I've re-listened to all 3 shows and they are very meh. The tweezer and scents are good but come on... Why so many fluffers

so you really want to see phish without ck5’s rig? what improvement to their live show does the sphere present? for EDM shows like Tale of Us and soooo many others, along with Tool 100% because they’re so graphics heavy experiences. but kuroda is the best in the world at lighting, why downplay that skillset with graphics?

considerations:

the graphics in the sphere are simply color blocked enhancements to the lighting.

contracting concentric rings to enhance the vortex ck creates during dark sections, like the god’s hand thing he does indoors just pulling people in.

BIG flash of white for those peaks where he uses the floods

but to use graphics seems off

EDIT: y’all seem to make a wild jump from me presenting this to me not being there. obviously i’m going to be there if it happens and with an open mind, it just seems not in their wheelhouse. many bands use visuals as a distraction from their shitty live music, phish has lights that enhance

My interpretation of this week (Best Band Ever):

The five shows Phish played at Madison Square Garden this past week revealed a stunning message—one that wasn’t fully communicated until the final song of the final encore on Wednesday night.

Over five shows in eight nights at the “World’s Most Famous Arena,” Phish built a carefully constructed narrative. Each night focused almost exclusively on material from a single era, thirty years removed from the present.

Night one celebrated 1992.

Night two explored 1993.

Night three belonged to 1994, the year the band’s audience began to grow rapidly.

Then came 1995.

Finally, 1996.

For five complete performances, Phish committed to the concept. They resisted the temptation to reach into later eras or reward the crowd with obvious favorites. Instead, they trusted the audience to follow them on a journey through a pivotal stretch of their own history—a creative decision executed with the kind of confidence, musicianship, and showmanship only they could deliver.

Then, after “A Day in the Life” closed the main portion of the encore on the final night, everything changed.

Trey Anastasio opened the unmistakable chords of “Backwards Down the Number Line.”

It was the first song in five nights that broke the rules.

Written in 2009 following the band’s reunion, “Backwards Down the Number Line” is, on the surface, a song about birthdays, celebration, and enduring friendship. It has been a concert staple for nearly two decades, but in that moment it became something much larger.

Only after five nights devoted entirely to the past could they play a song from the present.

That was the payoff.

By ending the run with “Backwards Down the Number Line,” Phish acknowledged everyone who had traveled those years with them: the people who were there in 1992, those who discovered the band somewhere along the way, and those who arrived in 2026. Every friendship that survived the decades. Every road trip. Every reunion in the concourse before the lights went down. Every conversation restarted because these shows gave people a reason to reconnect.

The concerts weren’t simply a retrospective.

They were about the people who lived through that history together.

Imagine a band curating five nights of performances so carefully that the final song transforms the meaning of everything that came before it. A run that reconnects old friends, sparks forgotten conversations, and reminds thousands of people that the music has never been the only thing binding them together.

The destination wasn’t 1996.

It was us.

The people who have spent years—or decades—moving through life together, connected by this strange, joyful community.

Only then do the lyrics land differently:

“And when I see you coming down the line
With eyes wide open
Somewhere in between the past and future
Where you drift in time
And you can see a different point of view…

All my friends
Come backwards down the number line.”

After five nights spent looking backward, Phish used one final song to bring everyone back to the present—and to remind us that the most enduring part of the story was never the songs.

It was the people standing beside us all along.

What can we do guys. We're on year 3 of just piss poor mixes. I miss listening to new Phish. Still suck on 2019

I know there are defenders out there, but the erraticness of Trey's singing right now is bad. I'm not talking about the vibrato, or projecting more strongly - those are good singing from a technical perspective, even if they're not everyone's cup of tea.

What I'm talking about is the way that Trey will suddenly, in the middle of a lyric, shift to a higher octave or jump to one of the harmony parts randomly. It's jarring and distracting and would get him kicked out of any 4th grade chorus. If they had re-worked the vocal parts and it just sounded different now that would be fine - their songs evolve and I have no problem with a revamp of the singing parts, but what's happening sounds haphazard and sloppy. It has to be hard for Page and Mike to hold down their harmony parts right now. I want to hear them all sing as a cohesive unit (which they've done successfully quite a bit in the past, despite their reputation for bad singing)

Imagine if Trey suddenly changed the guitar line on the pretty F Major section of Divided Sky (right after the pause) and would haphazardly jump up an octave, then back down, then back up again, then up a third, then back down - everyone would rightfully lose their shit. That's basically what's happening to the vocal parts right now. It's bizarre sounding and IMO unprofessional.

I get that phish is seat of the pants much of the time, but the music should be improvisational in ways that make songs as good as they can be, and that's not what I'm hearing in the vocals right now. I hope they'll take the time to actually re-work the parts to let Trey do what he wants to do vocally - he's come a long way as a singer and they should get everything dialed in to showcase it.

Seriously. If you need last night's show in your Stash on live phish just buy it. Stop begging for codes. How can you not afford $10 for this thing you will grovel for? Don't get that dunkin donuts. Go mow your neighbors lawn. Get an audience recording from etree. Sign up for a free trial of live phish using a onetime email address! There are a host of other things you can do that will more directly affect you receiving the show. Take care of yourself and stop begging other to do it for you.

To those posting codes: you're great, keep it up! Sharing is awesome, just tired of all the beggers coming out of the woodwork every day after a show.

Why so much AI? I enjoyed the show, but found it very hard to watch. Its cheesy, goofy and very noticeable. I understand that all the shows will be this way for Sphere, but I expected Phish to be better than Anyma in the sense of using real animation. Are we gonna overlook it just for Sphere?

From last night 7/3: Apparently you need four cops to pin down a non-violent, non-resisting woman just for having balloons, and then you need to call in 2 goons in tactical gear to scare off people recording. Think what you want about the balloon scene, this was not the right way to handle it. These same pigs will prolly be in lot tonight/tomorrow, keep your wits about you so you don’t get dogpiled

I’m throwing a drag night on my 80th Phish show to celebrate a community that has always been there for me. I’m inspired by the fan thrown ( @artdecho1985 ) King Gizzard drag night at the caverns in Tennessee. I would love to raise support and show that Phish is a place where you can be yourself. I think that us phish fans can come together and show some love to our LGBTQ community through having fun and honoring queerness. 🌈✨
plz share and repost to get this out to people.

There is a lot of bitching about how prices for Phish have risen and the band doesn't do anything about this despite the fact that they can. Phish is still relatively cheap all in all. I didn't pay more than $140 for any show of this upcoming MSG run and I'm in the hundreds multiple nights. Lawns for $63. Webcasts could be cheaper but they don't break the bank and for two people run you less than going to the movies would. If you are a barely making it wook living in your car and scraping bowls for resin than yea the band might be beyond your reach but for anyone working a steady job it isn't unaffordable and the band has no reason to change things

Anyone else hear the tweezer ripping right before the commercial break on the Yankees game tonight?

Let’s get down

We are a rare bunch who love both Phish and Billy Joel. We need a name. I will share mine: Only the Good Enjoy Myself. Have at it! ⭕️🎹

What do you all think? Is this unrealistic or very possible? I am thrilled to finally see the best band in the world live in front of my eyes! I’m gonna be in the main near the right hand side (Mike’s side)

We get it, a guy who works at fox is a fan. It’s been going on for over 2 years now for every sport they play. You can follow the guy on Twitter. Please stop posting every time your hear a snippet of a song. You all act like your shocked about hearing phish.. they got big in early nineties, some of those college kids who toured then are now in their 50s and are running businesses and junk. One of them happens to work at fox and rose to the position where he gets to pick the music. Big whoop

While I’m on the subject, please no need to post about seeing phish plates or masks.. they are a hugely popular band by now, shouldn’t be shocking

I was just thinking back on the Syracuse show and made a poster. The original image is something I found online and then edited it.

Seriously. Think about it. Bobby dies the beginning of the year. They stretch their legs at the sphere (Mexico was the mourning period [obviously not planned]) And then they set out on the road with the sole intention of making sure whatever groove they got into was seen through to the end. Every night.

For the record, I was at DC, MPP, ‘Cuse, and MSG 95 & 96. And I’ve heard a bunch of the others.

I’ve NEVER heard Trey so patient with a jam as I have this tour. Usually he’s antsy. Ready to eject to another space at the first sign of monotony in the groove (most of the time). This tour? He wanted to see where every groove led. So I gotta wonder if Bobby passing onto the ethereal realm had something to do with it.

Either way, Dick’s is gonna be magical. Just wish my bank account would cooperate with my desire to go. Lmao.

🤷‍♂️

Downvote away!

Been seeing Phish since 96, maybe have seen them 20 or 25 times on either coast, but probably half of those shows at MSG. I’ve seen them at Hampton, the LA forum, was at the Jay Z show in ‘04, you get the idea.

The crowd at Sphere last night was the least engaged crowd I’ve ever been part of, by a WIDE margin. I mean, during the peak in 2001, Thank you Mr Minor riff in Hood, etc, I am used to the crowd going fucking bananas, and last night during these and other musical peaks, most people were just watching the screen. The biggest cheers of the night were when the screen started moving and when the licking dog appeared.

SO much of the magic of a phish show is the exchange of energy between the band and the crowd. Hard to imagine Phish playing a truly great show in this environment.

I don’t want to hear another goddamn thing about the Tedeschi Trucks Band audience from this community.

Possum in my ass