The Phish Thread

[Breetai]

Wow, that sucks. But think of the legacy they are leaving. They'll be even more huge now!

 

[Marzer]

They are one of the only good bands still making music. I listen to them CONSTINTLEY
xpager.ndis.umn.edu/phish.html (copy paste, im not allowed to post websites yet lol). What if Trey joins the Dead though. That would be awesome

 

[ps139]

the phish show that i got is on my list:

http://db.etree.org/bryceDMBspoon

you can check out the setlist by clicking the date. if you'd like it, i can do a B+P for you.

That would be really really cool man, I'm going to email you.

 

[ps139]

They are one of the only good bands still making music. I listen to them CONSTINTLEY
xpager.ndis.umn.edu/phish.html

Once I get home to my comp with Winamp, I'm gonna put that on, it looks cool!!

What if Trey joins the Dead though. That would be awesome

That, would be truly amazing!!!
It could totally happen. He's played a bunch of times with Phil Lesh before, so you never know!

 

[Marzer]

they could always use someone thats nearly as good as Jerry. I heard Warren Hayes is going on tour with the dead

 

[ps139]

Wow, thats awesome! Warren Haynes is amazing. He is featured on a few songs on the Dave Matthews live in Central Park CD. His solos in "Cortez the Killer" just blew me away when I heard them. He is one of the best guitarists around.

 

[Marzer]

ya, i love that CD. I know someone thta went

 

[ps139]

Dear friends,

As we wind down the Phish career, it is done with both great joy and
great sadness. The joy comes from remembering the incredibly good
times we've experienced, the successes we've enjoyed, and knowing that
even in our closing we are honoring the band. The sadness is obviously
driven by the fact that something I love will not be a part of my life
anymore. To me, we have been the greatest band in the world and have
had the greatest fans ever.

I still love the music we make but the situation feels different
to me now. I guess in my heart I've known for a while that something
had to change, but it wasn't until this last weekend that my feelings
really began to coalesce. I'm old enough now that I am able to look
to the future without feeling that I need to balance it with my past.
I find it ironic that half of my life has to go by before I am able
to focus solely on the future. As a member of a successful rock band,
it seems that every aspect of my profession encourages me to extend my
youth as long as possible. Don't get me wrong, I like feeling young,
but more importantly I need to be honest with myself.

The pressures and schedule of this work can take its toll personally as
well as creatively. As someone who has recently been through a divorce,
I know how traumatic change can be. But, I also know that if you are
able to let go of things and embrace change there is the potential for
incredible personal (and creative) growth.

If I sound unusually candid in this statement, I am able to do so
because in my mind I've already moved on to the next phase of my life.
This is a feeling I believe I share with Trey. I have a four-year-old
daughter and there is nothing more important to me than being with her.
Come August, I'm not going to have to tell her how many days 'til daddy
comes back from tour. Combine that with my perception that the band's
vitality is not what it once was, and it's easy to see how my mind
quickly begins to move in one direction instead of a hundred directions
all at the same time.

I will miss it incredibly, but I have no regrets. The pride that I feel
for the band, our fans, the organization, and all of our collective
accomplishments is overwhelming. I love you all and know that we wouldn't
be here without you.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Page McConnell

 

[ps139]

05.26.04
Last Friday night, I got together with Mike, Page and Fish to talk openly
about the strong feelings I've been having that Phish has run its course and
that we should end it now while it's still on a high note. Once we started
talking, it quickly became apparent that the other guys' feelings, while not
all the same as mine, were similar in many ways -- most importantly, that we
all love and respect Phish and the Phish audience far too much to stand by
and allow it to drag on beyond the point of vibrancy and health. We don't
want to become caricatures of ourselves, or worse yet, a nostalgia act. By
the end of the meeting, we realized that after almost twenty-one years
together we were faced with the opportunity to graciously step away in
unison, as a group, united in our friendship and our feelings of gratitude.

So Coventry will be the final Phish show. We are proud and thrilled that it
will be in our home state of Vermont. We're also excited for the June and
August shows, our last tour together. For the sake of clarity, I should say
that this is not like the hiatus, which was our last attempt to revitalize
ourselves. We're done. It's been an amazing and incredible journey. We thank
you all for the love and support that you've shown us.

-- Trey Anastasio

 

[ps139]

Less than twenty-four hours after Phish called it quits, Trey Anastasio visited Rolling Stone's New York offices to talk about his decision. "Not everybody's fully in agreement," the frontman says of the band, which formed twenty-one years ago while the members were in college in Burlington, Vermont. "But for three of us, it seemed like the natural thing to do. Bands break up, you know?"

The split comes at a time when Phish appeared to be firing on all cylinders. The band's tenth studio album, the excellent Undermind, will be released on June 15th; a friendly, rocking first single, "The Connection," released on May 24th, is shaping up to be the group's biggest radio hit. Band members have been saying that some recent shows, such as the four-night New Year's run in Miami, have been among the best in Phish's history.

In addition, a thirteen-date summer tour in support of Undermind begins on June 17th in New York (a show that will be simulcast in forty-seven movie theaters nationwide) and culminates in a two-day festival in Coventry, Vermont, on August 14th and 15th. That gig will now be Phish's farewell. Upwards of 65,000 fans are expected to hear the band bid goodbye to its old material. "I'd like to revisit that stuff one more time," Anastasio says of the upcoming tour. "But I just can't play that **** anymore. If that makes somebody angry, I'm sorry. I gotta do something new. I cannot spend my entire life going around the country playing 'You Enjoy Myself.'"

According to bassist Mike Gordon, his bandmates came to his Vermont home for a meeting on Friday, May 21st, and sat around the kitchen table to discuss band business. After some joking around, "Trey simply announced, 'I can't do this anymore,' and started to cry," Gordon says. By the end of the three-hour meeting, the bass player was the only one arguing for a reconciliation. "It's pretty weird to have the plug pulled on your career just like that," he says. "But it's a totally classy thing we're doing, leaving on our own terms. The only thing I disagree with is that longevity pays."

As disappointed as Gordon may be with Anastasio's decision, he says there is no bitterness. "Trey is one of my biggest influences," he says. "I have huge admiration for the way he sets goals. They are not too big and not too small. And then he follows through. One of the reasons he's able to do that is he cuts out the extraneous stuff. He doesn't use e-mail. Last year, he threw out his CD collection and burned his television. I have to see this as one of those things."

This is not the first time the band has gone away. In the fall of 2000, Phish took a long break, re-forming two years later to record Round Room. They resumed touring with a New Year's Eve show at New York's Madison Square Garden. At the time, keyboardist Page McConnell told Rolling Stone that it would be "difficult for me to imagine us ever breaking up again." But Anastasio was never so sure post-hiatus Phish would be a permanent proposition. "I was saying, 'Let's see if this takes a new life,'" he says. "What I found over the last year was that we were having fun on the road but that we were basically playing the old songs, and it didn't feel fresh anymore."

In the end, Anastasio believes he is protecting Phish's legacy by quitting now. "How much longer was Led Zeppelin gonna last after In Through the Out Door if John Bonham hadn't died? We all heard that album. Things don't go on forever, and the quicker you accept that change is inevitable, the happier you're gonna be." Besides, he says, "I don't want my daughter to be in high school with her friends following Phish around the country -- that would just be too weird."

 

[ps139]

The band's tenth studio album, the excellent Undermind, will be released on June 15th; a friendly, rocking first single, "The Connection," released on May 24th, is shaping up to be the group's biggest radio hit.

This song Rocks!!!! You can hear it if you go to Phish's website.

In addition, a thirteen-date summer tour in support of Undermind begins on June 17th in New York (a show that will be simulcast in forty-seven movie theaters nationwide) and culminates in a two-day festival in Coventry, Vermont, on August 14th and 15th. That gig will now be Phish's farewell. Upwards of 65,000 fans are expected to hear the band bid goodbye to its old material.

I'll be there and its going to be amazing!!! For 2 days, Newport , VT will be the most populated town in the whole state !!!

"I'd like to revisit that stuff one more time," Anastasio says of the upcoming tour. "But I just can't play that **** anymore. If that makes somebody angry, I'm sorry. I gotta do something new. I cannot spend my entire life going around the country playing 'You Enjoy Myself.'"

I could listen to that song forever but I understand what Trey is feeling.

According to bassist Mike Gordon, his bandmates came to his Vermont home for a meeting on Friday, May 21st, and sat around the kitchen table to discuss band business. After some joking around, "Trey simply announced, 'I can't do this anymore,' and started to cry," Gordon says. By the end of the three-hour meeting, the bass player was the only one arguing for a reconciliation. "It's pretty weird to have the plug pulled on your career just like that," he says. "But it's a totally classy thing we're doing, leaving on our own terms. The only thing I disagree with is that longevity pays."

I feel bad for Mike. His heart and soul is in Phish.

"Trey is one of my biggest influences," he says. "I have huge admiration for the way he sets goals. They are not too big and not too small. And then he follows through. One of the reasons he's able to do that is he cuts out the extraneous stuff. He doesn't use e-mail. Last year, he threw out his CD collection and burned his television. I have to see this as one of those things."

Now thats cool!!!

In the end, Anastasio believes he is protecting Phish's legacy by quitting now. "How much longer was Led Zeppelin gonna last after In Through the Out Door if John Bonham hadn't died? We all heard that album. Things don't go on forever, and the quicker you accept that change is inevitable, the happier you're gonna be."

Good point Trey.

 

[twosteppin]

But, I also know that if you are able to let go of things and embrace change there is the potential for
incredible personal (and creative) growth.

so true.

So Coventry will be the final Phish show. We are proud and thrilled that it
will be in our home state of Vermont.

is this the show you are going to ps139? wow, the final show. thats gonna be interesting...

According to bassist Mike Gordon, his bandmates came to his Vermont home for a meeting on Friday, May 21st, and sat around the kitchen table to discuss band business. After some joking around, "Trey simply announced, 'I can't do this anymore,'and started to cry ," Gordon says. By the end of the three-hour meeting, the bass player was the only one arguing for a reconciliation. "It's pretty weird to have the plug pulled on your career just like that," he says. "But it's a totally classy thing we're doing, leaving on our own terms. The only thing I disagree with is that longevity pays."

auhh.. what a conversation that must have been...

 

[DMBfanLongliveStrongBad!]

vote for phish!!

i like pink floyd too, but i'd rather phish win.

 

[twosteppin]

I dont know , I don't think Phish will come out victorious in this one. but hey, one must have hope. What if Phish did win, I think they would have to face Dmb. could be wrong. Ill have to check that bracket thing.

 

[DMBfanLongliveStrongBad!]

I dont know , I don't think Phish will come out victorious in this one. but hey, one must have hope. What if Phish did win, I think they would have to face Dmb. could be wrong. Ill have to check that bracket thing.

where's the bracket thing?

 

[ps139]

where's the bracket thing?

http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=66666&tclass=


If Phish beats Pink Floyd, then they would face Dave!!! That would be a battle!!
Bryce is right we all have to vote for Phish in the next round - I LOVE PINK FLOYD but Phish is just better, so much better.

Amy I am going to that festival Trey was talking about. There are supposed to be 65,000 people there!! 20 of my friends are going already!! It will be 2 days, 6 sets of Phish, the last time they'll ever play. Its going to be so much fun, also so emotional, I bet there will be a lot of tears shed.

 

[oldrooster]

Be happy though that they go out in their prime like the Beatles. You don't want them ending up like the stones.

 

[ps139]

Be happy though that they go out in their prime like the Beatles. You don't want them ending up like the stones.

You've got a real good point!!! Too many bands (and athletes too) do not know when its time to stop. I heard a Dead show from 88 and Jerry sounded terrible. I saw the Dead in concert last summer and they weren't as good as they used to be. Seinfeld made a smart move by ending when it did. A real genius with a love for his art knows when its time to move on to something else.

 

[oldrooster]

You've got a real good point!!! Too many bands (and athletes too) do not know when its time to stop. I heard a Dead show from 88 and Jerry sounded terrible. I saw the Dead in concert last summer and they weren't as good as they used to be. Seinfeld made a smart move by ending when it did. A real genius with a love for his art knows when its time to move on to something else.

10 Studio albums, that is a pretty respectable catalog........Im sure they will not give up recording in one form or another....people who are truly dedicated to music rarely do.....

 

[twosteppin]

Amy I am going to that festival Trey was talking about. There are supposed to be 65,000 people there!! 20 of my friends are going already!! It will be 2 days, 6 sets of Phish, the last time they'll ever play. Its going to be so much fun, also so emotional, I bet there will be a lot of tears shed.

thats going to be sweet. Yeah, I predict some tears. have fun.

Be happy though that they go out in their prime like the Beatles. You don't want them ending up like the stones.

thats very true.