My wife doesn't care about Phish, at all. In french : "Elle s'en fiche" (yes, pronounced like the band).

She can't stand the instrumental parts of a song, written or improvised. Of course, she never listened to Phish by herself. When I put a CD in the car, that's when she's about to sleep during a long drive. After the ride, she tells me she couldn't sleep because of the noise...
Although she doesn't share my passion, she understand I can love this music and politely listen when I told her a Phish story, even with my habit of making a short story a verrrrrrry long one.


Beside all of that, every once in a while, she amaze me with her knowloedge about the band
She can name every band member with his main instrument and even describe them and recognize them on pictures.
"John Fishman is the one with the dress and the vaccum."
"Trey Anastasio is the one with the glasses, the beard and the hair who looks like you." (Indeed, the '94 Trey shares a little ressemblance with the younger me)
"Mike Gordon is the one with the cosmonaut helmet." (refering to the Inside In cover)
"Page McConnell is the one with the piano."

She can list some song's or album's name :
"The best Phish song is Mmmmh Bop." (Athough I've already listened to this cover and I knew when and where it took place, she is the one who find me this video)
"Hey ! It's Phish on the radio !!" (Consequence of the previous statements. Yeald every time she heard a Hanson song on the radio)
"The most famous Phish song is Waste." (because it's the one which pops up the most on Youtube)
"The album I bought to you in Valence is the one with the moon on it and it's called Frampton House." (She mixed up Farmhouse, which is the one she bought, and Hampton is Alive, because I told her the reference to Frampton is Alive.

One day, we were joking about that and I asked her to name me some Phish songs. She went with "They must have a song with [insert random word] in it" and every word she said was indeed in a song's title !
After second thought, I realized that, with more than 250 orignal songs and more than 500 covers played, they sure have at least one song for most of the english words in the dictionary !

She has her own view on Phish concerts :
"They play vacuum to bring mid-aged women."
"They are so infamous that they have to play covers to be catchy."
"They don't have enough memory to remember their songs so they improvise." (In a way, that's a rather true statement about the 2004 Phish)
"They invent a new concept : disposable songs" (Because they played many songs only once)

 

She also has a percular opinion on Phish's music :
"Phish basically plays country." (Maybe because, when we are together, I choose songs that could please her and so often play My Sweet One, Scent of a Mule, Poor Heart, My Mind got a Mind of it's Own, Nally Kane, Sparlke, Water in the Sky...)
"Hey ! It's Phish on the radio !!" (Again, a consequence of the previous statements. Yeald every time she heard a country song on the radio)
"Every Phish song is high pitched notes (often played at the guitar) over random sounds in the background"
"Why didn't you make me listen to good Phish songs before ?" (while finding a studio version of Free on Youtube)

She says that Phish is all about food :
"They have many songs about food : cheesecake, something with Meat..."
"They must have another song with the word 'corn' in it because they play country music... oops no, it would be the case if they played 'pop' music !"
"They even have an ice cream named after them : Ben 'n Jerry's Phish Food !"

 

Of course, she says all of that just to have fun with me. She also says that sailing is not a sport...

What about you ? what are your wife/friends/children words about your favorite band or your dedication ?

While waiting for Holger's full report and pictures, here is a desciption of maybe the greatest New Year's Eve gag by Phish.

Toward the end of "Party Time" the big disco ball hanging above Trey and Mike begins to lower toward the stage, Fish begins the countdown from 10-1, at midnight the balloons and confetti drop, we get the Auld Lang Syne > Down With Disease and then Fish walks toward the disco ball, opens it, and climbs inside. During this a giant cartoon-like circus canon rolls toward the front of the stage, and an enormous net drops from the rafters with a large illuminated "X" in the middle of it. Trey and Mike try to get Fish out of the disco ball, but can't, so they slide it over to the canon and load it in.

The cannon goes off and there is an explosion in the rafters. The disco ball "misses" the net and a large hole appears to the right of it, like the ball went through the roof of the building, debris hanging down. A helicopter sound them roars through the PA and a searchlight begins to shine from the "hole" all around the floor. Page, Mike and Trey have a conference at center stage, then Trey asks if anyone knows how to play the drums, assuming Fish is dead. They walk around the stage peering into the crowd, following a spotlight, and wind up at the back of the stage, Page side, pointing to a girl (an actress).

She climbs down a ladder that was set up in front of her section, and goes to come up onstage, passing through a room behind the stage that was surrounded by black curtains. Fish then comes out the other end, wearing an identical dress to the crowd girl, a black wig, and fake boobs. He climbs to the drum kit, and Trey asks her what her favorite song is. Fish pretends to talk into his mic but a real girls voice comes out of the PA, she says Fluffhead. They begin and Fish pretends to be not so good at drums during the intro, then catches up and away we went into Fluffhead. At the end of the set, the original girl and Fish trade spots behind Trey and Mike's speakers, with Fish now hiding, crouched down. The girl, Page, Trey and Mike take their bows center stage, then walk off. Fishman crawls off stage after them, in the dark. End of set.

By Jah_Votunteer via Phantasy Tour