Phish: Has the scene been corrupted?

Trey said on the Charlie Rose interview that "Phish is becomming almost an excuse for people to gather in a certain town and party." admitting that sort of thing takes balls so i definitely commend the man for that...

 

Bohemian_Child, I agree with you completely, I get high off the music, in the zone, and I usually end up being the craziest MF on the dance floor. I don't have a religion so this going to a concert is definately a spiritual experience for me.

 

Yeah I completly agree. for me 97' was such a fun year to see phish but after that it just got CRAZY too much going on, and people were no longer there for the vibe just the drugs it seemed. when the music starts playin' i get in my own lil thing and get down. get high off that. but then people will be stumblin into me or I hear talks of heroin, or something else everytime I turn around. Where did it get to the point of just forgetting about uniting and dancin, and all about the drugs? that I dunno. hopefully another band will come around that will attract some folks that want to connect like The Dead scene had.......

Val

 

yeah i dont take drugs at concerts, especially a great one like Phish... a girl i know went to one of their shows that i missed and she said she got piss drunk and i asked her wat she liked best about the show and she said she couldnt remember any of it... its a shame that people think that the music isnt enough and they need an extra hit to really get the party going... how will they ever appreciate music in its pure form if they need drugs to make it better?

 

I thought the crowd at coventry was great. It seemed like it was a little older than some of the shows I've seen in recent years - a lot of people that started seeing Phish a log time ago and wanted to catch them one last time. Considering all we went through to get there (spending the night on the interstate, being told to go away, and then walking in), the fact that there weren't riots is amazing. Let alone that I didn't see a single violent event there. I agree that there are too many people who are just there to get fucked up, but most of the fans are good people who love the music and love to dance.

 

i just dug out my old guitar magazines and read the exact same article. trey anastasio is so intelligent in the way he talks. you could tell that he really loved phish but knew that their time had come. and i like the part where they talked about him leaving before there was too much tension between the band members.
that was a great article.

 

This is such a load crap. Don't believe it. If you knew the band personally, you would understand that this break up is about Trey's ego - nothing more. During their previous hiatus, Trey recognized that he would be fine doing his own thing. This has come to an end so that Trey can have his own band where it will be all Trey, all the time. It has nothing to do with the partying of the fans. You don't think people have and will continue to do the same thing at his solo shows? The fact is that this was Trey's decision - the rest of the band didn't want this. The tension stems from the fact that Paige, Mike and John don't have musical egos and Trey is a control freak. I'd love to see Paige, Mike and John pick up another guitarist and vocalist and continue on without him. Those three know what it means to be in a band. Trey doesn't. Plain and simple, Trey is an arrogant asshole and that is why Phish as we know it, is no more.

 

FIRST of all, it's PAGE not PAIGE. second of all, that is some cold hearted shit to say. sory that trey is an amazing guitarist and feels he needs to grow. i mean, how dumb is that. phish is amazing, and so is trey all on his own. if he has a bit of an ego it's because he's knows that he's good. of course it has nothign to do with the rowdy fans, but it's not because trey is an asshole. it's because he's an artist. alot fo great artists leave their bands for solo work and we don't call them assholes.

don't be such a prick next time.

 

i think you both bring up great points. but i definitely agree that Trey is a great musician and needs to grow, every artist should be given that opprotunity...on the other hand it is true that Page Mike and John didnt want to end phish until some convincing from Trey... i wish i knew what to think, but i guess it doesnt matter why or who ended it, the fact is that its over and that SUCKS BALLS

 

too true my dear, too true.
you'll eb hapyp to know we've taken our banter private and to msn messenger and are now getting along.
isn't life grand?

 

grand as can be!

 

If you have the most recent issue of guitar world, check out the picture that goes along with the article. You'll see that Trey is pointing to his wedding band. Maybe his wife gave him the ultimadem. (sp?) Or maybe he's finally decided to stop screwing around and take his marriage seriously.

 

yeah Phish has become majorly corruptted. i noticed this awhile ago but it didnt really hit until the camden show last week. i was in the lawn and NOT ONE PERSON around me knew the words to any of the songs they played. they were all just there to get high. i mean they spent god knows how much money on tickets to a concert they probably weren't even going to remember the next day. the dead show that i went to on sunday was the same way. its not about the drugs its about the music and no one gets that.

 

One, for me personally I dont know a single Phish lyric by heart, I find that I dont like the ones I know, so you will not find me singing. (I might get caught air drumming though).

As far as the Dead are concerned, not to point out the obvious, but the Grateful Dead are a direct product of Acid. Read the electric Kool-Aide acid tests. I see the dead and acid as going hand in hand, and I enjoy the music both on and off the drugs but! with the acid I get to see the music too. haha.


I think it woud be best for everyone to jsut enjoy themselves and try to be as nice as possible to everyone to improve the scene. Offer the other cheek so to say.

 

This was a very interesting forum. I also agree with alot of what everyone has said. Alot of people do go to these kind of concerts just for the drugs. But the concert is what YOU make of it. If your to worried about people's intentions as to why there really there, then your not going to have a good time. For the most part, any concert I go to I ignore the bad and embrace the good. Also I went to Bonnaroo this year and I had the time of my life. Everyone that I talked to there was peaceful, respectful and very nice. I didn't see any violence or fights. (Even though I'm sure there were some) I think Bonnaroo was the most fun I've ever had at any event. But then again, it was what I made of it.

 

mmm i agree soooooo much...thats what i was tryin to say but it didnt come out that way. haha i dont always have a way with words...even simple ones.

peace and <33

 

i think this is a good thread and thank you for starting it. it's actually how i've been feeling since getting back from coventry. coventry was my first ever phish show. i've only ever heard phish when someone popped in a cd in my car, and i found that i really enjoyed their music. so i thought since it was their last show and i had never seen them that i should go. but now after all that i don't feel like it was worth everything it took to get their. when they made the announcement to turn people away i was all for just heading to jones beach for the dead, but the kids i was with threw a fit at the idea and i felt no other choice than to continue sitting in traffic. but anyway, i've gone to a handful of dead shows and had a blast at almost every single one. i may trip out at a show but i don't drink. and the tripping i find just makes the music sound so much more amazing. but the drugs don't make the show, and i'd still have a blast if i was completely sober. i saw the dead both nights last week at pnc and both nights met some super kynd folks. even got a miracle for the second night. both nights i was alone and people came up to me and were friendly and smoked me out and all. awesome people. at coventry i sprained my ankle almost immediately when we got there. i know this happened to quite a few others with the mud and the slippery crates they put down. but noone even asked if i was ok or helped me get up and to the first aid. and thru out the rest of the festival not a single person just came up to me to chill. i felt that the majority of the people at coventry were there for the drugs and making a quick buck. not meeting kynd folks or spreading good vibes. i know there's folks like that at every show, but it seemed to me to be more prominent at phish than the dead for me at least. my whole coventry experience has really made me question what this whole scene is about and if i should continue going to shows or festivals or what. i sell tops to make some money at shows, but i don't overprice them, and it's not the only reason i'm there, nore is scoring drugs. i'm not a selfish person, but sooo many people out there are, and it's hard to deal with. i want to continue to meet kynd folks but i don't know where to go to meet them. i had wanted to go to gathering of the vibes but my friend ditched out on me. i'll keep it in mind for next year. any other festivals anyone knows of? thanks guys. peace & hugs~

 

sometimes with The Dead and Phish, shows like that, its the luck of the draw.. sometimes you might have an amazing show and sometimes you might have a crap show. But i do notice that at dead shows the Dead heads are looking for something different when they're there as apposed to some of the phish scene