Well, I done did it… and long past due if you ask me!
Starting a thread on the band Phish. Title was Phish, but there is a 12 character minimum
I’m on my annual road trip with my fam from New Orleans en route to Upstate New York where we stay for a few months every summer. Usually I bring a bunch of beans with me of crosses made the year prior to pass out along the way. This year was hectic and I goofed on that one.
But alas, back to the topic at hand! The band Phish.
I make this post today as we gear up for 3 shows in Mansfield Mass.
Are there any phans in the community?
If so, this thread is for any and all things PHISH!
Sharing jams, stories, news, personal experiences, role calls for shows on tour, whatever you like!
I’ll edit later as I gotta run some errands w the fam. But if you’re going, holla holla!
In 1997, Aug 16 - 17, they held “The Great Went Concert”… Because ALL Roads leading there passes right through my Northern Maine Town, I can tell you “firsthand”, traffic was backed up for 40 - 50 MILES. All the “Phish Fans” had followed the Circuit that year as it was rumored to be their Farewell Tour. People were getting out of vehicles, walking, then hopping back in when their Group caught up. EVERYBODY was looking to score some…you know.
Loring was a decommissioned Air Force Base (B52 Base) with one of the longest Runways in the U.S. When the Festival kicked off, the crowd of people was the LARGEST POPULATION IN MAINE!! It was here that a famous Photographer convinced 1.000 people to strip naked, lay on their stomachs with their a$$es facing the Sun. At the conclusion, the crowd left more stuff, more than Walmart, Dicks Sporting Goods, and LL Beans combined. In '98, they returned for the “Lemonwheel Concert” The last one was 2003 , “I.T. Festival”. Personally, I wanted to get the two big “I.T.” Signs, but the local University had Dibs. They’re mounted on the Techno Building on Campus.
People still talk about those weeks, especially the first one to this day. It pulled in almost $9 Million in Tickets Sales alone. Oh, the music was G-R-E-A-T!!! I’m not a “Phish Head”, but they’re one of the B-E-S-T Touring Bands EVER!! Take care, stay safe and, be well…mister
I used to go see Phish once awhile and made a trip out of it. Seen them in Chicago, Bethel NY(Woodstock 69 farm), St Paul, Denver, East Troy WI. Since 2018 it’s been Billy Strings instead of Phish.
Count me as a Phan.
First show for me was summer, '96.
They’ve got a huge catalog of tunes to smoke along with. Ever evolving set lists keep it interesting.
See 'em live!
My first Phish show was in 1992 at First Ave in Minneapolis.
I didn’t see them again for a few years but caught them multiple times per year, every year starting in '96. That changed over time and I have only seen three Phish shows in the past 15 years, most recently in 2019. I’m changing that this summer though! I’ll catch two shows during summer tour which just kicked off Friday, and will fly out to Colorado over Labor Day weekend for four nights at Dick’s.
I’m a taper and have been in the tapers section to record audio for a number of Phish shows. You have to order those tickets directly from the band. They usually have some cool artwork on the stubs:
My first big festival was Plattsburgh NY in '96! So many good memories, even the one where someone died in the tent next to ours while we were tripping at 3am…picked up our tent and moved it a hundred yards away!
I had a ton of fun at the two St. Louis shows last week! The first night wildly exceeded my expectations. The light rig is out of this world and the band is really playing well.
We had a great time in Mansfield Mass… but our plans for the shows this weekend totally went to shit.
Booked our hotel through a third party, but the rains were causing flooding en route there Friday so we turned around and went back home. After they said they wouldn’t refund our stay until a manager approved it, but the manager wasn’t coming in until Monday morning we decided the whole weekend wouldn’t be a wash and went there Saturday… guess what?! The hotel resold our reservation and we were shit out of luck and had to drive back home.
What a scam!
Anyway, here’s a shot of my son and I taken by a fellow fan who was trying to get a good shot of the band but said it ended up being a great picture of the band, my son, and myself!
