Phish Offers Archive Concert in MP3

moron0 writes "Phish has partnered with emusic.com to offer a Halloween show from the archives because they won't be performing one this year. The show will be webcast on Halloween, and then available for purchase in MP3 after the webcast. " It's actually a re-broadcast from 1990's Halloween show, or as eMusic calls it: "...the early years of Phish's legendary Halloween tradition, prior to the development of the band's 'musical costume' concept. " Whatever. Something to listen to.

I'm glad

I'm happy that Phish is doing this. Phish is one of the most overworked bands in show-business. By webcasting this show, they get a much-needed break AND do a great public-relations bit.

Also, I'd like to address some of the less mature readers of this site. Calling people names such as "tree-hugger" and "dirty hippie," doesn't do any good, and only shows your ignorance. Not all geeks sit there listening to punk rock; I even know a few who used to be Grateful Dead groupies. I know one who hacks to Beethoven and one who works best while playing rap. (I personally prefer Pink Floyd, Strangefolk, and Guster.).

I would also like to address those who say that this is just an attempt to capitalize on music they "couldn't otherwise sell." Remember that Phish already has several live albums on the market...this is no different. And Phish, in addition, maintains a policy that allows concert-goers to audiotape shows and to circulate those bootlegs. In a way, Phish is one of the most open-source bands around! Their music is for sale so they can eat, but in the end it's free for everyone.

Thank you, Slashdot, for throwing our little piece of sub-culture a bone! :)

Musical Costume

Hemos' dismissive comment notwithstanding, I wanted to explain what is meant by the "Musical Costume". Phish has done this for many of the last several Halloweens. It involves them "becoming" another band for the second set of their show by playing an entire album. Over time they have become The Beatles ("The White Album"), The Who ("Quadrophenia"), The Talking Heads ("Remain in Light"), Pink Floyd ("Dark Side of the Moon"), and the Velvet Underground ("Loaded"). Some of these presentations are note-for-note replicas (a non-trivial effort) and some are more interpretive. *ALL* of them are very cool, fun musical exercises. It is always a secret until the show.

Incidentally, I also wanted to point out that one of the things that make Phish interesting musically is the playfulness with which they approach their art. It is not a far stretch to think of it as hacking the music. They construct musical metaphors (not that they originated the concept -- consider Ravel/Mussgorsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition") and explore the theme musically. Some of the metaphors have included being in a maze, freezing, melting, and bouncing. Quite obviously these are not complex themes, but it is fascinating how they choose to interpret them. This of course says nothing about their technical mastery, professionalism, and jaw-dropping light shows. A chacun sont gout(to each his own), but there is a hell of a lot more to these guys than the usually dismissive "hippie, Dead-like jam band" allusions.