This has been a long time coming…

I’ve been a Phish fan for 20 years. I’m sure I’ve been listening to them for longer than that having grown up in Vermont in the 80s and 90s but I can only truly say I’ve been ACTIVELY listening to them for that long. I’ll never forget June 11, 1994 for a long time. I was 10 years old and had just been crew on my parents’ boat Firewater in the Burlington Mayor’s Regatta (not to be confused with the longer running Plattsburgh Mayor’s Cup). We had sailed a great race and ended up winning the inaugural regatta; my dad getting to take home the trophy. The big winner that day would end up being my ears. One of the race’s sponsors was 106.7 WIZN, the local rock radio station. I would always ask the people doing remotes for free CDs. This was to be no different except that the DJ gave a copy of the recently released Hoist by Burlington’s own Phish. I excitedly perused the booklet as we drove home to the Mad River Valley. Upon getting home, I grabbed my Discman and hit play. The simple guitar riff of Julius hit my ears and I was in. From the wailing guitar of Down with Disease to the easy funk of Wolfman’s Brother, I was enjoying every moment. For a kid who didn’t flow easily into the angst of Seattle, this was a breath of fresh air. Music that has soul. Music that had careful instrumentation.

Since then, I’ve been to 51 shows and listened to dozens more. It got me thinking that has anyone listened to every Phish show that is available. According to the streaming website Phish.in, they have 1,693 shows recorded. That doesn’t include every show performed as many did not get committed to tape by the band or the audience but that’s a vast history to cover. That’s the goal of this blog. Starting with show #1 at UVM and ending whenever the band’s new “3.0” period and my task meet, I am going to review a show a day until there are no more shows to review.  Unencumbered by the hassle of having to B&P and trade my way to owning every show on a glorious Maxell XLII, I’ll use the power of the Internet to enjoy every recorded. I’ll be posting a link to Phish.in so you can listen along with me. I hope you’ll join me for this ride and enjoy.