Anyone music fan who frequents the interwebs on a regular basis, will know that the Phish reunion is old news. But I’ve been bogged down with schoolwork (which I still have tons of to do: If anyone can help me with my Data Structures homework- lemme know in the comments. Constructing a boggle solver is no fun when your Intro to Java course was horrible) so this is the first chance I have to post about it. As of Thursday, jam band gods Phish announced that they’ll be reuniting for three
Now, for many music fans, this is the Holy Grail. Especially those high school kids who recently discovered that they love jam band music and the “culture” that goes along with it (hmmm…) and lament the fact that they were still in grade school when Phish went on hiatus last, and for all intents and purposes, seemed to have broken up.
I am not one of those fans.
My relationship with Phish is a much more causal one. Similar to my take on the Grateful Dead (the original jam band, whose shows Phish supposedly models theirs after) - while these guys are known for their incredible concerts- I prefer their studio offerings.
You could shrug this statement off by claiming I just don’t like live music, and prefer the cleanliness of a studio recording. That would be entirely false. There are certain bands (like Pearl Jam and the Counting Crows, to give two examples) of whose studio catalogue I almost entirely ignore for their stupendous live selections.
So yes, I do think it’s odd that the only Phish stuff I don’t automatically skip over when shuffling on my iPod is stuff from Pictures of Nectar, Lawn Boy, or a few other of their studio albums that I enjoy listening to; yet when Hampton Comes Alive shows up, I always tend to get bored (what’s the deal with the Audience Chess Moves?) and end up moving on to the next song after less than a minute of listening. (Like I said before, it’s the same thing with the Grateful Dead: I love American Beauty and Skeletons in the Closet [despite the fact that true music fans shouldn’t own “Best Of” compilations, this was the first Dead album I purchased, so I’m going to stand by it] but it’s rare when I’ll listen to any of their live stuff – except of course tracks off Europe ’72. Hmmm… I guess this equation has been disproved, and rendered moot and uninteresting.)
And herein lies the conundrum placed before me: Do I assume that my dislike for their live albums will translate into a dislike for their actual live show, and ignore this semi-significant reunion by not even attempting to obtain tickets? Or do I think that in order to properly appreciate this band, I need to actually be there- that I need to be in attendance to witness this purported greatness?
So, as any self respecting concertgoer would do- I registered for the possibility to buy tickets early (which really means, that if I win this chance, I’ve already purchased the tickets- God, these guys are smart business dudes). If all goes well, I will be in attendance, and will be able to report back to all of you on my opinion as to whether these guys actually deserve their spot as the best jam band since the Dead (which I guess, is no big deal in my book, as I don’t see the Dead as such an awesome jam band either).
Oh, and one more thing about this band. Can people stop saying they love Farmhouse? It’s probably the most generic pop song written by a band whose strong suit was diverting from that tired genre. With great cuts like Cavern, Horn, and Guelah Papyrus- this is a band that should not be known for their only song that follows a traditional G, D, Em, C song structre.
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