Type Your Phish Thoughts

Phish General
#2181

That’s funny, when I saw Prince I had the exact same thing happen. I was boogieing down the whole time and this guy behind me was constantly yelling at me to “SIT DOWN”, and I was like “nah, fuck that, I’m dancing, this shit is funky!”. Anyway, I didn’t let it ruin my time. I fucking enjoyed the hell out of that show through and through…and I think that is really the crux of this conversation is whether or not you enjoy a show is completely dependent on you. You can go watch the best band ever playing the best show ever and if you’re not in the right mindset, you might not enjoy it, whereas you might go see the worst band ever playing some terrible music and have the time of your life. You can’t blame whether or not you enjoy a show on the band playing or the crowd or the amount of space you have or what clothes people are wearing. Whether you enjoy something or not is completely in your own mind.

Like I say…when I go see Phish I bring my A-game, and I hope that you all do too, not because it will make the experience better for me, but because it will make the experience better for you.

#2182

I think when the loud talker in the row behind you is as loud as the band is in your section, then it’s not entirely about mindset. But I definitely agree with your basic point. I’ve had lousy concert experiences from just being in a bad mood.

I just can’t stand it when people are grossly inconsiderate is all. There were a couple moments at Great Woods this year where I thought I was gonna have to say something. Even having to make the decision if it’s worth intervening is distracting enough from the experience to bother me. Concert tickets are several times the cost of a movie ticket, can we get that same shut-up-while-the-show-is-on courtesy please? Nope, guess not.

#2183

^ But couldn’t you have just gone and enjoyed the show from somewhere else where people weren’t talking and were really into the music? Maybe there wasn’t that sweet spot at Great Woods and if there wasn’t, I feel for you. But with that Prince show I was at with the douchebag yelling at me the entire show, I just blocked him out and enjoyed the show…and that one cost twice as much as any Phish show I’ve been to.

#2184

I swear, you guys ALWAYS focus on the wrong part of the story :laughing: I don’t care if chicks waste time and money making themselves up and wearing perfume. How the hell did that shit make it into so many subsequent posts, lol. I think it’s silly and definitely not a choice I would make, but if they were into the music, I would still give them props. That little blurb didn’t even have anything to do with my actual post. It doesn’t affect my enjoyment of tha Phish that they do these things. The only reason I even brought it up was to paint a picture of the people I always seem to encounter in negative experiences at Phish. Plus, Glenn mentioned something about not having to see hippies if he didn’t go to shows and I was just assuring him that said hippes are DEFINITELY the minority now. The whole point was to let him know if that if hippies were the biggest downside to him seeing Phish, he could now go and be fine.

Also, it may be easier for alot of you to tune out background noise, but for me, it isn’t…at ALL. You have no idea how hard I tried. I put in earplugs in hopes I could only hear the band. I closed my eyes, I danced until I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I did everything I could think of. It was SOOOO frustrating to me that I couldn’t block it out. If the music is coming out at a 4 or 5, but the people next to me are shouting at a solid 6 or 7, you can’t overcome physics, man. I knew if I asked them to be quiet, I was sure to get a “Fuck you, bitch” or something equally as respectful. I think whoever said sitting in the back may have an affect on the people I’m around probably has a really good point. I’ve never been one to move around because (this is so stupid) I’m always afraid of getting kicked out for taking someone’s seat, lol. I know it’s stupid and illogical, but I just can’t do it. I think the obvious solution is for Phish to give me better seats :slight_smile:

I also like the theory posed that the reason less people pay attention is because they know the download is waiting on them. Maybe that’s why I’m so intent on soaking everything in. I don’t have internet at home. I can’t download the shows. I know the live show is probably the only time I will ever hear it. I don’t do any drugs, and alcohol is a take it or leave it kinda thing. I’m not there to party, but I know ALOT of people are. I just need to make sure I steer clear of the party crowd and surround myself with other uberdorks :slight_smile:

As for the band, I think they are simply saving the good stuff for Superball , so be there or be square :slight_smile:

#2185

It takes a real obsessive to see a band over and over. Phish always switches it up. They switch it up more than the Dead did. If you are going to see Phish play 100 times you will see a lot of Tweezers, YEMs, Bowies, Antelopes, Hoods and Mike’s Grooves. If you see a whole tour you are going to see several of all of these. You’ve got to be somewhat obsessed to still go through all the driving, $$$, waiting in line and hanging out with weirdos to see your 20th YEM and still go home and listen to every show from the tour again and again.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t like Phish, it just may mean that you aren’t as obsessed with Phish as others are. It may not be worth it. There may be things you don’t like about the experience that you don’t want to deal with to see your 20th YEM.

If I’m going to go through all you gotta go through to see Phish, I’m sure going to enjoy it. I’m gonna find my dancing space (without being a dick or invading people’s space… although I might block the aisle a little). I’m gonna make friends with people even if they are different than me, or else I’m going to move or ask someone to move if they are annoying. Usually that sort of thing works itself out without a confrontation if you have some social skills.

I’m not going to complain for playing my 20th YEM. I am going to enjoy myself. Still, if they want to take it to the level of ecstatic bliss, they need to bring some more experimentation than they’ve been showing for the last several shows. It doesn’t have to be long jam or an unusual setlist, they just need to open up the free creative space they did earlier in tour.

#2186

Not to change the subject, but Marie has been after me to eliminate the boxes and boxes of budget receipts and statements that I’ve kept from as far back as 92, as far as I can make out. Damn, I have electric bill statements older than Fitz! And I’m not bragging about it. What started out to be care in not throwing important documents out, deteriorated into shear laziness to decide what was “important” and not.

BUT, that’s not why I hijacked this thread for the moment.

While in the middle of the envelope marked “97”, I see this bright green and shiny red piece of paper or something, sticking out from the tpically white and pale color of receipts and bills. Upon careful examination I see it sticking out from inside a folded brochure of some sort, that immediately brought a smile on my face when I saw the Phish logo in the corner above the address PO Box 4400, Burlington, VT 05406-4400.

It was the Summer 1997 Doniac Schvice, the one with the cover picture of Trey and Page carrying an electric piano across a street in Telluride from 19988. But the best part of the find, even though the Schvice is a pisser in itself, was the fact that the ticket stubs from my first show were tucked inside, all bright green and shiny red. The shiny red being the key lettering and the image of a toaster, the icon for the Darien Lakes show that summer.

I am not a ticket stub saver, but it surely made me feel great, something I continually feel whenever I hear or think about this show. I’ve been to better and I’ve been to worse, but all of them have some sort of significance for me no matter what. And this one, was number one, and I don’t know how much more significance you can get than that.

I think I should only save this stub, and no others.

Your thread will resume again starting…now.

#2187

^ :thumbup:

I have most of my Schvice’s from 94 until the end. One of these days I should scan them in and upload them or something. They’re funny.

#2188

DING DING DING :clap:

#2189

Agreed. :wave:

I’m just kidding though. I don’t think they’re saving the good stuff, unless you don’t consider their songs to be good stuff.

We all know you can’t go to a show expecting to hear a Forbins or Harpua. You go there expecting Tweezer and DWD and YEM and Wolfman’s and Possum and if they bust out some rarities or a super long jam, that’s sweet, but if you’re going to a show expecting that, then I just think you’ll probably almost always be disappointed in the show. Don’t set yourselves up for disappointment. Remind yourself that you’re just going to see this band play a concert and it’s most likely not going to be a life changing experience, and then, if it is, it will mean that much more to you.

Maybe it’s just that where I live I don’t get to see a ton of great concerts and mostly have to settle for whoever is playing around here, so when I hear Phish playing this mind-bending psychedlic rock music and people are ragging on it and the people that are making it possible (the fans who bought tickets), it kind of makes me question what the hell kind of amazing bands are you guys going and seeing that now Phish has become a disappointing experience?

#2190

Marie said we can’t start the thread back up until you finish cleaning your room… :frowning:

Hurry up! :mrgreen:

#2191

Congrats on finding your first show stub Bill!! That’s awesome.

Well, I guess so, but I think I assume the crowd is homogenized. There’s one in every crowd so to speak. Plus I was in like section one or some shit, really close seats. Your response kind of sounds like you’re saying there’s no problem here. In reality I think there’s not really a solution; decline of Western Civilization & all.

Makes a whole lot of sense. I couldn’t do a whole tour, I’d really get sick of it I think!

#2192

Stop fucking around and play a good show tonight!

#2193

I guess maybe I do feel that there isn’t a problem. Maybe it’s just that I’ve never run into that issue at a Phish show. That might be partially due to the fact that every time I see Phish, they play fucking loud. Like I-can’t-hear-a-word-anyone-is-saying-to-me-type loud. We kind of talked about this before, but to a degree, the reason you go to a show instead of staying in and couch-touring it up is for that social experience. From the second that band takes the stage to ending notes of each set, I’m always silent except the occasional “WHAT!!!” or “Come on!”, but if someone around me is finding they are getting more enjoyment out of having fun with their friends and socializing and shit, I don’t think that necessarily means the downfall of western civilization. It just means they are enjoying the show for a different reason that I am, and shit, if you’re just gonna talk the whole show, then I’m just gonna move over here…you know…next to that chick with the rack who is really into it.

#2194

^I would argue they’re not enjoying the show.

I didn’t used to have this problem, just seems to be a recent development. It’s not a lot of the time, really, and it’s way more prevalent further from the stage.

At Great Woods, this tripped out fella wandered into our row during second set, and kept trying to get my attention to impress me with various sentences. One was, “Watch me hit Trey”, and threw his glowstick … actually he came kinda close. After a few times, and some other random unimpressive nonsense for which I failed to supply the desired response, he went away.

Some people I think can’t ever really appreciate the music very much and end up amusing themselves in every other way.

I don’t know, just seems to me that the average attention span is fucked. Imagine these people trying to stay quiet thru a play, or an opera. I wonder if they text the whole time, leave early, or just fall asleep.

#2195

Phish sucks people, get over it.

#2196

:smiling_imp:

God,…I want to post a picture so bad right now. :silent:
Not gonna do it,…at this juncture. :shifty:

#2197

Yeah what other bands are blowing Phish out of the water? I’ve seen all the Radioheads and MY Mornings and White Stripes as well as the STS9’s and the Furthurs and the ratatatata and the beastie boys etc and Wu Tang Clan AND SUBLIME and Pearl Jam and and and and they are still all inferior IMO

#2198

Thank goodness someone smacked that boy upside the head and put some sense into it! Bravo. Keep it up!

A bit sloppy tho. (see Mikes intro for example)

I’ll take sloppy over uninspired anyday tho!

#2199

^Man, here I was, feeling all happy with my decision to skip this weekend. Not that Alpharetta were “bad” shows. They definitely had some high spots, but overall, I didn’t think they were anything to remember. I didn’t walk out with the feelings of face melting like last summer and I kinda wished I hadn’t wasted time and resources on them. I figured, if that’s what’s in store for this weekend, then not going was the right choice for me. When I saw the setlist lastnight, I was thinking, it probably didn’t sound as good as it looks, so I was still okay with my decision to skip it. Then I read your post and I am officially kicking myself in the ass. So, thank you, B. Thank you for ruining my mother fucking day :slight_smile: BUT, I’m so glad they’re back on track! Have fun in Raleigh!!

#2200

^^^Brahski! There is no band that blows Phish out of the water (that is still currently touring)!

That is exactly why I wish the fan base was more respectful!