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Thursday, July 10, 2003
It's Got A Great Beat But You Can't Dance To It, or
How I Spent My 48th Birthday
Sometimes you don't have to go very far to visit a foreign country where you can observe the natives customs, marvel at their colorful native garb, and struggle to comprehend their ancient and mysterious rituals. And so it was, with fear in our hearts and tickets in our pockets, my wife and I set out Tuesday night for deepest darkest Coors Amphitheater, to see Phish and the people who make up Phish Nation.
I've mentioned before that I recently became interested in Phish and their jam-happy blend of rock/funk/jazz/bluegrass/reggae and whatever else kind of music that comes into their furry little heads. After soliciting information from readers on where to start CD-wise, the one thing that everyone admitted was that you really had to experience them live. With that in mind, I was happy to find that they would be in town on my birthday and so proceeded to find a pair of tickets on eBay at a fine price. Phish's stop in San Diego was their only Southern California stop, so it was no surprise to see assorted people who were clearly from out of town, but a bit more of surprise to see so many out of state plates from the hinterlands of Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas, and Delaware. This is not unusual as I found out.
Our experience at the concert was, in a word, fun.
Before I go on to describe their fans I want to point out that I'm not a jam-band music kind of guy. For the most part I like my music like I like my plays: with three acts. Listening to endless self-indulgent noodling is like reading a Steven Den Beste post, no highs, no lows, and soon it become apparent it's just an endless drone. Phish suprised me with their superior musical skills as well as their ability to create long, yet hook-laden, tunes. While some songs clocked in at about 20-25 minutes, I never got bored and started looking at my watch. Everything seemed to make...sense. A theme was established, then a little musical off-roading, and suddenly you’re back on the path again. Based on the sheer amount of music that we heard and the skill with which is what delivered, we agreed that we see them again if given the chance (meaning if they come back to town..it's not like we're going to give up our careers and follow them around, selling candles in the parking lot at shows).
As for the fans...
First off I want to point out that the crowd was about the most pleasant well-behaved group of people that I have ever attended a concert with. It could be because so many of them were stoned. During intermission the young lady who was sitting to my left asked how I was enjoying the show. When I mentioned that it was my first experience with them, she shared some of the rituals (the chess matches, the glowstick wars, etc.) that are native to Phish shows. When I asked her how many time she had seen the band, she offhandedly said "This is either my 41st or 42nd show". She then related shows that she had seen in Las Vegas, East Troy, Deer Creek Music Center, and somewhere in Utah, as well as certain songs that were performed at each of the shows. That’s a special kind of devotion.
During Phish's performance the whole audience stands. Well, they don't exactly stand, they tend to move. And I wouldn't exactly call it dancing either, because with all the tempo changes and improvisations you can't really get a good dance groove going. So there is this kind of circular, hand punching, rocking back and forth shuffle that can best be described as looking like Walter Huston's jig in Treasure of Sierra Madre as done by a spastic Oompa-Loompa. You get the idea. Seeing this, it occurred to me that Phish concerts are for people who can't dance. Watching 12,000 lurching white people trying to keep up with an ever-changing beat is a sight that may stay with me forever. This isn’t meant to take anything away from the fans enjoyment or the bands abilities, it just an example of some kind of cosmic matchmaking joining a band that plays music you can’t dance to with people who can’t dance.
It’s a beautiful thing actually.
But you had to be there. I'm glad I was.
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