Comments on: Trey Anastasio Hints at Phish Reunion

By: Phish Announces 2009 Reunion at Justin Ward (.org)

Phish Announces 2009 Reunion at Justin Ward (.org) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:26:38 +0000

[...] got word yesterday from more than one source that there would be news announced that would confirm the Phish reunion rumors that have been swirling around the internet for the past year or so. The band started to get the [...]

By: Adub

Adub — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:42:23 +0000

I worry that it just hasn’t been quite long enough to drop off enough high school groupies. I started seeing Phish back in early 92′ and nothing compairs to the early small venue shows. The scene was different….people were there for Phish…not the drugs. It seemed more and more post 2000 shows were just packed with young kids who had no clue what they were there for besides to get wasted. The scene started to get ugly…if I were Phish I would have wanted out too. That being said…the longer it’s been…the more i’m dying for a reunion. Im older….married with a career and still look back on some of those shows as the best time of my life. I don’t think it will ever live up to the early days…no reunion ever does, but when Trey made a comment on Charlie Rose back before Coventry..something to the effect “if we can’t do the songs justice we don’t wan’t to play them”…it kind of ticked me off. I understand his point, but the songs were not just for them…it was for the phans too, and some of those songs deserve to be played..and funny how Trey now seems to realize this. Good or sub-par…I’d take urine in my ear at this point.

By: Dan Straine

Dan Straine — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:57:17 +0000

Phish is by far one of the greatest rock and roll bands that has ever lived. They are one of the most original bands as well. The only thing unoriginal was the downhill trail Trey decided to stroll down. It’s the same story over and over…one star to the next. You work hard to get famous and make some money and then you fuck it all up.
Now, if they were to be truly original then they would not get back together. But, they are going to succumb to the same forces as everyone else and being unoriginal Phish will reunite and everyone is going to talk about how great it is that they got back together and the old heads are going to say it wasn’t like it used to be and the newer fans will try to relive the glory days of 1994-1997.
The story has already been written. The future is already been told.
It’s the same damn thing over and over again.
I will be there though when they do reunite to boogie down and throw a few back.

By: Tom Law

Tom Law — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:59:01 +0000

I’m glad to see people posting at this late date after the initial articles. Let’s face it. Almost all of 2004 was fucking abysmal, especially in August. I was watching the Coney Island Show DVD the other day, which was the first show on that tour. They were already coming apart at the seams that night and trying hard to keep it together. But they couldn’t even lock down the basic rythm strumming of Weekapaug. The year only got worse from there except for some moments at Alpine, especially the second set of the second night. I have listened to a lot of Trey over ‘05, ‘06, and the one set at Langerado in ‘07. There’s a lot of great stuff, but I still don’t know if he has the ability to really play Phish music. Back in ‘03, I think it took them all summer to really get it goin’ and IT was really culmination and high-water mark of post-hiatus Phish. Then after the fact, I read that they really weren’t very happy during that time and already felt burned out (mainly Trey, of course.) I know Trey had a lot of problems with drugs and stuff and he remembers everything through that prism of his personal experience. But I honestly think that as soon as they started to fire it up again, all the pressure and tension would come back to remind them why they were burned out. A good Phish performance from the mid-90s was like Michael Jordan going out and scoring 50 points. They were so fined tuned and well-rehearsed that they had to go out of their way to suck. Then they got to the point where they couldn’t practice anymore, and as a musician, I understand where they were coming from. Playing the same songs for years when they’re so complex and require so much concentration and effort, walking in those same footsteps over and over when there was so much other musical ground they wanted to to cover as musicians and people. I think they would realize after a few practices why they stopped practicing. I read that their practices were often tense and grueling, with the guys being hyper-critical. If you’ve ever been in a band, you know that there is a lot of intensity and drama at practice. Being a great band requires a lot of dedication and passion and those guys would have to REALLY want it bad to put in the necessary work to get back to even 2003 levels. Who knows if they’re even physically capable. What they did musically was akin to early-Michael Jordan’s athletic ability too. Could they come back like that or are we looking at something resembling MJ’s best days as a Washington Wizard? Have they lost a step, and if so, is it worth having them come back? I don’t think so, and only they know if they’re back or not. I wouldn’t put it past them to make a cash grab here, unfortunately. Trey’s legal problems were probably not cheap. Also, I think he sank a lot of his own money into that Rubber Jungle label that his recent stuff came out on, and a Phish tour would be a great way to get back to the finacial cushion that he had and would allow him to finance future projects like orchestra music or whatever.
I would love to see Phish, but only if it kicks ass. I would much rather hear TAB jam like 2003 then hear PHish jam like 2004. I’m Out.

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:38:25 +0000

The last show I saw live was Deer Creek 2003. And I could tell they’d break up soon. Just a feeling I got. I enjoyed the show, I enjoyed nearly every show I saw unless I wigged out or something. I think Phish was always about having fun. I think It would be great if they go back together. I know a lot of younger Phans would go ape shit to tour with them. I’d like to start seeing my annual Deer Creek shows again. Fuck Verizon Wireless!!!

By: Forbin

Forbin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:33:23 +0000

Phish being gone has been kinda healthy for me in terms of ‘growing up’…I’ve gotten married and settled down a bit-my old tour buddy just graduated Pharmacy school. I’ve also experienced some other great music-I like the variety of bands at these festivals nowadays.

Still-There is no other band that does it for me like they did. There is just no comparison for me. With the exception of Summer ‘04, all of the post-hiatus shows were pretty lackluster. They played alright-but you could just tell that they (Trey) were not all there-and did not have the same energy and passion that made us all want to see them as much as humanly possible in the 1st place.

If they come back, I don’t think it will be until they are good and ready-and until they have that same spark that made it obvious that they enjoyed playing at least as much as we enjoyed seeing them. With the 00-03 hiatus, they still had expectations to come back…this time, there are no expectations-they can really do it or not do it-whenever they’re ready.

Also-the scene will be totally different. They would not be ‘the band to see’ necessarily. There are tons of other great bands who people have adopted. There would be plenty of hype-don’t get me wrong-but the scene would be made up of those who truly love Phish and their music. You’d have old farts like me come out of retirement, and you’d have the younger kids who either missed them or saw a few subpar shows. If they don’t come back-that’s fine…but if they do, I’m pretty confident that it will be better than when they left off.

By: Old Skool Kids

Old Skool Kids — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:22:35 +0000

So the rumors of a reunion occuring in Manchester, TN at the Bonnaroo festival site (the site is now owned by the Bonnaroo Inc.) can be taken a step further. Just on the news here in Nashville was one of the Bonnaroo reps mentioning that they are “getting serious” about negotiating to have other music events on the site. From where I sit, it looks like a Phish reunion in Manchester will occur by the end of 2009.

By: Mudrat

Mudrat — Fri, 30 May 2008 07:27:57 +0000

Trey just got announced to Rothbury fest.

Thats Trtey, Jon, and Gordon so far in the lineup…

By: nelsorp

nelsorp — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:36:10 +0000

i am still skeptical. it could be shameless self promotion for trey’s new album. that aside, i would be very interested in seeing them play again. in my opinion there seems to be a void. panic can’t quite fill it, for me anyway. umphreys is great, but they are no phish. cheese is done, and they never did it for me anyway. i have been listening to moe more lately, and saw a great show a few weeks back, but they are taking the rest of the year off at the end of the summer. not that theres anything wrong with that.

i got onto the phish bandwagon a little late. all of the shows i saw were post cypress. even at there lows, they were still incredible. i witnessed several amazing shows, and coventry. i wouldn’t call it a highlight, but it was emotional. all things said and done, it was special. and i want more.

if you just can’t get it, theres 20 years of music. it may take a while to appreciate the subtleties, but its worth it, in my opinion. they were my musical gateway drug, and without them i wouldn’t be listening to a wide range and eclectic selection of music that i do every day. and for that i owe them alot.

some of what i listen to is justin’s fault. but if the new music wasn’t good, i wouldn’t still be reading this blog. keep’em coming.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:16:57 +0000

I’ll take 20 bad shows in a row just to get that MAGIC of one show.

Even though 2003-2004 were pretty “meh”, there are some gems in there that stand out. Especially those final shows where “A SONG I HEARD THE OCEAN SING” started to take flight.

I don’t even care about the old stuff. GIVE ME some new jams with the four boys from Vermont.

Fanboy out!