SET 1: Free,
[This recap primarily of the scene is courtesy of dot net user @saw_ita_Jen, Jenny Chadbourne. As with all recaps, the views expressed are those of the recapper and may not reflect the views of any of the volunteers who run this site. -Ed.]
With night one on the books, I sit here in my room trying best articulate this experience, which is not easy. It's akin to trying to describe the sky and the colors of the sunset, or what it feels like to be in a redwood forest at sunset. The full emergence of the experience is truly grand, beyond anything you can comprehend. In this case a picture (of Nectar) is really worth a thousand words (so there a bunch in this recap).
The Sphere is a force of color and light on the strip, it’s hard to miss in the day or nighttime. It’s constantly radiating light, and color. A true work of psychedelic genius. For reference, the Hampton Coliseum is 84,827 cubic feet (26,263 square foot arena floor and a 70-foot ceiling), but Sphere is 875,000 cubic feet, as it's 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide. As the cherry on top, we get graphics for Dead and Co---it’s really special to have that steal your face imagery in the mix.
SET 1: Everything's Right, Back on the Train, Wolfman's Brother, Maze, Leaves, Life Saving Gun, Dirt, Carini
SET 2: Sand > Tweezer -> My Friend, My Friend > Mike's Song > Lifeboy, Weekapaug Groove, Blaze On > Fluffhead
ENCORE: Farmhouse[1], Run Like an Antelope
[This post is courtesy of Dr. Stephanie Jenkins. -Ed.]
The agenda for the 2024 Phish Studies Conference (May 17-19), hosted by Oregon State University and The Mockingbird Foundation, is now available! The complete schedule of panels, performances, exhibits, and vendors is available at phishstudies.net.
Registration is open to the public -- fans and scholars alike.
IT has been twenty-five years since April 1999, a musically awe-inspiring month for Bay Area fans of improvisational rock. Those who loved the Grateful Dead, Phish, Steve Kimock (and Zero and KVHW, among the greatest improvisational rock bands in history imnsfho), and Carlos Santana couldn’t be happier. That's because in addition to the three Warfield PhilSH shows mid-month---which you can (re)listen to here or on Archive.Org or even watch video of on YouTube---April 1999 began with two legendary KVHW shows at the Great American Music Hall. The month also featured two Zero shows at the Maritime Hall the weekend of April 9; three Santana Fillmore shows, the third of which on April 18 featured Trey and Page on a few tunes (my review of it on this site is at phish.net/review-archive/shows/4-18-99.html; a stealth-taped fob-daud of this show used to circulate on DAT, CDR and cassette but I can't find it online today); two Jazz Is Dead shows at the Maritime Hall with Kimock on April 23 and 24; and then a Kimock, Vega, Hertz and (Jimmy) Herring (“KVHH”) show on April 30 up 101 north in Petaluma! This was certainly among the greatest months of music in my life and the lives of many others.
The magnificent, transcendent music of the April 1999 Phil Lesh and Friends Warfield shows, featuring Phil on bass, Steve Kimock and Trey on rhythm and lead guitars, Page McConnell on keyboards, and John Molo on drums, has been exhaustively discussed by many, including in detailed reviews posted in the glow of the events 25 years ago. The shows continue to be among the greatest improvisational musical performances I have ever seen, and you'll hear more from me about that than you ever needed or wanted to know if you listen to the Attendance Bias podcast episode about these shows with host Brian Weinstein; you can listen to it wherever you listen to your podcasts.
[This post is courtesy of Christy Articola. -Ed.]
This issue is full of good stuff for you! It includes information about this year's Vegas run including where to eat, things to do, and lots of information about this new and exciting venue.
PHISH archivist Kevin Shapiro recently---and graciously---tweeted HAPPY 34th BIRTHDAY to PhishNet, because for a very long time we believed PhishNet began thirty-four years ago in March 1990, as indicated in the old dot net "timeline," this News item, and this Jambands article from 2008 when Phish received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Jammys.
But a few years ago, PhishNet's founder Matt Laurence found his first email to the new PhishNet email list and sent it to us:
[Text courtesy of Alex of the Divided Sky Foundation. -Ed.]
For the third year, the Divided Sky Foundation has partnered with the Antelope Running Club to host a charity 5K run in Ludlow, Vermont. This event will occur on May 18th and will help raise awareness about addiction recovery and treatment, and support the recently opened Divided Sky Recovery Center, as well as the Turning Point Centers of Rutland and Springfield, Vermont. We're also excited this year to partner with The Phoenix to organize a post-run Mountain Music Festival, featuring Anders Osbourne, Dogs in a Pile and Saints & Liars.
In case you've missed it, the Attendance Bias podcast with host Brian Weinstein, for the previous two weeks and episodes, has been reminiscing about and revisiting Phish history during the 2000 pre-hiatus and 2001-2002 hiatus period, and the 2.0 and break-up period, with members of Phish.net and The Mockingbird Foundation, Scott Marks and Charlie Dirksen.
REPRISE is a band that formed to reprise the Phish experience. At each of their shows, a concert from Phish’s history will be played in its entirety. The band is made up of Cal Kehoe (Pink Talking Fish), Adrian Tramontano (Twiddle, Kung Fu and The Breakfast), Chris DeAngelis (The Machine, Kung Fu and The Breakfast), and Scott Chasolen (The Machine). This weekend they'll be playing at Nectar's in Burlington, and both shows will be streamed live from Volume.
PHISH has announced a summer tour that begins with three shows at Great Woods on July 19, 20 and 21, and then continues at the Mohegun Sun on July 23 and 24, Alpine Valley on July 26, 27 and 28, St. Louis on July 30 and 31, Deer Creek on August 2, 3, and 4, the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids on August 6 and 7, Bethel Woods on August 9, 10, and 11, the previously announced Mondegreen festival in Delaware August 15th through the 18th, and finally four shows at Dicks from August 29th through September 1st. Tickets through the Phish Tickets lottery process for everything except Mondegreen are available now through Monday, March 11th, at noon e.t. Public onsale begins Friday, March 15th, at 10am e.t. For more information, visit Phish's website.
[We would like to thank user @Scissortail (Matt) for this recap. -Ed.]
“If you’re gonna take a risk, sometimes you’re gonna play shit. … But I don’t think our fans do happily lap it up. I think what happens is they get on the internet and talk about how it was a bad show.” – Trey Anastasio, circa 1996
Trey said the above in the documentary “Bittersweet Motel,” in response to a review that said he could urinate in our ears and call it music, and we would be there happily with tape recorders to capture the moment. I bring it up here because I take some exception to the general premise of Trey’s response.
I think the majority of Phish fans can be quite forgiving of a risk gone bad. What we don’t easily forgive is when Phish isn’t taking any risks at all.
[We would like to thank user @Laudanum (Jon Allison) for this recap. -Ed.]
The normal mix of anxiousness and anticipation surrounding a Phish show gets dialed up a notch or two when you know you’re going to be recapping it. Moreso when it’s your first time. Will I get a dud and be forced to trash my favorite band? A middling show with nothing much to say about it either way? Or a good to great show, easy to write about, but carrying some small measure of responsibility to capture it for the ages?
PHISH's next festival, MONDEGREEN, will involve four days of shows (so perhaps more than four shows) on August 15-18, 2024, at The Woodlands in Dover, Delaware. For more information about the event, please click here. Although passes for the festival go on sale this Friday, January 19, at 11am e.t., through AXS (create a fan account, or update your current AXS info (perhaps with a New Device) for a smooth purchase experience), travel packages go on sale this Thursday, January 18, at 11am e.t. For more information about mondegreens, there's a YouTube video here, an entertaining New Yorker piece from nearly a decade ago "The Science of Misheard Lyrics" here, and, of course, lest one e'er forget, heaven's just a funky moose.
PHISH released video today of its performance of Gamehendge on December 31, 2023, which spanned two of the show's three sets. This video not only contains footage that was broadcast to viewers of the webcast on New Year's Eve, but also previously unseen footage.
In celebration of Phish’s four-show New Year's Eve run at Madison Square Garden (Dec 28, 29, 30, & 31), the all-volunteer and fan-run Mockingbird Foundation has announced that it is sending an unsolicited $1,000 Tour Grant to four music education programs nearby:
This is the 26th round of unsolicited Tour Grants, an effort that now totals over $268,000, which is 11% of all disbursements made by the foundation. These grants are part of a long-standing effort to help support music education in the local communities that Phish touches. They follow Mockingbird's largest competitive grant round ever, and a total of 66 grants this past summer alone! Mockingbird has now made 661 grants in all 50 states, totaling more than $2.3M.
PHISH will perform at Madison Square Garden on December 28, 29, 30 and 31. The ticket request period for the phoi pholloi is underway at tickets.phish.com and will conclude on Monday, September 25th, at Noon eastern time. The public onsale begins Friday, September 29th, at Noon eastern time. A limited number of travel packages (hotel + tickets) will go on sale Wednesday, September 27th at Noon ET here.
The next Phish festival will be at The Woodlands in Dover, Delaware, from August 15-18, 2024. More information will be published soon. Join the Phish Update to hear about it first (email + shiny new SMS list): phish.com/update.
We're excited about the upcoming First Annual Wingsuit Open, a charity disc golf tournament for Phish fans organized by Matt James. The event will be September 2nd in Aurora, CO, and benefits music education for children through the all-volunteer Mockingbird Foundation. Complete rules, registration info, and a course map are at www.peacejames.co/wingsuitopen. There will also be a mini disc golf competition and a putting competition on site, as well as other contests, prizes, and limited edition gift items TBA.
Matt's hoping to grow the event to 180 players; you'll want to say that you were an OG, at the inaugural event. Also, the event is currently in the "middle registration" period, and the donation request jumps in 5 days to "late registration". (Those unable to attend can also register to get a player's pack shipped to them.) So, sign up soon, and start working out those throwing arms!
Note that this is the same day as the Eighth Annual Runaway Open charity golf tournament, for which there are still openings and which will now also include a virtual component. Three kinds of golf, to accomodate your preference and location, and bring us all together for some fun and fundraising. Register for one, or all three, today!
Phish.net is a non-commercial project run by Phish fans and for Phish fans under the auspices of the all-volunteer, non-profit Mockingbird Foundation.
This project serves to compile, preserve, and protect encyclopedic information about Phish and their music.
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The Mockingbird Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans in 1996 to generate charitable proceeds from the Phish community.
And since we're entirely volunteer – with no office, salaries, or paid staff – administrative costs are less than 2% of revenues! So far, we've distributed over $2 million to support music education for children – hundreds of grants in all 50 states, with more on the way.