More Than Fun
Concerts are fun. Parties are fun. Carnivals are fun. But Phish was so much more than fun. If fun was the primary thing we drew from this band, would we all be rearranging our summers to hit as many shows as possible? If fun was the only thing we derived from Phish, they would have been like any other crazy Saturday night. But they weren’t. There was something intangible for all of us, something more than fun, that kept drawing us back to those arenas and amphitheatres for years on end. There was something strangely personal about the whole Phish experience, as if the band was sometimes playing to you and you, alone. That connection we all felt inside; to the music, the experience and to the moment kept us yearning for just one more taste. Whether that taste came the next day, the next weekend, or the next tour, we knew that taste was coming and we awaited it like we awaited nothing else. Yeah, there was something more than fun going on. And now, that next taste is in reach once again.
That late-night jolt of life that came last fall; the mystery that gripped our soul when the lights suddenly went black; that bursting sensation at the peak of the most grandiose Harry Hood; the sense of adventure when another Tweezer jam opened; the silence that fell over every crowd at the start of a Slave jam; these things were far more than amusement. Those tranquil inner moments or those times you felt like you were going to explode; balancing on the cusp at the onset of every Bowie or the sea of bliss that sailed with each Reba drop, this was not the stuff of birthday parties and pin the tail on the donkey. This stuff was serious, our car’s odometers and our former bank accounts can attest to that.
The reason why Phish 3.0 has revitalized the community and brought us all backwards down the number line is because we know that whenever we next see Phish, whether at Hampton, Jones Beach, Alpine Valley or beyond, we will have an experience that no one in their same mind could simply describe as fun. We know that when we find ourselves in front of the Phish, that special place inside that has been closed for so long will reopen. We will feel different. We will be different.
This even helps explain why Phish tickets are at such a premium today. Everyone wants a part of what’s left to come, because the experience provides us with so much more than fun; something with which to dream. Stir your best friends, post-show parties ’till way past sunrise, road trips, and mayhem into the mix with the transcendent live experience, and Phish tour magically morphs into one constant and reliable “Fun > Magic > Fun” segue. And it’s about to start all over again. With a blank canvas, Phish will paint a new self-portrait that will also serve as a mirror reflecting our own growth and change since Coventry. As Phish steps to each stage during this upcoming year, spawning new jams while revisiting old ones and evolving into the future, there is one thing you can be sure of, it will be far more than fun.
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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
8.17.96 The Clifford Ball SBD < LINK
The Clifford Ball
Taking care of yesterday’s unfinished business, here we have the final three sets from The Ball. Highlights include a divine afternoon “Reba,” a beautifully crafted second set capped with a “best-ever” version of Slave, and an adrenaline-laced third set with a “Tweezer” centerpiece, that left everyone wanting just a little bit more.
I: The Old Home Place, Punch You in the Eye, Reba, Cars Trucks Buses, Lizards, Sample in a Jar, Taste, Fee, Maze, Suzy Greenberg
II: The Curtain > Runaway Jim, It’s Ice, Brother*, Fluffhead, Run Like an Antelope, Golgi Apparatus, Slave to the Traffic Light
III: Wilson, Frankenstein, Scent of a Mule**, Tweezer, A Day in the Life, Possum, Tweezer Reprise
E: Harpua#
NOTE: Before the second set, the Clifford Ball Orchestra played classical music by: Debussy: Nocturnes (2 movements), Ravel: Pavane Pour une Enfante Defunte, Debussy: Claire de Lune, Ravel: Tombeau de Couperin (2 movements), Chavrier: Joyeux Muse, Faure: Pelleas et Mellisandre (2 movements), Stravinsky: The Firebird (2 movements). *With Ben & Jerry singing a verse. **With a Fishman solo instead of the typical Page/Trey duel. #Without the “Ooom Pah Pah” opening and cut short before finishing.
Tags: Comeback, Culture
guy… email me the details about the room. ive posted me email addresses above
Miner…You have a way of communicating the thoughts and feelings of the phan.
I just e-mailed this post to all of my friends on my e-mail distribution. A way to explain why we are the way we are.
It was an attempt to make them “get it”.
Unfortunatley, they still don’t and never will. I just don’t understand it.
The bonds you create, the experiences we share, the shananigans we create.
Priceless.
This post is as great as listening to David Hasselhof’s Greatest Hits in the nude, with a white wine spritzer….extra cherries.
Agreed! Miner is an amazing writer
Hey Camman the kid,
have a sweet hotel room for you too!!
lets hear it man, send me the info via email at
camjackson591@gmail.com and
09ccc01@students.columbia.k12.mo.us
and by the way
Thank you times all the number of times Phish Played YEM, TWEEZER, AND MIKES SONG
YEM (472) + Mikes (378) + Tweezer (258) = you’re getting thanked 1108 times! (thanks to ZZYZX’s Phish Stats page)
damn filters, should be Mikes = 378 and tweezer = 258
haha nice one spidey….
Now mutlpily that number by the number of hours left until Hampton and then multiply that number by the number of songs played on Halloween 1994.. thats how mmany hanks he’s really getting
Congressman and Miner, gmail is acting up for me.. please send the email with the info to both accounts
As little Neddy Nederlander so aptly and correctly expressed to Lucky Day that the El Guapo referenced in the letter from the people of Santa Poco was infamous, or more specifically IN-famous, meaning ‘MORE THAN’ famous, so too can we describe a Phish show as being IN-fun, or as Ned and Mr. Minor point out, ‘MORE THAN’ fun…I agree completely…just like the moment during 11-3-94 at the Mullins Center when Trey explained to ME personally that the Vibration of Life was the glue consisting of 7 beats per second that held the Universe together…this experience of seeing live music was now IN-fun for me, it had become personal, there was an unexplainable sense of connection and belonging, it had become ‘MORE THAN’ fun…
The excitement of seeing a Phish show and the anticipation one feels once it’s revealed that Uncle Ebeneezer is hiding in the freezer is also akin to the ingenius (see above for definition, IN-Genius – ‘MORE Than’ genius) words once spoken by the legendary philosopher Frank “The Tank” Ricard. Mr. Ricard enlightens all of us by sharing how he felt when faced with the promise of the unknown and i think as fans of wonderfully inventive improvisational music we can all share in Franks cosmic curiosity:
FRANK: “I mean, take yesterday for example. We were out at the Olive Garden for dinner, which was lovely. And uh, I happen to look over at a certain point during the meal and see a waitress taking an order, and I found myself wondering what color her underpants might be. Her panties. Uh, odds are they are probably basic white, cotton, underpants. But I sort of think well maybe they’re silk panties, maybe it’s a thong. Maybe it’s something really cool that I don’t even know about. You know, and uh, and I started feeling… what? what I thought we were in the trust tree in the nest, were we not?”
Yes Frank, you are in the tree in the nest, and we all thank you for so bravely expressing your feelings. That same feeling can be attributed to the blossoming moments of a Phish jam. It’s probably just a mild yet beautiful exploration of the notes that exist within the songs general chord structure…but then something happens…something is unique, different…what if it’s a type-II?? maybe an ambient detour into the unknown, or a funky start-stop duel transcending the bounds of the compositional structure that once safely gaurded the songs existence, or best yet, maybe it’s a series of notes or sounds that I’ve never even heard before…and you know, I feel transported to another dimension…this is what it’s all about…the hope of something that goes beyond silk panties or even a thong…something that is completely unique and never before experienced, unfolding in real time right before our eyes…and I concur with Frank in saying “Yeah, it is really cool”…
Thanks Frank, good stuff…keep on truckin’…see you in the mothership, in the nest, where its all good and we encourage eachother to think beyond the thong…
Great site Miner. Fuckin amped for a 3 night run come march. Ready to throw down in the lot all weekend long. I heard brother dave from mass was rolling down the roadster…all good things
Wedge out of the gate….get some
Brother dave takes showers and dumps in the lot rats v dubs.
@ Scott
Amazing……
I am going to go home, light something up, watch that movie and get stoked for Phish ’09.