PHISH

Last weekend I saw Phish in concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Columbia, Maryland.  There was no opening act, and the band played two sets.  I enjoyed myself, as I imagined I would (although I did start getting tired towards the end of the second set).  Most of my analysis on this band, however, will have to involve the obvious comparisons with the Grateful Dead.

 This was a band I only got into very recently – just as it took me ages to get into the Grateful Dead long after having first been exposed to them.  The similarities between the two are far more materially significant than the differences, which are more superficial than meaningful:  missing one guitarist and one drummer, and from Vermont instead of San Francisco.  Both bands are jam bands, both bands play two sets per show, both bands play different sets each night, and both bands encourage taping and even release shows to the fans.  Trey Anastasio (a slimmed down, mellower Chuck Norris) and Jerry Garcia both play obscure custom guitars instead of well-known professional models from Gibson or Fender. 

            Even more than being structurally identical, is the substantive identicality as well. I solicited my Facebook friends to tell me about Dead covers performed by Phish, and the only example which came up was “Terrapin Station”.  By now I have a live album, Live in Brooklyn, and multiple nights on this tour, and there are no Dead covers to be found.  The reason for this seems to be mere redundancy:  musically, for all intents and purposes, Phish are a Dead cover band.  About the most tangible and articulable difference I can perceive in the music itself is that Phish are a bit heavier and more intense, sort of a Dead-on-steroids deal. 

             Having said that, Jerry Garcia is still dead, Jim.  I’ve seen “The Dead” (the post-Garcia reunited band) three times, Ratdog (Bobby Weir’s solo band) once, and Dark Star Orchestra (premier Dead tribute band) once.  My experience with Garcia-era Dead is limited to three shows:  Grateful Dead at RFK in 1992, again in 1995 (Jerry’s last tour), and the Jerry Garcia Band at the Capital Center (yes, I know JGB is different than GD).  All the post-Garcia shows were well-attended by an aging crowd which, from what I can see, consists of 70% Garcia-era veterans.  While I heard no complaints about the quality of the post-Garcia shows, I haven’t heard anyone claim they were just as good, or better, nor do I expect anyone to say so.  The Phish show was about 80% identical to all of these in sound, in experience, by every conceivable measure.  While I smell marijuana at practically every concert I attend – somewhere, at least ONE person is toking up within sniffing range of me – here I was surrounded by no less than 10 separate people in different parts of the audience, none of whom were hassled or arrested by security or police (of course, they were all discreetly puffing from an easily concealable pipe or rolled joint and not from a 12” bong).  Aside from some bitter resentment that Phish are somehow ripping off the Dead and claiming to be original – which I don’t share, as similar as they may be – I see no reason why any diehard Deadhead would choose to miss out on a Phish show, or why they wouldn’t enjoy the show if they chose to go.