PHISH

So, I am sitting here in my office in Maine updating my photography website and listening to a very cool podcast by Whitperson, who contributes to LiveMusicBlog.com, which I am very excited about discovering. Today’s podcast features some of the finest Phish jams from their exhaustive years of touring.

I saw Phish for the first time at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey in the summer of 1993. I had been listening to them since 1989 when my brother introduced them to me and it was an amazing experience seeing them for the first time and such an early part of their career. I went on to see them many, many times after this first show up until 1998, when I slowed down a bit and only caught occasional shows.

Whitperson handles this mix beautifully striking on Phish’’s “blue light” years where there was a definitive tranced-out, psychedelic vibe glued together with experimental rock and roll. The band was moving in new musical directions at each new show they played during these growing years. It was exciting to be there.

In 1995, on New Years Eve inside Madison Square Garden, was the most electrifying moment in my strange Phish mini-career. When the band launched into “Chalkdust Torture” the entire arena was literally moving from people boogying down so hard. The ceiling of the Garden literally felt as if it might just take off in flight. I have seen a handful of bands since then inside the Garden and no one came close to filling that arena with sound like Phish did. It is a big venue and to encompass its vastness with sound, you need a unified relationship between the music and the crowd.

This is where Phish always shined. They were able to psychologically gage the mood of the crowd and deliver a sound that met the needs of the crowd and the venue being played. Very few bands ever achieve this mutual understanding that when executed is magical and religious at the same time.

If you are lucky enough to have scored tickets for any of the upcoming spring and summer dates, you are in for a rare treat. Phish is going to be out there once again formulating radical new sounds and pushing the limits on how much sound American Arena’s can handle without exploding.

I am feeling a “2001…Tweezer” opener in Hampton. Oh, and if you happen to have an extra ticket for Jones Beach by all means let me know! My buddies just started a cool online trading site specifically for Phish. Check out cashortradeforyourextra.com