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March 9, 2009

Fundamentals Of Phish Economy Are Strong

thubmnail icon: Fundamentals Of Phish Economy Are Strong

Phish reunited over the weekend, and according to The New York Times almost no one at the Hampton gigs paid face value for tickets. In fact, "most fans had ended up paying at least several hundred dollars each." Also? Cops confiscated $1.2 million in illegal drugs and $68,000 in cash. Gotta be careful out there. At least the bootlegs are free: you can download MP3s of all three sets now at livephish.com (flac too, but those will cost you). In this pay-what-you-want Web, I wonder if Phish even bother to license the Beatles and Stones covers. [Photo: Cory Schwartz/Getty Images Entertainment.]

Posted at 6:31 PM by Scott in
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40 Comments

"Barter usually replaces money as the method of exchange in times of monetary crisis, when the currency is unstable and devalued by hyperinflation." - from wikipedia definition of Barter.
Put your $$$ in something safe...like a QP.

Posted by: Longstreet at 03/09/09 7:58 PM  | Reply
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Phish is terrible.

Posted by: birdstheword profile link at 03/09/09 9:02 PM  | Reply
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Poor stupid hippie. I'm glad somebody took its money. Shame it didn't get hit by a truck.

Posted by: Grobian at 03/09/09 9:42 PM  | Reply
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First night sounded insane. Second night seems to be dragging. I'll get to third night tomorrow. Wish I was there, but not for 500 bucks

Posted by: barry at 03/09/09 10:14 PM  | Reply
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Damn i should have been out there selling fake tickets, they'd be too stoned to notice.

Posted by: EddieMat profile link at 03/09/09 10:52 PM  | Reply
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BUZZKILL!

Posted by: roofcano profile link at 03/09/09 11:27 PM  | Reply
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Do they have to license the song, or can they just pay royalties?

Posted by: d at 03/10/09 12:30 AM  | Reply
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i didnt realize big phish even broke up? thats SO crazy how a ticket is 500 bucks for a ska band! i guess they are really fast.

Posted by: cool guy at 03/10/09 3:02 AM  | Reply
Score = -18 Vote up Vote down

This would have been funnier if you had said "reel big phish."

Posted by: andrew t.  in reply to cool guy's comment at 03/10/09 5:54 AM  | Reply
Score = 8 Vote up Vote down

Phish fans are not good people.
They are jerks in real life.
They play their music at parties and ruin it for everyone...
Except for their own selfish selves...
Doing that stupid noodle dance with
Stupid smiles on their faces!
I'll wipe that smile off your face with a five knuckle sandwich!
Won't be smiling then, ya jerk!

Posted by: Farmer Ted at 03/10/09 8:25 AM  | Reply
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enjambment on line 5. nice.

Posted by: william  in reply to Farmer Ted's comment at 03/10/09 8:29 AM  | Reply
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my friend thought he met danny devito at the last Phish show. He was so thrilled and exclaimed "Guys I met danny devito, It's in my notebook". We were expecting to see his autograph, but it turned out to saying "I JUST MET DANNY DEVITO" in scrawled handwriting. It was probably just a bald midget, Oh what LSD will do to a teenager.

Posted by: kippychanks profile link at 03/10/09 8:36 AM  | Reply
Score = 22 Vote up Vote down

Actually De Vito has been spotted at many shows. So no acid for that guy (well, maybe not a guarantee). But Fran Drescher, Fred Savage and Bill Walton all go to shows. Phish really brings out the A-listers

Posted by: barry  in reply to kippychanks's comment at 03/10/09 3:02 PM  | Reply
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I remember in college my friends would poke fun at me because I didn't like Phish. They all seemed to think that Phish was like high art. Looking back, that's the sad irony -- Phish are about as artistic as Nickelback. And Trey is one of the worst lyricists in history. I get embarrassed just thinking about the lyrics to a song like "Bouncin' Round the Room" (note that cute apostrophe). So what really gets me down now is wondering why I hung around with so many people with such bad taste...

Posted by: Adam at 03/10/09 8:45 AM  | Reply
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trey doesn't write the lyrics. Phish is great, get over yourselves.

Posted by: FeelLikeAStranger  in reply to Adam's comment at 03/13/09 6:44 PM  | Reply
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4 hours of repetitive virtuosity is virtuousity to a fault. That is the problem with phish. They represent cultural diarrhea.

Posted by: wai at 03/10/09 9:23 AM  | Reply
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It was well worth it, best shows ive seen in forever. Yes ive seen all the indie rock bands you morons stand around the stage and adore so much. ONLY band you people listen to that is equalivant to Phish is Radiohead.

Posted by: pat at 03/10/09 9:29 AM  | Reply
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what do you mean 'you people'?

Posted by: indigoguy  in reply to pat's comment at 03/10/09 11:20 AM  | Reply
Score = 13 Vote up Vote down

My wife and I live about 5 minutes from Hampton Coliseum. Saturday afternoon, we went to Target, which is right next to the coliseum. The place was packed with Phish heads and random hippies. As we walked through the store, we kind of marveled at how many Phish Phans were there, and giggled about all the hippie fashions and whatnot. It's just funny to see so many people from that crowd packed into a Target (and even funnier to see them milling around at the Wal-Mart next door). Anyway, we get up to the register to check out and there's this girl in front of us with a homemade "need tickets" sign. She turns around to us and asks, "you guys got any extras?" My wife very politely says, "no, we're actually from here." The hippie girl continues, "but you're going to the show, right?" We both shook our heads no. And the hippie girl says, "well, you look like you are."

DOH!

Posted by: joe at 03/10/09 10:11 AM  | Reply
Score = 22 Vote up Vote down

My wife and I live about 5 minutes from Hampton Coliseum. Saturday afternoon, we went to Target, which is right next to the coliseum. The place was packed with Phish heads and random hippies. As we walked through the store, we kind of marveled at how many Phish Phans were there, and giggled about all the hippie fashions and whatnot. It's just funny to see so many people from that crowd packed into a Target (and even funnier to see them milling around at the Wal-Mart next door). Anyway, we get up to the register to check out and there's this girl in front of us with a homemade "need tickets" sign. She turns around to us and asks, "you guys got any extras?" My wife very politely says, "no, we're actually from here." The hippie girl continues, "but you're going to the show, right?" We both shook our heads no. And the hippie girl says, "well, you look like you are."

DOH!

Posted by: joe at 03/10/09 10:12 AM  | Reply
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18 minute guitar solos that go nowhere? sign me up! mom and dad, can i live in the basement between tours? i said SIGN ME UP

Posted by: the musicologist profile link at 03/10/09 10:35 AM  | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

All right hipsters, settle down, now while I do not enjoy or support Phish, there are two fact here: Cops targeted a Phish show for drug use, just wait until the cops target Palooza or Cochella. Wait until they search your car at Bonnaroo. The second fact, scalpers bought all the tickets, you don't see this as a problem? When I saw animal collective tickets on Craigslist for 200 bucks I know this is a problem. I know hippies smell like patchuli and make shitty burritos but come on, this is the greater music community, take it or leave it, and there problems will become our problems.

Posted by: NICK at 03/10/09 11:25 AM  | Reply
Score = 22 Vote up Vote down

Phish lyrics are horrible... although they are more talented musically than many indie-type bands ...and they abuse that talent. Which ends up being even more self absorbed than indie-type lyrics...sometimes not though.

So I guess I respect them, but don't like them much. Pick your poison ... whatever you choose to like/dislike ... there are others that will try to prove that your decision (taste) is wrong. Those are the people that are full of shit and have nothing to offer.

Posted by: B at 03/10/09 12:32 PM  | Reply
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I miss Jerry!!

Posted by: Dead at 03/10/09 1:07 PM  | Reply
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Seriously, all you douchebag hipsters have no right to make fun of Phish.

Posted by: Michael at 03/10/09 1:41 PM  | Reply
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they are a good jam band...but $500? No.

Posted by: XO profile link at 03/10/09 2:19 PM  | Reply
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That's a lie.

Posted by: Pogo profile link  in reply to XO's comment at 03/12/09 10:03 PM  | Reply
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"Billy Breathes" is a fantastic album.

Posted by: Stephen B profile link at 03/10/09 2:48 PM  | Reply
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Yea the majority of phish jams definitely go nowhere. But there is a reason they gained such a huge following. There were those shows (early 90s mainly) where everything clicked and they could take the music anywhere they wanted. Many of you will never get to experience this wonder because you can't get over the context of the music. Yea they are a "jamband", but they used to be more. People are paying insane amounts of money to try to relive those days. It's sad cuz Phish's time has definitely past

Posted by: monake at 03/10/09 3:08 PM  | Reply
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listen to suzy greenberg from night one.

love it.

Posted by: RubberSoul profile link at 03/10/09 9:07 PM  | Reply
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I saw Phish when they were starting out for free at UMASS Amherst. The bill was Beastie Boys, Fishbone, Phish, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Firehose, and Ripapotamus. This show WILD. Phish unfortunetly did not fit in with the agressiveness of the show. I remember them jumping on trampolines on stage. Not to impressive after the Bosstones crowd surfed the entire field. Musically Boring after everything that day.

Posted by: Blued at 03/11/09 2:31 AM  | Reply
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Trey doesn't write the lyrics and the lyrics, or rather how the words are sung, is more like an additional instrument rather than your traditional bands lyrics. But the lyrics in Phish songs are few and far between. The jams are like a roller coaster they bring you up, they break down into a funk, then they bring you back to the song so to say they go nowhere just shows you've never heard more than three minutes before complaining that you wanted to hear the new Hoobastank album. Try going to a indie/regular rock band's concerts for three days in a row it will be the same set lists day after day and you will lap it up. That being said, I am glad so many people don't get Phish, if you simpletons did get them it would make it almost impossible for me to get tickets. Three day pass through Ticketmaster, I only paid $350 for 2 tickets to all three nights.

Posted by: Gregg at 03/11/09 2:47 PM  | Reply
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1.2 million dollars worth of illegal drugs for a coliseum that holds a little under 14k. Basically, there was $85 worth of illegal drugs per hippie in attendance.

Keep up the good work, hippies.

Posted by: Steve at 03/12/09 7:51 AM  | Reply
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not the hugest Phish fan anymore, but as some people said they had some pretty exceptional moments over the years. excessive? lyrically challenged? yes and yes. But Phish shows are the highlight of many a summer growing up. Quit pissing on my happy, very foggy memories.

Posted by: pangea at 03/13/09 8:48 PM  | Reply
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jesus people, whatever the hell phish are they are crazy and unlike any other band and in my book that makes them respectable. GO JERK OFF TO SOME ARCADE FIRE

Posted by: Lochness profile link at 03/16/09 2:36 AM  | Reply
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In this corner, weighing in at a manorexic 130 lbs! Wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, both two sizes two small! The sultan of irony, the prince of douchbaggery, its HIPSTERS! and in the opposite corner... weighing in at a chubby 215 pounds due to munchies! Wearing a ratty tour tie dye and sporting dread locks and a foul stench! The king of gonja, the prime minister of molly, its HIPPIES! Round one! (DING!)

Seriously Phish is good, so is indie rock, the problem is that anyone who cultivates their identity through a scene, no matter what it is, rather than their own individuality, is lame.

Posted by: Steve at 03/16/09 3:06 PM  | Reply
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If you've never been to a Phish show you just don't get it. The energy at their shows creams any lame hipster band. Anyone who thinks a band like the Decemberists puts on a better than Phish is just plain wrong. I'm not really a big Phish fan either, but their shows are just absolutey crazy and a spectacle to see. Hipsters are just missin out, but they're gay anyway so I don't care.

Posted by: John at 03/17/09 12:54 AM  | Reply
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I have been playing many instruments for decades, listen to every sort of music and genre you could possibly think of, and to say Phish is as talented as total garbage formualic bands like Nickelback is quite honestly one of the dumbest things I have ever heard in my life. No one in popular culture or music plays such diverse music as Phish, and is as gifted with their instruments. You can complain about their lyrics all you want, but just because they don't sit around whining about women, love, and other cliche themes that everyone else is singing about doesn't mean its meaningless. Most of you people need to get a life.

Posted by: BryantWA at 03/19/09 2:48 PM  | Reply
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phish is awesome! sometimes the jams go nowhere, but sometimes they take you to amazing places. my gf doesnt really like phish, but once in a while i sneak in some really interesting spacey improv, and she'll surprise herself by actually liking it. That being said, phishheads should listen to Can, Faust, sonic youth, animal collective, stereolab etc...

Posted by: George Daly at 03/24/09 9:01 PM  | Reply
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Phish is great musical complexity. You emo fags would not even understand this at all whatsoever and therefore you have to insult it. Its too bad that all of these indy/crap bands out there cant play instruments past a fifth grade level. Sure I can slam some power chords and scream and moan and whine into a mic, and so can my half retrded cousin.

I will beat you if I hear you talk crap about phish.

Posted by: kevron at 05/13/09 4:45 AM  | Reply
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