairly vocal about my feelings about the current state of Phish.
They are, and always will be, one of my favorite bands of all time, and are a huge part of why I am the person I’ve become.
The Atlantic City shows will only be my 15th, 16th & 17th shows since they returned in ‘09, and that’s mostly due to the fact that I don’t seem to ever walk out of the show feeling how I once did.
Part of that is surely on me, as people & their tastes in music/events change, but a good part of it is also how the band is these days.
The shows that are truly tight throughout the entirety of the 2 sets, or are full of great improv, are just so few & far between these days. Also, the fact that when a Mike’s or say a 2001 pop up, it’s more likely to be a totally neutered version, in comparison to the glory days of either. I realize that it’s the band’s choice which songs get their best efforts & produce the big jams, but I miss that feeling that when a tune pops up, something great is surely comig.
That said, there still is nothing quite like being at a Phish show & I couldn’t be more pumped for this trip to AC with some of my favorite people. Finally catching my 100th is just the icing on the cake.
phish are the best. no jam band on earth has ever created what phish have in half a calendar year with alpine ruby waves and that msg tweezer. this conversation makes me smile because after pittsburgh i thought to myself how great it is in the world of phish because you can travel anywhere and know you’re going to get at least one redeeming quality as opposed to hoping for one.
i must not be as jaded as y’all. i love the current state.
I don’t disagree with how great those 2 versions are, but It’s such a crapshoot trying to catch a version like either of those. Tickets being $80-100 doesn’t help.
Still, many of my favorite shows, or moments of shows ever, have been seeing Phish.
IMO there is no band that can replicate that energy, and that’s what i’m there for. to see phish making music in the flesh. no band can do what you’re asking every show, and tbh, there’s not a band in the scene that can do half of what phish do in terms of live music experience. the playing isn’t always great, but that’s the price you pay watching old men.
the ticket prices thing is a pointless arguement. Phish don’t dictate the prices and if you’re seeing a major band in an arena you’re gonna pay $80-$100.
I agree with CC. I never got to see them during their hey day, but it’s absolutely totally a crapshoot on their heater shows now. However, I am incredibly grateful and appreciative that they are still playing and, even if it may be (very) few and far in-between, theres still a total possibility that you catch that heater show. There really is nothing like a Phish show. Before the show, during the show, after the show, all of it. I’ll still see them whenever I am able and I will be incredibly excited for it everytime, but bc of ticket price and inconsistency, I usually only catch a few shows every couple of years or so
edit: funk making some good points in that last post as well
Not arguing any of that, really, and it’s still my favorite concert going experience overall.
But, the ticket price thing isn’t a pointless argument. I’m aware it’s not the band who sets the prices, but it is my choice whether I wanna throw $100…plus travel, food, drink, lodging, etc…at every single event, in hopes of walking out w/an ear to ear grin. Always walk out being glad I was there, but it’s not as common that I’m blown away by the actual music.
Shit, I pay $65-70 per show for f’n Panic when they come to town, but that’s more to just spend the shows with my great friends who go crazy for them still. I enjoy the shows, but I wouldn’t travel to see em. I’ll see em when they come to town though.
I’m just no longer at a point in my life, where I can (or should say choose to) travel around in hopes of a heater. Your best bet is a midweek sleeper show, and those are becoming far more tough to justify.
I’m super glad that they’re still out there doing their thing & that their fan base continues to grow. The world is a better place with Phish being an active, touring band. That much I feel very strongly about.
Viva la Phish!!
didn’t mean to seem argumentative, totally agree with all of this. really my method is if i can’t do a run, where’s the cheapest option for me to see just one show. i only see one or two a tour usually, so i just try and go to the places where i can make it a full on vacation instead of a weekend of phish shows.
super stoked for you in AC man, what a milestone!
You can go see Spafford and Goose for $20 these days, dudes. Pass the torch!
would much rather physically eat that money
it’s cool to see people excited about younger bands in the scene. i just cannot stand jam bands anymore.
I do like both of those bands a lot, but yes my post was obviously a joke. Everyone knows what they like and not all bands are for everyone. That’s for sure.
This isn’t about phish per se but I went and saw a Dead Set last weekend performed by a band where most of the guys play together regularly (and cover the Dead) but they all know the music well. I saw maybe 5 songs tops in the 2 hours I was there (there was a 25 min or so setbreak). They were all good players but I was for the most part thoroughly bored. The jams just went on forever and rarely built to anything. Just kind of a weird feeling leaving thinking “that was wayyyy too much jamming”. I think it’s a realization of my changing tastes in music after liking jambands for so long and kind of turning away from that now. Having said that I’m never not going to love phish or UM, and I’ll still go nuts over landmark jams like 12/30 Tweezer etc, but I guess I just kind of surprised myself by how much I didn’t enjoy what I was seeing. And that makes it harder to justify spending so much money on phish tix on the chance you might see something truly great.
Sorry if this should be on the Confessions thread, just seemed relevant to this discussion.
Agree fully on that point.
There’s a huge difference between jamming for the sake of jamming, and jamming with inspiration & direction.
I’m less & less impressed by the majority of typical jam bands these days.
big yes to both of these. i think it’s because we are older and no new jam band is doing anything new. they are all carbon copies of each other.
Big fan of both Spaff and Goose, but I agree completely that no ones doing anything new here