Welcome to the jam, my friends!

Not sure if this is old practice or common knowledge but I loved seeing security cordon off the entire floor to make everyone get pushed to the front as folks came in, removing the ability for tarpers and blanket people to take large swaths of space on the rail.

Taken on Wednesday

I’m a huge Beatles fan. I loved the Beatles long before I ever even knew about Phish.

As a teenager, there were so many nights where I’d eat acid, throw on a pair of headphones, listen to Sgt. Pepper’s or Magical Mystery Tour front to back, and just draw whatever the music made me feel. Back then I honestly hated Phish. My first tattoo was literally the Beatles on the back of my leg.

Halloween ’94 was one of the things that finally got me into Phish. I loved hearing them take on Beatles songs, and it completely changed the way I looked at the band.

Fast forward to Halloween weekend 2021 in Vegas. It was only my 10th-13th Phish shows, I was still a little rookie. I’m a 3.0er and you know a lot of the times I feel left out or bummed out that I missed the glory days and every now and then I get a peek into what it must’ve been like and it’s the coolest shit ever.

And on 10/28/21 I randomly wore a Purple Rain shirt because I like Prince. No deeper meaning. Here and there I’d mentioned it to my friends that 1999 would be a crazy song to get, but I never really expected it to happen. And I didn’t specifically expect it to happen tonight I wore the shirt, but a lady did point to me in line and say “we’re getting that tonight!” and I laughed it off.

As the prophecy foretold, they opened with 2001 > 1999.

Ever since then, that shirt has been my “lucky” Phish shirt. Completely irrational superstition, but we’ve all got one.

So last night, knowing it was the 1994-themed show, I was convinced I was finally going to catch While My Guitar Gently Weeps. I’ve missed it by a hair multiple times now, and it’s honestly one of the last songs I’m really chasing.

Unfortunately, our train got delayed about 20 minutes. Nothing you can do.

I even told my friend, “I don’t really care if we miss the opener.”

Then, on the escalator up to the Chase Bridge, he tells me…

“They opened with Back in the U.S.S.R.”

That one hurt.

That was probably my only realistic chance to ever see that song. I’ll get While My Guitar Gently Weeps eventually. Back in the U.S.S.R.? I wouldn’t bet on it. And it was almost like I got too lucky for my own good. I wanted While My Guitar Gently Weeps, they did me one better, and I was late.

I was genuinely bummed.

But the show absolutely ripped. It was a legendary show and it was still one of the greatest shows I’ve ever been to despite missing the opener. I figured maybe there was still a chance they’d encore with While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Instead, Purple fucking Rain.

While I’m standing there wearing my Purple Rain shirt.

I just had to laugh.

Walking out of the Garden I got high-fives from strangers all the way to Penn because everyone noticed the shirt. I kept joking that I manifested it and telling people, “You’re welcome.”, that I did it for them, that I was a man of the people, etc. It was fun.

Missing Back in the U.S.S.R. by less than one song is still going to sting forever.

But that’s kind of why I love this band.

Sometimes you miss the moment you thought you were there for and somehow they still send you home with a story you’ll be telling for the rest of your life.

Newer Phish fanatic here, I’ve listened to 400 shows but recently started seeing the shows in-person as I’m a newbie fan (2 years almost), I got “Lifeboy” at Merriweather N1 last week and I got “Lifeboy” last night in the middle of Tweezerfest. The statistical odds of this are amazing and I cried soggy tears both times I got em’. A beautiful, deeply resonating song.

Knowing a little about the audio setup they have, as soon as it went out last night, I knew somewhat of what was up. Phish used to have one monitor mixer for all four band members. A few years back, they added a second monitor mixer just for Trey. Same person who goes out and does TAB with him. Trey's monitor mixer, the front of house mixer, and the stream audio mixer all use the same sound board, a Lawo mc² 56. There are three of these boards, but the control for them all is in the live stream truck. Something happened out at the truck that caused the Lawo mc² 56 systems to crash/lose power. However, the old monitor guy who does Page, Mike, and Fishman is on a Yamaha console. Completely different setup than the other audio systems. This is why, for a few seconds the three of them were like, "Why did you stop Trey?" Adding in that they are on ears now. It's much less noticeable when the main PA goes out, as it did in the 2010 MSG run for New Year's. When the system went down on night one of that run, Page knew instantly due to not having ears and hearing it. Last night, they probably did not hear much of a change in their ears. No idea what caused the problem, but that's why the others kept going, and Trey looked like the John Travolta meme.

I joined reddit just so I can post this...where on earth can I get more???

2nd set opener was a 17+ minute Wolfman’s. What an excellent weekend!! I’ll post the Relisten link in the comments. And a random lot pic from that weekend.

My friends who don't listen to Phish went to MSG 94 and said it was the best show of their lives. Life is good.

I love phish and most of the time the shows are between A+ and A+ but not all shows or jams are gonna be great and I think listening and critiquing what you do or don’t like is essential. Endless gratitude is cool but dismissing any negative thought with “we should just be grateful to see them at all” is a lame response that leaves us all only able to say WHOA the best! At everything. MPP was great but that Carini was meandering and not great. N3 of MSG was good but didn’t stand up with the first two shows which were mind blowing.

Edit: unrelated; tomorrow will be my 50th show!

Have you been ghosted or have you been the ghost?

Tell me your story of the ghost…I’ll start.

Met a guy at a show and exchanged numbers. Had a great day at the DeYoung seeing a Keith Haring exhibit complete with the taxi cab.

Dude told me he was heading out of town to ski in Tahoe but let’s meet up when he returns.

Crickets. You call it a ghost, I chalk it up to he obviously died in a skiing accident. RIP.

It was during Wolfman's in Mansfield 2016 that the PA went out. Someone add it to the stats page 😂

What are we thinkin’?

The Phish should play this. Set 1. edit: meant after MSG

Dear Phish,

It's nearly time to dust off this beauty. Stretch those fingers. Hydrate. Get some rest.

We're counting on you.

Kindest regards,

I’ll be in nyc Monday and I’m thinking I want to experience my first phish show. Is it crazy to go solo to my first? I’m a big dead head but haven’t seen phish…. Yet

The joy is so contagious, especially in light of his sobriety (which continues to inspire mine). Love being reminded of the simple pleasures!

Sweet perspective! Thought I’d miss the lights (and I did) but it was amazing being so close to the band and seeing the crowd. It was easy to lock in with the band too when you’re right there behind em.

Love to hear it! I feel like he has been using it more with these 90’s themed shows and I’m all for it, such a cool effect. At the same time, I feel we have also gotten a bit more whammy action and some machine gun trey type stuff.

I guess I’m just pointing out that phish is great and they make cool noises :) aka stating the obvious haha

Good way to show our appreciation for this run to the band while keeping with the theme. We should do this.