OT Music Breaking News: Phish breaking up...for good.

[jackstraw45]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=529&e=2&u=/ap/20040525/ap_en_mu/phish_breakup

Phish Breaks Up With New Album Approaching

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer

NEW YORK - Phish, the Vermont-based jam band whose legions of dedicated fans made them one of the nation's top touring acts, announced Tuesday that they were breaking up.

[Stew225]

1. And this day was going along real swell

and now this! Damn!

[hexola]

They should have never got back together...(nt)

[Elbowroom]

2. So witll they

finally take a shower?



hehehe

[Tiberius]

3. what?

HUH!?? Saw them at the Tweeter Center from the seventh row. Killer

[RummyTheDummy]

4. Thank God.

Also thankful Friends and Frasier are off the air. Friends is low brow and Kelsey Gramer is a Rethug. By the way shouldn't this thread be in the lounge?

[Tiberius]

10. Yeah, but...

... the demise of a band is a sadder occurrence than the demise of a mainstream, vanilla TV show.

Except maybe those American Idol contestants, I wish they would stop being interviewed. I don't care one iota what they have to say!

[RummyTheDummy]

11. I tend to agree

I have nothing against Phish from that standpoint and I'm of course familiar with their left leaning politics and appreciate that.

Just don't care for their music and all the hullabaloo surrounding it. Upon review, my condolences to Phis fans. And to the moran who said I was a freeper b/c I didn't like them, fuck off.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

5. can things get ANY BETTER

damnit...this is way too depressing...

whose going to coventy?

[vi5]

6. Wow. I really hated that band.......

And I'm not even inherently averse to jam bands. I'm a huge fan of the Grateful Dead and have loved numerous neo-hippie bands. Phish just seemed way too jokey and gimmicky to me and I've heard most of their songs and not liked a single one.

Condolences to their fans, though.

[hexola]

9. jokey and gimmicky...please...

You mean like "Let's Go Out to Dinner and See a Movie"?

I'd say that "jokey and gimmicky" accounts for maybe 10% of thier material...the rest is quite musically sound...very melodic and well composed. All outstanding improvisers...

But - I've had this discussion before - to each his own..

hexola = 50 dead shows (86-95)
>10 Phish shows (93-96)

[vi5]

13. I've actually seen them more than you then....

...I think around 15 times I've accompanied friends and girlfriends to their shows and they played on my campus several times. I still maintain that it was too jokey and gimmicky for me. I'm sorry, but any band that employs a vaccuum cleaner and a trampoline into their act falls under the category of "gimmicky". Unless they were making some sort of serious musical statement with the vacuum cleaner and trampoline that I didn't quite get.

[hexola]

15. I always thought the tramps and the vaccum were really satire...

sort of parodies of all the bouncing around some rock stars do...and could take up all of 15 minutes of a long show...I'm not sure it was supposed to be totally serious...and some of those electrolux solos aren't too bad.

I think songs like "Horn" and "Stash" have very graceful melodies...definitely serious shit.

[Chico Man]

30. See post 29

Gimmicky?

[gulfcoastliberal]

7. This news

seems to bring out the lurking freepers.

[jackstraw45]

8. Nah...just some a-holes

Dems can be a-holes too.

[vi5]

12. If you dislike Phish, the terrorists win!

Freepers? Come on. Because we don't like particular band? Pulease.

[hexola]

16. You're either with Phish, or against Phish...(nt)

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

14. After releasing another 400 "Official Bootlegs?"

I guess I really missed something re: The Phish Phenomenon.

[in_cog_ni_to]

17. Who the hell is "Phish?"

Never heard of them.

[WilliamPitt]

18. God damn it

:(

The Phisheads are freaking out:

http://livephish.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=78917&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[Donkeyboy75]

19. It's good news, in a way.

I was a Phish freak...made the pilgrimmage to Nectar's in Burlington, have seen them about ten times live, etc etc. But I don't like their new stuff all that much, and I think the reasons they gave for breaking up are very good ones.

That said, it's sad to see a great band go.

[mountainvue]

20. They were

distraught over Howard Dean's loss.:hippie:

[KG]

21. no more bouncing round the room?

bummer.

[Emboldened Chimp]

22. This is sad news, indeed

I, for one, will miss the hell out of them. Most bands will never accomplish what Phish did. You can hate them if you want, but there is NO DENYING that Phish was truly an original band. They built a huge fan base from nothing in a small state (VT) with no airplay or music videos. They were not about hype or image or any of the other garbage most bands are about. They were about music and nothing more. Sure, they did some goofy things on stage, but only because they WANTED to, not because they had to. But everything they did was on THEIR TERMS, and nothing more. And so, too, with the break up. I say bravo to my boys for 21+ years of original music and KICK ASS jamming.

Now excuse me, I have plans to make for Coventry...

[Earth_First]

28. DU meetup at Coventry?

is it in the works? ;)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

23. One less lousy band, several thousand left to go.

Now if only we can convince Ani DiFranco to retire.

[Emboldened Chimp]

24. Who do you like?

Come on, so I can tear 'em to shreds. And I will.

[Colin Ex]

25. I could not agree more.

The day Ani DiFranco retires, I'll set my car on fire in celebration.

-C

[Earth_First]

26. It's too bad...

I understand that while Phish did not appeal to most individuals, it meant alot to many people, myself included. I'm not sure how to explain it rationally, however there is a part of me that thrived on knowing that in the very near future, there was always an outlet of release from reality where everyone was accepted and bonded by a common thread. I am truly going to miss this. I spent the last 8 years with this band traveling many thousands of miles, forging friendships that transcend all imaginable rationality. Some of these people who I have met throughout the years are individuals whom I only see maybe but once or twice a year, however are some of the closest people to me in my life. It transcended much further beyond the music, however it WAS the music that kept me coming back for more, 58 times more up until I take to the road one final time in June to search out America and fill my soul with the music that only this band has been able to produce.

Additionally, I find it very troubling that there are individuals who may not understand or enjoy the music or the culture to sit and openly badmouth something this simple. What does it accomplish? What does it do for you personally to do such? While my intention is not to spark a heated debate over such words, I find it hard to understand why people find the need to alienate that which they do not understand.

[Whitacre D_WI]

27. Is that a threat, or a promise?

[Chico Man]

29. I was lucky enough to experience these late night Phish events..

Control Tower Jam





Expect the unexpected. That what Phish always gives their fans. On July 31, 2003 Phish surprised their fans by transforming the old Control tower of Loring Air Force into a one of the most unique stages in Rock history. The quartet broke into unannounced jam session at 2:00am supported by special designed lighting, effects and scrims by Chris. Over their 10 year relationship, Chris has designed historical stages, effects and props for Phish. This event was no different.

Yes, they are playing from the top of the Air Force Base control tower... What other band would ever thing of doing this at 2:00 in the morning on an old air force base????? Anyone? Anyone??????

And the ONLY time I've ever taken acid, pretty much at the peak, I witnessed the following event..



Flatbed Jam: At about 3:30 a.m. (August 17, 1996) (the night after the first show), Phish rolled through the parking lot on the back of a flatbed truck decorated with billions (well, lots anyway) of lights, playing an incredibly moving and rolling jam. (Tapes exist -- the first 20 minutes or so from Audio Technica 822 mics attached to bicycle handlebars, and the last 15 minutes or so from Neumann KM-140 mics attached to a stick, and there is an effort underway by Airwaves studios in Chicago to combine the two and mix out noise from the truck and the crowd -- but the experience cannot be captured.)

DUDE - these are two of the most insane things I've ever witnessed. So for all the naysayers out there: what has your band done for you?

I will never EVER forget the experiences I had at a dozen plus Phish shows and The Clifford Ball, the Great Went, and IT.

[Earth_First]

31. Amen brother/sister...

While this isn't an attempt to put down your favorite band, it's a very valid question in my opinion. This isn't just a band that will provide you for an excellent night of music as your favorite musician could/would, this band brought so many things to the next level. Their lighting director, Chris Kuroda is hands down, the 5th member of this band. His ability to light a room is hands down NOTHING I have seen non-"jamband" acts utilizing. I know this for a fact that I consider myself a well-rounded individual taste in music, so I've seen what the other acts bring to the table. Even extending beyond the ability for Phish to stimulate your auditory and visual senses, they would create these giant events ("festivals") that culminated at the end of each tour for several years, that would incorporate ALL senses. These vast open areas in expanses of the country that have some of the most beautiful landscapes, and turn them into, in essence, "adult playgrounds". The greatest part of these festivals is that they were, as the culmination of the tour, almost an appriciation of the fan event, every year just topping the surrounding landscape and adding 3 sets of music for two nights. I cannot express to you enough how these "long weekend" 'vacations' are what have kept me going in such a positive direction for nearly a decade, I am truely going to miss this experience.

[BraveDave]

32. So....

...riding the coat tails of the Grateful Dead was a short strange trip.
Go figure.

[Earth_First]

33. I think you are mistaken...

With all due respect, the Dead and Phish were two entirely polar opposites in musical stylings. You may argue that they may have explored alot of the same styles and genres of music, but that can be said about any band as each artist is affected in his or her way by the creativity of others. What the Grateful Dead brought was the ability to write and compose music that was a lifelong learning lesson of lyrics intertwined with the musical progression of the Dead as musical artists, with several distinct plateaus and segues into new territory. Phish has the same exact exploratory efforts into their musicianship, it's part of what makes Phish, Phish. The twist that Phish has on the Dead is it nonsensical approach to music, making it entirely different. Phish was based on a college band among a few fans. Which in turn, amused them to the point where alot of the nonsensical lyrics that Phish has, turned out as inside jokes amongst friends, this is prevalent in scores of Phish songs. I guess what it really comes down to is you appreciation for "noodling" music. Phish and the Dead are entirely the same in the fact that they carry a common thread among the counterculture which surrounded both. That's where it ends.