My sentiments exactly!! Phish broke me this year.
But believe me, I will be saving up starting NOW to blow it all over again this summer!
Like posted above, this comes at a very good time. Give them a little space to see their families off the road, tour a little with solo projects, then re-focus the energy towards the monster that is Phish! I will be ready for summer dates when they arrive, with plenty of money to blow… 
But… no! I only just discovered them! I decided I wanted to see them sometime between summer tour and 8, and I couldn’t make it anywhere for fall. Gah. I can’t wait for my first show.
^Atleast you know you will have a first show. I had never seen them when they “quit” in '04. THAT was depressing… Have a little patience, this is a good thing!! You’ll see them soon enough!
Hah, too true. What a horrible feeling that is. It seems like I usually have extremely bad luck about getting into bands right before or right after they’ve called it quits. That streak’s definitely broken. Someday, Phish tickets! You will be mine!
Yeah, Indiana > Wisconsin > Washington > California > Ohio > Florida ='s $$$$… I am broke for extra ‘fun’ funding…
14 shows this year and not a one that I regret… What a season of Phish shows! Yeah baby!!! 
i agree with jay, i think this will be good for them…i definitely want them to keep playing for many more years! also, i am living out of the country until next summer, and i have been getting really jealous of my boyfriend going to shows without me!
If it makes you feel any better he’s probably cheating on you.
j/k of course. That was really inappropriate. I don’t know you or your boyfriend.
I really like that I have at least 5 or 6 months now to save and hopefully next summer I’ll be able to hit more than 6 shows.
I hope to see Phish in a new venue soon too, like a winter Xcel show (St.Paul Mn), yeah baby!!! 
I’d like to see them in a new venue…Pine Knob…which they never go to for some reason.
Prolly cuz it’s got the word “knob” in it.
Ya jackknob.
Although its called “DTE Music Theater” now…
DTE? That sounds like some drug Trey would take.
I agree with ya’ll on this one. I needed a break…this year left me flat broke, and I was already saying (prior to Trey’s announcement) that I wasn’t gonna be able to do a Spring tour…so, they really couldnt have picked a more perfect time to take a break. By summer, we’ll all be well rested, with hopefully some $$$ in the bank, ready to go & do it all again.
Happy 2010 to all!!
I can’t wait until I get out of fucking college so that I can actually have some money to spend. I made it to 5 shows this year, and that is good, but when I get my degree, I swear I’m just gonna take any job I can get, get me a cheap apartment and a cheap car, and just hit the road every time they go on tour. It always sucks leaving a Phish show and not going to the next one. Everyone else is saying “see you at Darien!” or whatever, and I’m just sitting there wishing I could go.
hate to tell ya, but it got a lot harder to go to shows once i left school. at least it was for me. skipping a class was a lot easier than blowing off a full time job in the real world…
Yeah but I plan to be living in New England, which helps, plus when you have a job, you have money. Right now, since I take a full course load, my parents pay for my living expenses, which means that if I want to go to a show, they pay for it (sometimes). And I am profoundly blessed by such incredibly generous parents to have sent me to 5 shows this year. I can’t put into words how much I appreciate what they do for me.
BUT, 5 shows a year is not enough for my Phish addiction to be satiated, and I can’t expect 5 shows a year even from them. I think the only reason they sent me to so many this past year is because it was their first year back and my parents know (at least somewhat) what that band means to me. I know getting a job would be the route to go, but Asheville is pretty slim pickings for jobs, and I would have trouble handling a full course load along with a part time job.
Also, it seems that a lot of the people I met who were doing the tour or at least a large portion of it were dude in their mid-20’s to early-30’s. I mean shit, Hank is a prime example.
^ That’s pretty friggin awesome that your parents just buy you Phish tickets. I didn’t get anything like that back when I was in school… they paid for part of my tuition and I was on my own for the rest.
But yeah, being employed is going to help, for sure. Still, if you are employed full-time, it’s another set of obstacles and frustrations… b/c then you’re beholden to a lot of factors beyond your control. (Like my job is busiest from Sept - March or so… right during Fall Tour, Fest 8, and NYE this year. Yay.) If you’re fortunate to get a lot of time off or have a job that isn’t demanding (either at all or at least not when Phish is touring), you’re golden. If not, you have to pick and choose.
Still, simply having an income makes a HUGE difference. I definitely saw far more shows after college than i did during.
I’m not sure how difficult it is at your school, but my undergrad had a department that specialized in on-campus jobs for students. My first part time job was serving food at the dining hall across the street from my dorm. It was gross but for $7/hr I did it with a smile (and got all the free food I can carry home).
Then I got a cushier job at the Front Desk of my dorm, and those hours are pretty flex and I don’t have to scoop and smell nasty food anymore. I was also the cashier at the Grille, a student-run burger joint in the same dining hall.
Some of my friends also volunteered their body for science by doing clinical trials, especially in the summertime. It’s pretty good money for being a human guinea pig. You have to be drug-free though xD