Quick: Which is better? Attending a great game or a great concert? Comparing the two is difficult, because determining the success of a sporting event is usually quite objective and binary (your team either wins or loses), while evaluating the quality of a concert is completely subjective.
However, this much we can all agree on: all events are not created equal.
Some games mean more than others: games against the big rival; homecoming games; games that clinch something; playoff games; championship games. Likewise, some concerts mean more than others: Halloween; New Year’s; the first show at home after a long tour; festivals; comebacks.
In sports, there is one game that by definition transcends all the games that came before it. It’s the championship clincher. Every game before it has led to it, and you know that nothing comes after it. This is why the Super Bowl is the greatest game on earth; it’s America’s only best-of-one, winner-takes-all pro team sports championship.
In music, it’s much tougher to generate a concert that transcends all the shows before it. Concerts just carry on from one to the next with little definable culmination and no defined lifespan. But if you could somehow incorporate the concept of timeline and climax into performance art, you could have a transcendent concert. This is exactly what Phish has managed to do.
This is why Friday, March 6th at the Hampton Coliseum is The Most Significant Phish Show Ever.
Phish will play their first three shows in nearly five years over the course of March 6th-8th. After twenty years of touring, they hung it up in August 2004, allegedly never to play again. The greatest live performance powerhouse in American history was done. (If you don’t believe that, ask yourself if Jimmy Buffet or Bruce Springsteen can draw 100,000 people to a festival in Limestone, Maine with no other bands. The answer is “not a chance.") Tens of thousands trekked to Coventry, Vermont for Phish’s farewell festival, and when weather washed out the campground, people left their cars on the side of the highway for three days, hiking the last 10-25 miles into the festival. This just doesn’t happen to any other band.
With the exception of the Grateful Dead, Phish have to be the all-time American leader in fans with 100+ shows under their belt. Those who have seen about fifty shows (forty-four for me) don’t consider it to be a particularly high number. Countless others joined late or were just too young to get out to shows when the band quit. These people had the rug yanked out from under them just when they were coming in, and they are actually the ones who are fighting the hardest to see Phish right now. Ticket prices have never been higher and neither has demand.
Phish doesn’t have as many fans as major pop bands, however, Phish does have a lot of fans, and the passion-per-fan output dwarfs that of any other act. Nobody likes Phish; you either passionately love Phish or you couldn’t care less about them. Phish is more than just a musical interest. If someone is into Phish, this often defines a huge chunk of their lifestyle.
That’s a huge chunk that has been missing for nearly five years to all of these fans. The importance of having Phish back cannot be overstated to the Phish fan. This comeback puts a magnificent sliver of significance back into Phish fans’ lives.
How will it all turn out? Nobody knows. Where does the band even start? With an original catalog of some four hundred songs and countless covers played, what material do you even choose to prepare? Can they play their own uber-complex songs? Are they in touch with the fan base regarding which tunes we have to have back and which ones we could just as easily live without? Can they rekindle the jamming teamwork that makes them so irresistible?
Everyone will have to judge for themselves. The important thing is that we are judging at all. This is the most important concert in America in years. It all comes down to this. There won’t be a scoreboard, but make no mistake about it: Phish’s comeback run at Hampton Coliseum is the Super Bowl of Concerts.
Stay tuned to melophobe as I will be providing post-show analysis after each of the three shows.
Following the lines going south,
Seth Wolfman
Two songs go in, one comes out. Pick a side.
Looking forward to the show. Would love to win some tix for my pals.
by MC Breath on Wed May 16, 2012 at 07.40 pm from the entry: It's all good, see Fishbone for free at Fête
I’m dying to see him no better place than FETE!!
by Telly on Tue May 15, 2012 at 02.57 pm from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
Sound does matter. Viva Le Fete!
by Auquanetta on Tue May 15, 2012 at 01.13 pm from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
YES! i MUST go to this show! i was just strollin down the street the other day and saw the poster! SO stoked they’ll be in town.
by Jaz on Mon May 14, 2012 at 05.30 pm from the entry: It's all good, see Fishbone for free at Fête
Fete Forever!!
by Tabitha on Mon May 14, 2012 at 05.08 pm from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
Congratulations and thank you to Fete for bringing talent to Providence! We needed this venue and vibe. Bless.
oh and I’d love to win tickets; its my boyfriends bday:D
by Ellen on Mon May 14, 2012 at 07.23 am from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
My son Jawara want to go to this show so bad, so I’m seeing if I can win! Bless me with a ticket please!!!!!!!!!!!
by Irese Shea on Mon May 14, 2012 at 06.52 am from the entry: we'll see you (and Talib Kweli) at Fête!
The band name should be somewhere in the title… I almost didn’t read it.
Musical history will be made on Friday night!
Most significant concert than Big Cypress (12/31 - 1/1/99)? I disagree. And let’s learn from the lessons of 12/31/02 and Coventry and not hype the shit out of these shows. I hope Trey is sober, because Coventry sucked.
please ignore the poor grammar. Good thing I’m not a writer.
“Countless others joined late ... These people had the rug yanked out from under them just when they were coming in, and they are actually the ones who are fighting the hardest to see Phish right now.”
Agree. I got into Phish post-hiatus, got to seem them a dozen or so times when they got back together 2003-2004. It almost felt like they were breaking up with ME and not each other..
“Phish does have a lot of fans, and the passion-per-fan output dwarfs that of any other act. Nobody likes Phish; you either passionately love Phish or you couldn’t care less about them. Phish is more than just a musical interest. If someone is into Phish, this often defines a huge chunk of their lifestyle.”
Agree! I just wrote a column about how Phish completely changed my life, from my career to the very way I listen to music.
“That’s a huge chunk that has been missing for nearly five years to all of these fans. The importance of having Phish back cannot be overstated to the Phish fan. This comeback puts a magnificent sliver of significance back into Phish fans’ lives. “
That’s why I call my column
“Phish Saves America.” I feel like they decided to get back together right when their phans (and America as a whole) were at their lowest point and needed them—the Phish—the most.
I’ll be headed up and covering the shows as well… great site, BTW, am bookmarking it.
YEA HISTORY WAS MADE BACK IN THE 90’S BROTHER AND NOT AT THE COST OF OUR SOULS I COME FROM THE LAND OF LIZARDS AND THE LIZARDS THEY HAVE DIED YOU CAN’T JUST BUY YOUR WAY IN CHANCE OF WHAT WAS AND WHAT WILL NEVER BE AGAIN
I went to that show and in a word it was “Awesome”! I remember most of it :)
The show was amazing, I enjoyed it
Big Cypress was the Superbowl of Concerts, sorry...Hampton 09 is awesome but many shows of later summer (not to mention Festival 8) are all better.
12-31-99. All night set. Sorry but this PWNS any Hampton show’s face. :)
Photo 1 of 3 is my photo, may I receive a photo credit for it. Here is the link to this photo in my portfolio
http://picasaweb.google.com/Brad.Worsham/Phish20030301GreensboroNC#5326111451422951298
Hi Brad - Thanks for letting us know! You are now credited, with a link to your portfolio. Amazing collection of Phish shots, by the way!
Just WOW!!!