Dranoelk2

@KajusX and Scott Aukerman - definitely was not trying to take a shot at Prince. Never been to a Prince show and every video clip or audio I have ever heard from him is down right awesome. There is this all-star jam type deal on YouTube (can't remember anything about the title or even where it was, sorry) But Tom Petty and a bunch of other famous musicians are all on stage playing the Beatles tune "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (A song Phish also covers btw) and I don't even think I recall seeing Prince on stage until all of a sudden it is time for the guitar solo and Prince just steps up out of nowhere and straight kills it. As far as the 3-way combo of singing, dancing, and musicianship goes, I'm sure Prince ranks up at the top. My point was that there are many very famous and even iconic bands that people pay lots of money to go see that put on spectacular shows but that are just that, a show. In the same sense of going to see a movie, a lot of these are productions that are the same every night. You wouldn't go pay to see the same movie on three consecutive nights, and I feel as though the same concept applies to some of these concerts. One of the last things said on the podcast was "any phish fans that listened to this can get on the website and tell us what they think is the best way to convince Scott" so that is precisely what I did

First time to listen to the Podcast. Just typed Phish (my all time favorite band) into iTunes and ended up listening to this for over an hour. Really entertaining, loved the concept. And Scott, to each his own man, I really don't care what you or anyone else thinks of Phish, it is not for everyone. But here are my best efforts to sway you. First of all, you can never understand Phish until you see a live show. It doesn't matter what live or studio albums or covers you hear, the only way to get it is to go to a show. Harris even said everything changed for him after that Houston show as it did for me in MSG NYC NYE years ago. You said you love rock and roll, so I am confident that even the worst Phish show will leave you satisfied, just give it a chance one time if possible. Second of all, I do believe Harris did a reasonably good job trying to show you a wide range of Phish aspects, but it puzzles me as to why he barely showed you any part of the most important aspect of Phish, their jams. Anyone can make fun of Phish lyrics, most of them are completely redic, hell I don't even care for the words to Fluffhead. But that is beside the point, if all they did was play those songs and sing the words and then stop they would be a terrible band that nobody likes. It is the jams that follow said lyrics that make them so popular, and Harris only showed you about 20 seconds of a "Cross-eyed" jam. Scott even said something to the effect of "that solo was pretty good," after hearing it. But I am under the impression that Scott thinks that was just a little 8 measure guitar solo like Prince or the Stones do. Phish improvises for extended periods of time and by listening to each other the music changes and goes different places and moments like that part of "Cross-eyed" happen a lot more than just once for 20 seconds. Don't think of it as a solo, think of it as 4 musicians playing 4 different instruments that collectively make one amazing sound. Phish are the masters at improvising and when you get past the need for structure and perfect singing voices and lyrics that make so much sense and perfectly planned composed music, you realize that not even Phish knows where they are going and band and audience are all on a journey together. No two shows are the same, hence people follow them to multiple spots. Hell they never even play the same song in consecutive and sometimes three straight shows. You would get bored, Scott, at your third consecutive Prince show on the same tour because it is probably the same setlist, same theatrics, etc...... Phish is all about the music, the whimsical lyrics and trampolines and what not are just an after thought, something fun(ny) to spring into what really matters, and I just feel like Harris didn't emphasize that enough. REBA 10/31/94..... please just listen to it, fast forward through the lyrics if you want, which will lead you to the composed part, take that for what it is (some stellar composition to say the least) but please please please just listen to the improvised last like 5 minutes of this song. This Halloween 1994 version might contain the best 5 minutes of music I have ever heard.