Nobody except his probation officer annd the drug court in Whitehall NY, that is. 
^And that Indio crew member right before the acoustic set.
fair enough, those two i suppose… but after that, NOBODY! 
What about his wife? 
^ 
My thoughts exactly. When I saw that Chicago Transit Authority was an option, I thought “no way they would try to pull that off”. There were a lot of other albums on the list that there was just no way they would attempt. Exile is simple, easy to play, and they absolutely killed it. Good choice guys.
^ There were a lot of easier albums. You realize they had to learn 18 songs to play Exile right? It is one of the longest albums out of the 100 or so they chose from. They could have chosen AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Pixies, The Police, The White Stripes, X, ZZ Top and on and on and on, and they all would have been easier albums to learn than Exile.
Exile has a lot of complicated tunings and two guitar parts for Trey to learn instead of just one…not to mention the horn arrangements. Exile was actually one of the tougher albums out of those 100 that they chose to cover, so give Phish a bit of credit won’t you?
I’ve been saying this for years. I think the whole thing about Trey “battling addiction” was leading up to the unusually poignant Halloween choice that would coincide with the reissue of the album. The reappearance of “Torn and Frayed” only underscores this fact. I also always figured that Phish’s penchant for covering “Loving Cup” was clearly leading up to the 38th (check the Qabbalistic significange of the number 38) anniversary remastering job for “Exile”. And speaking of Qabbalistic signifiers, take note that Exile is being released almost exactly 7th months AFTER Phish’s performance. C’mon! Seven!?! It should be obvious to even the greenest neophyte that 3+8=11. Of course 1+1= 2, and 7-2=5… and low and behold, the “Exile” reissue drops in… MAY!!! THE 5TH MONTH!!! Clearly a direct relationship. I know I don’t even have to get into the number 5… I mean… whoa… Oh and let’s not forget: 10/31… 1+0+3+1= 5!!! … and the Debut of Loving Cup in 1993… ON FEBRUARY 3RD!!!
…and… didn’t everybody pretty much quit listening to the Stones before Fest 8? It is my belief that It was really only their cover of the album that reawakened interest in this obscure rhythm and blues group. Kudos to Doojer for uncovering this farce.
You have to be kidding me Dooj!?!?!?!
I thought before Phish even reunited (early 2008) Stones fans voted Exile as their FAV album on their Website…Would that not have planted a “Reissue” seed in the bands head???
Did Trey not mention that this was his “GO TO” Party Cassette he carried with him in College to play for friends??
Page mentions in the F8 Playbill that he would go to sleep listening to Exile and waited till he had a Grand Piano on Tour to play Loving Cup back in the early 90’s??
I’m fully aware Dooj that seemingly everything about F8 has left a bad taste in your mouth, but Phish-Stones Conspiracies, now yer being a tad silly dude…
I totally LOL’d. Well played, sir. Well played.
AC/DC? Zepplin? Rage? Nirvana? More than half of the bands you named would be impossible for Trey, Page, Mike, or Fish to sing. I gave them credit. I said good choice. That album is not only simple for them to learn, but vocally, it was the most suited for them. I loved that they threw in the horns and backup singers. Much better than the White Album which, IMO, was murdered.
I think for the next Fest they should have the phans choose from a list that they devise…Once you buy your tickets, you then get a barcode to enter and vote for the album you want them to play, but again, only the phans that bought tickets get to vote…now wouldn’t that be cool!!!
what he said… 
Emmet, have you been reading my conspiracy diary?
everything about this rant is at least 35% accurate. WHOA, HOLD THE DAMN PHONE… 35… 3 + 5 = 8. Festival [size=200]8[/size]
mind = blown
Nothing is “impossible” to sing. Hell, Phish have covered AC/DC (Highway), Zeppelin (GTBT) and Nirvana (Teen Spirit…urghh). It’s not like Trey, Mike or Page sound anything like Jagger either…they just sing those stones songs in their own Phishy way…which is what they’ve done with every album and every song they’ve ever covered. I’ve never heard them once cover a song where I thought the singing sounded like the original artist. I guess maybe Exile was the album most “well suited” to them and that’s why they chose it, but that’s only because they love the album and it is way more important to them than any of those other 100 albums they could have chosen from.
Yeah, it is difficult to listen to Phish sing Jagger. Low-grade stuff right thar!