16 June 2011

kudos to phish


for the first time in years, probably since 2004, i have valid reason to give phish positive praise for something they've done: webcasting shows. it's really a brilliant idea, in all honesty. i mean, put yourself in their shoes: they're already getting more or less $75 per ticket and sell out every show with no problems at all. Why not make $15 more bucks and sell the show on the internet to (at the
very least) twice as many people than you're reaching solely in the venue. with the festival streams this summer (hangout, bonnaroo, etc.), shit - now i don't have to pay for over-priced festival tickets, rent a condo, deal with the festivality in all its entirety.

i can't even begin to explain how nice it is to have the following taken away from the "going-to-see-a-phish-show" experience:
  1. the fucking scuds - i don't have to hear "moooooooolllllyyyyyy" or get hit up for smokes by every anti-showering hippie in the place. as a matter of fact, i don't even have to walk around the entire lot, or park my car, or do any of that shit. i'm on the couch. all the heady bros are at the show sweating it up and brah'in out in their own wookie ass way, and i don't have to deal with even one of 'em.
  2. this is an extension of point 1, regarding the crowd, and i don't need to explain this any further: "A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them like a license to behave like an asshole."--Frank Zappa
  3. a/c - i'm sitting comfortably in my recliner, drinking old charter, and am comfortable. i'm not fighting over seats, scheming to sneak over the rail when the usher isn't looking, watching out for wookies who are doing just that... and i'm in the confines of my very own home. plus, i have my own shitter to go to when they play "wading in the velveeta cheese" or any other flimsy new song they purport.
  4. soundboard - i actually get to see the band (which isn't that great now because as cheesy as trey has gotten, with the signs and all and the singing along, i just don't get it). i think the theory that as musical artist get older, they just naturally cheese out - so it seems to be heading in such a direction for phish. i predict that in the next year, going to see a phish show will be eerily similar to watching an episode of espn college gameday, with all the signs and overbearing crowd participation. playing songs that people write on signs - that's not the spontinaeity i'm looking for in such a band. don't take cues from the people in the crowd. please.
  5. did i mention that i have my very own shitter? just can't beat that.
so, i tip my hat to the boys - the first tip of such a hat in a long time. i'm glad that people are enjoying it, that they're playing the songs correctly (at least - although they're "banging them out" more so than in the past), and seem like they're having fun.

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