Phish Reunion

Thanks to Hidden Track for the heads up about this great article in the New York Times about Phish and their return. Some really positive stuff in there from a fan perspective. Two things in particular really stood out to me. One, they are talking about how to make this a “a format to keep playing for a long time” according to Trey. That’s great, as I think everyone will agree that the big tours of the past may not be feasible, but there is no reason Phish can’t keep things going for years and years to come.

Another point that I really liked was how they have been practicing, and not just the simple songs. According to the article, Split Open & Melt and Foam were being practiced. Foam! When’s the last time they played that? It sounds like they are dedicated to really being on top of their game with this go round, which is really exciting. Part of the joy of Phish in ‘94 was knowing they’d hit 99% of the notes perfectly!

Lastly, there is a mention of a structured setlist for the weekend shows, and I think this is great. Just yesterday I was listening to a bunch of Fall 2000 shows, and thinking how great and varied the setlists were. Apparently at the time Trey didn’t like it though, as he vowed that tour would be the last where they used setlists. And while there is a cool creative element to the open slate of just playing whatever, I think with a planned setlist, you get better variety, at least from a fan perspective. And it’s not like they can’t deviate if they are feeling it too.

Definitely check the article out, it was a fantastic way to start the morning!