A quick caveat: I already posted this same response to a similar question, but I feel it’s appropriate here too. Because this is how I feel about Phish getting back together.

Phish played a big part of my life in my late teens through my twenties. I jumped on board in ‘97, and even then had the sense that I had already “missed” something. I did many tours ‘97-’00 (even blew off a semester at school to hit the road. Hey, you’re young only once!) and had the pleasure of seeing them explore their more funky side in ‘98. Got to see the guys with about 500 other people when they jammed with Neil Young and Willie Nelson at Farm Aid ‘98. I caught all the big summer festies from The Great Went up to Coventry (they got worse and worse, unfortuneatly), Big Cypress on the eve of the millenium, the Hampton shows, the “island tour”, even won a pair of tix in the ticket lottery for the return show at MSG New Year’s ‘02-’03. But things did change after the first hiatus.

I don’t know if it was me just getting older or what, but I noticed more young high school kids, more preppie frat boy types, more shady folks, way more people without tickets, and waaaaay more people there just for the drug scene. Interestingly, the drugs available changed as well. In my newbie days on tour shakedown was all about nugs (REAL nugs , not beasters, not the quads, but REAL nuggets!) clean psychedelics, goo balls, and microbrews. They was a plentiful variety available and a genuine “help your brother” vibe. Obviously, there was everything available, but you had to look for the hard stuff. But the writing was on the wall, it was the beginning of the end.

Phish lot is a microcosom of supply and demand. Unfortuneatly, most of the demand was created by folks who were less interested in Phish and more interested in a good party. After the hiatus, finding a bag of real headies was like finding a needle in a haystack. You had to know someone from past tours or just bring your own. Those looking to capitalize on the influx of youngsters and pure drug seekers were able to flood shakedown with huge quantities of mass produced, less quality, less loved buds. Whereas in the past it was all about “nugs, doses, boomers”, suddenly shakedown was all about “blow, molly, and pharmies”, which are things that only hurt people, from start to finish. Which leads me to why I loathe most Cheese kids…

String Cheese had a chance to explode during Phish’s hiatus. However, they are an inferior band. And most people who put music first noticed that, and decided not to put the time, effort, and energy into touring with them. But there is a certain steady group of people who can’t let the party end, and a certain group of people who make their living providing party favors for that never ending party. Those 2 groups, the consumers and the providers, can’t exist without each other and require a contact point to sustain them. With the Grateful Dead over and Phish on a who-knows-how-long hiatus, they found life support for each other via String Cheese Incident. The most important issue was that they needed a place to continue on in their ways. The music was merely a backdrop for that. When Phish came back, these Cheese kids had a whole new fresh crop of kids (Phish was more accessable than SCI) who were flush with their parents cash. So they decided to peddle things with super high profit margins like blow, molly, and pills. The problem is those types of drugs cause people to lie, cheat, steal, become paranoid, isolated, depressed, and all around mean, *hitty neighbors. Nugs, psychedelics, beer… are mostly there for a sense of community, higher conciousness, and good times.

So, I have mixed feelings about Phish returning. Will I be happy to seem them? Hell yes. Will I go on tour with them again? Hell no. I’m fully prepared and expecting for the whole scene to have a pretty different vibe now. Most Phish phans are older now, the band is older, …I’m older. The big question is to see if Phish can age gracefully like the Dead did, or if it’s gonna look like a horrible extended mid-life crisis. I hope and pray that they strictly enforce having tickets. Strict like, can’t even get into to the parking lot without one. That’s the only way I can think to keep out “scenesters” and let in real phans.

Oh, and what happened to all those Cheese kids, now that SCI is done? They’re on Phil tour. And I’m sure I’ll see them at Phish again too.

i hope they tour next summer so i can get a chance to hear them live

I figured it was bound to happen. Half the reason they quit was because they were running out of new things to “say,” in a musical sense. A few years away from each other, playing with other people, and they probably feel much more interested in playing their old stuff again and hopefully have some interesting new things to play (not necessarily songs, but just new jams).

My history: I have seen roughly 50 live shows, ranging from 1994 up to the end — mostly in the 96 to 99 period. And I have listened to waaay too much live Phish on tapes and CD’s… so I have become jaded with listening to Phish more times I can count. Just so you readers know where I’m coming from… I am a fan of the music much more than of the “experience” or the drugs or the hippie lifestyle. I enjoyed that stuff in my day, of course. But I said to myself somewhere along the way, “If I have to get stoned to enjoy this, then something is wrong.” So I did notice when they’re music lost it’s punch around 1999. After that, they just seemed to be going through the motions. They had great shows here and there, of course. But for the most part, they weren’t really doing anything nearly as exciting and entertaining. And a lot of the time, things just weren’t very good at all.

So I am not holding out hope that they come back for three shows and go nucking futs. I’m not sure what to expect, actually. But I do think we aren’t gonna see any huge, amazing performance. They will probably be a bit stilted at first, make a few mistakes, etc… I just hope they can connect and get a good groove going.

I acknowledge that most fans interested in going to these three shows in March probably aren’t going to be this critical of their music. The shows will be crazy fun, especially at Hampton, where they have a history of playing great shows. It will be a carnival. Fun will be had by all. And some of the people who were too young and missed out can get a chance to see a Phish show (assuming you can get tickets… good luck with that) I kinda wish I had gotten to see the Dead… I skipped going to a Dead show with my friends in the Spring of ‘95 because I had an AP exam the next day… then Jerry died that summer. I missed my chance there.

So yeah, it’ll be a crazy event. But for older fans like myself who loved Phish for the amazing things they can do with music, not just for the party or the scene, we’ve heard and experienced so much great stuff from our beloved Phish that short reunion tours will most likely be underwhelming at best. I hope to be proven wrong! Of course, getting tickets will be the hard part…

YESSSSSSSSSSSS i am TOO excited. i havent been to a concert of theirs yet cuz im only 17 buuuuuut i will be definiitely goin if they tour this summer or spring. the dead too =) =) i will be one broke happy girl!

I guess that’s cool, my parents drove up to Maine when I was like 2 to go to their concert and camped out there for a week or so.