Before the modern world of navigation systems and the hand-held GPS, Phish tour and atlases went hand in hand. Without any electronic voice guidance or little blue ball to follow, everyone had to make sense of maps that often likened piles of spaghetti after mind-altering shows. But with each subsequent era of Phish, things got a little bit easier. Cell phones burst onto the scene in the latter part of 1.0, integrated navigation systems and Garmins seeped into the scene in 2.0, but hardly anyone had them. And by the time 2009 rolled around, we all carried the Internet in our pocket. Smart phones have rendered Rand McNally useless, and now we don’t even think as we are guided by multiple systems from point A to point B. And now, in Fall 2010, everything just got a little bit easier.
Phish fan, Marc Pechaitis, has rolled out iTour, an iPhone application designed to streamline tour navigation just in time for fall. Instead of Googling your way to venue addresses, restaurants, and liquor stores, let iTour do your work for you. Integrated with Google Maps on your iPhone, simply click on one of seven categories per venue, and iTour flips you to a map with your locales of choice already pinpointed. Choose from “Venue,” “Hotels,” “Restaurants,” Gas,” “Groceries,” “Liquor,” and “Campgrounds,” and the application will inform you of the nearest facilities around the venue. Perfect for both on-the-fly adventure and advance tour planning, iTour is the touring companion that has been begging to be made since Phish and iPhones collided. Available now in Apple’s App Store and at theiTourapp.com, the kicker is that it is completely free!
The home page for each show contains the address, phone number, and capacity of each venue, as well the ticket and door times. And as an extra perk, once the shows start happening, the app links directly to each setlist via Phish.net. Beta-tested on summer tour, Pechaitis is debuting the first version of iTour this fall with plans to update and enhance the service with each subsequent tour. He also plans to expand this platform for other touring bands, thus any feedback about iTour is welcome at www.theiTourapp.com.
Download iTour for for free here, or in the app store here, or search for “iTour.phish” at the App Store on your iPhone. Check it out…
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Five Tunes For Friday:
Here are five selections from last week’s Type II Trivia quiz.
“Bathtub Gin” 9.29.00 I – Las Vegas
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“AC/DC Bag” 8.9.98 II – Va. Beach
“Reba” 5.28.94 II – Laguna Seca Daze
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“Wolfman’s” 9.24.99 II – Austin, TX
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“Stash” 11.13.97 II – Las Vegas
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Type II Trivia Update: This week’s quiz is still wide-open with nobody taking a sizable lead in the first day. A few contestants are neck in neck, but no one has an unbeatable or intimidating score. Get those entries in by 7 pm tonight for a chance to win a free TAB or Mike Gordon CD! See yesterday’s post for audio clips and contest.
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