For me Its the Coventry week its a pretty easy pick as I have never heard much discussion about any oher Bad (relativly speaking of course) stretches aside from I think the beginning of a west coast run in 94…Just curious what you guys think
Well I think it would depend on if you were referring to an entire 7-day week. Because as bad as Coventry was, that Camden show right before it was the heat of the tour.
Then again, its hard to say that any 7-day period could be entirely worse than the 2 days at Coventry. Its an interesting thought, because a week of Phish could only be bad when being compared to a better week of Phish.
I am actually really interested on peoples thoughts on really awful shows as well, I would like to sample some real golden shower to the earlobe action
I’m trying to think of a really “bad” Phish week, but I can’t. Even 8.9.04 thru 8.15.04 had some good moments.
Just finished Coventry, right? So after “Curtain” ends, just for a second I’m thinking it’s not quite as bad as what everyone says, right? I switch over to Hampton 8/09 for about two minutes of Chalkdust, and then back over to the Coventry show real quick again right? It made me remember my first impression when 8/14 first started to fill up my ear hole, which was this: It sounds like freakin’ Hell.
The crowd sounds weird, the band obviously sounds wrong, and all I can picture is mud soaked dark unsanitary aggreivated wasteland of profound but still elusive sadness as I listen in. I guess you get used to it after like 8 hours of that, but yeah … sounds like Hell. Cheers to those of you who braved the dark sad festival that wasn’t so festive exactly now was it now thank you very much.
OK, let’s rule out 2004.
How about ruling out all of post-hiatus Phish?
Then what’s the “worst” 7-day period of Phish?
^Probably that week in '83 when they were learning FOAM or something.
On second thought, “worst” is kind of negative.
How about “lackluster?” Or “uninspired?”
I’ve never been a very big fan of Japan’00.
And actually… there is quite a few weeks in '00 that sound completely uninspired.
You and your anti-2000 sentiment.
I’m not anti-2000. It’s when I first saw them… but come on… you can’t compare their playing in 2000 to any other year, except maybe '04. IMO of course.
I know you’re not anti-2000, and I am not anti-pre-1993. I just prefer my Phish cooked and served differently than others.
However, I think you could compare their playing in 2000 to their playing in 1999, both in terms of sound and quality. For every mediocre show in 2000 you could find one in 1999.
Maybe this would work better if we just picked out the individual shows we thought sucked. I have been thinking about this for a while, too. It seems kind of negative but it’s all in good fun.
I think the Vegas DVD, while I enjoy it because it’s Phish (& because I really like a few of the performances - “Sand”, “Saw It Again” in particular), was a pretty terrible show, especially for the first complete show DVD. Looks great on paper. Trey forgot half his parts though, and for my money, that’s the situation that most frequently makes for a ‘bad show’.
What have we got for ‘bad shows’ that are for other reasons besides Trey being foggy rather groggy?
^
Mediocre playing, “uninspired” jamming, no flow to a setlist, short sets…
The 1st week of summer tour 2000!
US or Japan?
U.S.
I dunno.
6-22 through 6-28 as worst week of 2000?
I like 6-24 and 6-28, 6-28 especially.
I feel like I haven’t listened to nearly enough Phish to answer this question, but I remember there being a show or two during summer '98 I thought were weak.
Also, I agree that the Vegas DVD is weak. I’ve been saying that all along but I know a lot of people like it, especially since it has a Forbin’s/Mockingbird. For me, though, it’s probably the worst official live release. Even Live Phish 5 is better. The Vegas show just has no energy or inspiration. None of the improvisation is interesting which is the ultimate death knell in my book. At least the DVD has the awesome bonus footage from the next night, which is a show that looks better in every way…on paper, anyway.