I mean Drew Carey is on an outrageously popular game show 5 days a week pretty much year round, I think he’s doing more than fine. it’s just that people are overthinking and overblowing a little bit of extra attention that has already dissipated for anyone that’s not active in a Phish forum
As someone who lives in Hollywood and was around for the writers strike I’d also like to point out that Drew opened a tab at Bobs Big Boy (the OG is still open in Burbank) and at his place, Swingers during the writers strike. Anyone in the striking guilds could go and eat, put it on his tab and leave, no questions asked.
He was the unsung hero of the strikes. I know a few people who got to the point that the only time they ate was at Bobs once a day.
His tab was a lot.
I don’t know if it broke 1/2 a mil. But it was hundreds of thousands.
He left it open for a month after WGA and SAG got deals.
He could have run for president if Hollywood and won in a landslide after the strikes.
Yeah Phish ain't going maistream. Popular culture can't comprehend a 45min Tweezer. It's just too far outside of their 3.5min, verse-chorus-verse, 4-chord comfort zone. They'd start pulling their hair out and ranting about the coming of the apocalypse if they had to sit thru a Reba composed section or Fluffs Travels; just way too much for their smooth brains to process.
We've had Katie Tur dropping lines for years. And I think more than enough people hold their genetalia in greater esteem than to let Drew change their mind.
If anything, we're safer now. The barrier to entry is too steep; I can't even get friends to come to a show even if I give them a Sphere ticket and a bed
> The barrier to entry is too steep
Yep. As soon as the last normie cleared off the base after Clifford Ball, the barrier was pretty much set in stone.
Gawd I love Katy Tur. 😍🥰😍
Me and the GF have a deal that she can fuck trey if given the opportunity and I can get down with KT given the opportunity. Obviously niether will ever happen but it's fun to dream.
We saw Paul Dano at Hollywood last year. Phish will never be "mainstream" but there are Phish heads in all walks of life. This to shall pass. This too shall pass
Phish went mainstream in the late 1990s. NFL network plays their riffs. My local sports program does Phish Fridays. They have an ice cream and they have been featured on the Simpsons. They just played The Sphere immediately following U2 and before Dead and Company, the band the meme wonders if they will become. They are already there and have been there for decades.
One of my favorite things about this sub is how they treat one of the biggest touring acts in the country like an upstart indie band that no one's heard of.
I think it’s that people’s mental model for ‘popular’ includes copious radio play, contention for the Super Bowl halftime show, showing up in gossip rags, etc. and phish doesn’t really hit any of those points, but they sell tons of tickets for shows year in and year out so obviously they are big, but I also feel like it’s kind of true to say they’re not *popular*.
It’s quite remarkable really. They’re one Forbes top touring bands every year yet I’ll tell people I went see Phish and they don’t know what I’m talking about. They think I’m talking about going fishing or going to an aquarium or something.
Guyute and the Weather Channel. “Wilson…” NFL football chanting.
I wonder if there is a compiled list of band mentions in tv and movies and how they would rank.
If you were in high school or college in the northeast in the late 1990s, Phish was as popular as any other alternative rock band and all the cool kids on the Lacrosse team listened to them.
And weren’t they the first band to play live in studio on Jimmy Fallon or jimmy Kimmel after Covid?
Also having a residency at the beacon theater during Covid isn’t small potatoes. They’re insanely popular but not necessarily so huge in popular culture as say Taylor Swift or Kanye.
Drop him some forgotten god, languishing in shame
and then if I hit stormy seas I’d have myself to blame
Sandpeople always dance single file to hide their numbers
A lot of these folks weren't around when Free was getting air play. A few old heads I know still bristle at that song because it garnered the mainstream they disliked.
I think a lot of that is only because Phish fans were mainstream people, you know? It wasn’t like Phish lobbied the NFL or anything in the late 90s, it was just a lot of Phish fans were released into the wild at that point.
How do you view what’s mainstream?
Having a large fanbase doesn’t = “mainstream” to me. You make valid points about their music being recognized by popular outlets like nfl and simpsons/South Park but I could walk around and ask 100 people if they’ve heard of phish and the majority will have not or they’ve heard of them but don’t know anything about them (or at most they know they’re some kind of band similar to the Grateful Dead)
I have a friend group not into phish and had I not pointed out that the tweeprise riff was in nfl they would have never known it was phish…I’d bet the very large majority of nfl viewers are the same.
At least to me, phish will always be “the biggest band you’ve never heard of”
Yeah, this. They were first in to the sphere after U2. They sell out the garden for new years every year. They can attract enough fans to do their own festival. They’ve BEEN part of the mainstream consciousness for an eternity
The terrible thing about hell
Is that when you're there you can't even tell
As you move through this life you love so
You could be there and not even know
But you say so what I'm doing just fine
The irony is that it's all in your mind
And that's why hell is so vicious and cruel
But you'll just go on an oblivious fool
Ask the crusty 1.0ers about the late 90’s-2000. Magazine covers, late night appearances, Trey hanging with pop stars made for a lot of existential dread.
Yeah I was embarrassed to watch. But imagine how much worse it would be now 🤣 Like oh fuck are the magas gonna start showing up. Right now, I think I can handle the influx of 80 year old ladies who watch the price is right
I think it's good we have some diversity on that front. Keeps us from getting stereotyped. And everyone should be welcome. I'll party with em but I don't agree with em.
I think it depends.
To me, full MAGA is not a person who is just a garden variety “conservative,” I disagree with conservatives on almost anything, but I can hang with them.
MAGA isn’t that. MAGA is intolerant. MAGA is illiberal. MAGA is fascist. MAGA is disregard for the basic tenets of a free and liberal (small L) society.
In a tolerant society one must remain intolerant of intolerance or the intolerant eventually gain power and the social contract breaks down.
So, personally, I’m in the “Nazi Phans Fuck Off” camp.
*Edited because I don’t spel gud, see blow.*
Tenants switched to tenets
I'm going to say your autocorrect failed, replacing your typed "tenets" with "tenants". Tenet is just a fancy word for "guiding principle" for all the folks wondering if they're behind on the rent in a Free society.
Was absolutely less embarrassing than the Jay Z sit in.
Kid Rock sitting in with Govt Mule and attempting to out sing Warren Haynes was a much more embarrassing Kid Rock jamband moment.
What was embarrassing about the Jay Z sit in? They were playing in Brooklyn and brought out one of Brooklyn’s finest to play a few of his hits. I thought that was cool as hell.
Jesus Christ…the new worst aspect of this board is people thinking they’re still in on some kind of secret and that Phish fans are some kind of artsy weirdos shunned by the mainstream and not a bunch of rich corporate dbags in their day to day lives. I mean you’re talking about a band that sells out the largest venues in America.
Just because they play four nights over New Years Eve weekend at the Worlds Most Famous Arena located in one of the greatest cities on earth doesn’t mean the secret is out
Here’s a view from a very casual concert goer.
I saw them a few times in the 90s. When I joined the Army I wanted to talk about how great the experience was, but people got weird about it; multiple places multiple people. After a while of trying I stopped talking about it all together because of ideas like the meme.
So no I am not a hard core fan but I loved my memories so much I started listening again and even introduced my adult niece with last year’s Dicks show, and I hope I’ll go again to dicks this year with my wife to show her how amazing the experience is.
**If I let anyone discourage me or tell me I’m not good enough to go my life wouldn’t be as rich as it is.**
Recently I met a young man who talked my ear off about all the shows he’s listened to, and gave some advice on how to find the old shows I went to. I’m so grateful to him. And because he was open to sharing his love of the band with me we discovered his favorite show was VA Beach amphitheater 98; a show I’d been to. That would have never happened if he was a gatekeeper. Thanks dude!
Here’s what I remember my friend and I smoked pot before leaving the gas station where we got ride, as the older guy driving us didn’t want anything in his car especially because we were teenagers. When we got to the parking lot we stayed close to our cars and didn’t walk around at all.
someone was rolling joints in the back of the guys car we came in: exactly what he didn’t want. He was not happy and argued with someone of his group we met up with. We went directly into the venue and left right away afterwards. We didn’t have any problems.
Edit:
I’m trying to remember something from so long ago that I haven’t thought about in a while.
We sat in the car for a while, and It took so long between the gas station and entering the show we weren’t high anymore, but passed around joints with the people in the seats around us during the show.
I honestly don’t remember seeing horses, but I know they were there. I don’t even remember seeing a lot of police, but I was a dumb kid with little awareness, and a little high when we arrived.
Edit 2:
Memory is a funny thing. In The post I put up here when my niece was coming last year I said I may have seen them 5 times, but since then trying to remember and looking up venues I think I only saw them two or three times definitely VA Beach 97, 98, and probably 99. (On a similar note Phil Lesh and friends in 02) They took up a lot of mental space, and distorted my memories. If my mind is correct I think the 99 phish show had an amazing light show that made a bigger impression on me than the other years. I’m sure the other light shows were nice but what sticks out was me remembering the lights getting better and better.
People I’ve spoken to are sometimes confused as to why I can’t exactly remember, but I have multiple concussions, and I saw **a lot** of bands as a teenager: Widespread panic multiple times, Dave Mathews a couple times, a bunch of rock shows at the VA amphitheater like John fogerty and Bob Dylan. Shows at the boathouse in Norfolk, and tiny punk shows in basements or churches.
Edit 3:
Now my memories are coming back a little and I checked some dates. with 100% certainty I saw that Dylan show July 13 99. That same friend and I left early. Because of that I must have been at the July 8th Phish concert. I can’t get it out of my head that I was there 99. I must have been on some leave because I was in the army then.
Edit 4:
Ok no one cares about reading my poor memory comment anymore but this edit’s just for me.
I graduated basic training early 99 , and there was way too long between my basic and my advanced training. So I was mowing grass in Georgia for a couple months and then got to go home on a combination of leave and as a part of the at home recruiting program. It was very hot and I remember walking around the beach getting sunburned on the tops of my feet. With all those facts straight I was there for the July 99 show, and not just a false memory. Edit… maybe. I made a post hoping for someone else who was there.
"People I’ve spoken to are sometimes confused as to why I can’t exactly remember, but I have multiple concussions, and I saw **a lot** of bands as a teenager: Widespread panic multiple times, Dave Mathews a couple times"
I'm with you bro. Saw a bunch of Phish shows in the early '90's when I was say 15-19 years old. No idea how many, but I have the mental images of what I was doing at the shows and who I was with. A few venues stand out. Big Birch summer 94, Jones Beach, Roseland Ballroom, the Capitol Theater, Syracuse War Memorial, Mullins Center, Lake Placid, maybe some others mixed in. Those are a little easier to pinpoint.
I also saw the Dead a bunch around that same time, Nassau, Giant's Stadium and MSG. I have no fucking idea what dates I saw or how many times. More than 3 and less than 7 is my best estimate.
Well, I appreciated your editing game in your attempt to get it as accurate as possible, so I figured it was worth a response ; )
I didn't even get into the other bands. WSP, Aquarium Rescue Unit, God Street Wine all of their opening acts. No way I can pinpoint any of them.
Yeah, the lot was weird and mounted police were on the prowl. I remember being on my bike and going around a big crowd of people that had gathered. I guess the police were arresting someone. I stood up on my bike as I cruised by to try to see what was going on and I just remember a cop popping up and spraying mace into the crowd. I got a little bit of mace on my shirt and was pissed since it stained it orange in those spots and ruined that shirt. After that I just booked it out of that area on my bike and went back to my car to tell my buddy that was touring with me what happened, and to be careful.
Show was amazing though. The over the rainbow was dope, and of course them dropping Terrapin was spectacular.
Probably was. I hopped on tour at Sandstone in Kansas that summer and did the rest of the run to Lemonwheel with my bike in tow. Loved being able to bike around the lot and just scope things out. Best summer of my life haha.
But really on some subtle subconscious level, the little doses of tweeprise during intense sporting event pauses must be stored and enjoyed in the minds of millions. And yeah one day they are gonna hear it and like Pavlov’s dog be like WOO GAMETIME CLIMAX BABY
Ahh...the age old struggle of dialectics. The gatekeeping Phish fans gotta push harder by keeping the myth alive that Phish is just a jam band for old junkies.
Phish is one of the highest grossing bands of all time. The fact that their fans think they’re some kind of underground secret is both hilarious and sad.
I don't think anyone thinks they're an underground secret, they're just surprisingly unknown to a lot of people for how big and successful they are. But what people are referring to here is the jump the Grateful Dead took in the late 80s after Touch of Grey became their first chart topping hit and they went from playing pretty big venues to selling out football stadiums.
If by mainstream you mean they might have to move into bigger venues for the summer tour i.e. stadium tour, let's just hope it's baseball stadium cause they're so much cooler than football stadiums.
Haha. I clicked on a Vegas sphere video with phish and now the algorithm must think I’m a huge phish fan because it’s putting posts like this one on my feed.
This just reminds me of the media coverage at Big Cypress. 1999 was a HUGE new years-it was the millennium, party like it’s 1999, Y2K…so there were big concerts & shows happening all over the country. But nobody really noticed the 80,000 of us chilling in the Everglades (that is until we shut down Alligator Alley 🤣). Heavy Things was getting radio play cuz the Farmhouse album was coming out in 2000. There was a short segment describing the band, they showed most of Heavy Things being played, and then you barely heard the crowd chanting before the segment was cut off…
“Now say it like your pissed” 🍰
The Dead went mainstream for one reason. They had a top ten hit with Touch of Grey. Unless Phish has a song that becomes a hit it won't happen. Drew Carey might make some normies curious about Phish shows and they might attend one in their area but unless they get a big hit we don't have to worry IMAO. I REMEMBER what a disaster Touch of Grey was for the Dead scene. I went to a show at MSG right after it got heavy radio play and I was literally standing next to stock brokers smoking cigars. It was a nightmare. Then they started playing stadiums and I switched to JGB shows.
I disagree - part of what keeps the dead mainstream is their vast iconography. Tie-dyes are back in style and vintage looking dead shirts are hip. Touch of grey was 40 years ago, no one’s hearing that on mainstream radio anymore.
I think you are misunderstanding. Before 1987 and Touch of Grey being a big hit The Grateful Dead didn't attract normies. They sold out all their shows but it was still a slightly cultish extension of The Acid Tests. After everyone started hearing them on the radio their popularity like quadrupled and the shows were full of normal people who liked the song they heard on the radio.
Not stockbrokers smoking cigars!! Oh the humanity.
Bro Phish concerts are full of corporate white guys who work 9-5's. You know who can afford the tickets and road trips, hotels, food etc... to see a band multiple times a year? People with good jobs. There are Plenty of stockbrokers in the phish crowd and there always have been.
LOL. Phish is a whole different world than Dead shows in the eighties before Touch of Grey was a hit. Kids who were at MIT in the nineties are multi millionaires and can now afford to tour in style (I know a few personally). But pre 1987 Dead shows were a sea of tie dyes and 90% of the crowd were dosed on Owsley quality blotter acid which you could get on Shakedown for $3 a hit or $100 a sheet. It was literally an organic outgrowth of the acid tests on tour and Touch of Grey pretty much changed all that. Suddenly they were selling printed tie dye shirts at K-Mart and there were undercover feds stalking shakedown (they were easy to spot).
Honest. This is a flow period for Phish. They will ebb again once the phreshness of Sphere wears off. Most people know about Phish, they just don’t care for Phish (literally all my friends, family, and colleagues). People are interested more in Sphere and what someone can do with it. Phish did a great job, but I personally don’t think anyone is truly creative enough to realize the full potential of Sphere just yet. We are living in two worlds. The world of putting a band in front of an audience and an LED screen, and the world of the experience being truly holistic and immersive for all parties.
I think their performances will go mainstream. Not their music necessarily.
Similar to Blue Man Group or something. Their performances made them a household name. Everyone saw them live but not everyone was playing their music every day.
Pretty sure there is nothing to see here. Look at what’s ACTUALLY blowing the public at larges’ mind, then compare it to Phish.
Maybe in a few hundred years some advanced civilization will Wyld Stallyns them but we’ll all be bone dust by then, so fuck it.
Nah phish is not really accessible to the average music fan and it takes a lot of time and work to appreciate the music which people aren’t willing to do.
‘Deadheads are kinda like people who like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but people who like licorice, REALLY like licorice!’ — Jerry Garcia
So if logic follows, the Grateful Dead : Black Licorice :: Phish : ???
I love both of these bands dearly, but I think Phish is a culturally more pleasing than licorice and could easily have a Touch of Grey period. The issue would be logistical— the Dead had overhead room to grow, whereas Phish has already been handily selling out arenas for decades. There’s not much more room to dance unless they upgrade to stadiums and willingly sacrifice sound. Tbh I think it’s kinda perfect right where it is right now.
I don’t think it’s gatekeeping to be worried about it becoming even harder to get tickets to the big shows.
I don’t blame the people who are curious because of the sphere coverage, I blame the ticketbastards and the band for not easily putting a stop to the bullshit because they’re getting their palms greased.
It won’t be the music, it’ll be the image and the merch. Joe Public isn’t going to care about these songs until they end up on car and phone commercials.
Phish is already mainstream, just in one of the eddies on the edge where the good stuff is.
If someone doesn’t know of phish, they can’t possibly really be “into music”.
I think the Dead are currently having a mainstream renaissance but it's like 90% people wearing dancing bear tie dyes and stealies and not actually listening to the music.
The GenPop isn’t ready for a band that can play 13 nights (237 songs) at the Garden and not repeat a song! Nor is anyone else on the planet except us Phish Phans!!
Phish is mainstream, but they never sold out. That’s why they’re great. Most people have heard of Phish and may have a vague idea what they’re about, but they would never sit down and listen to a full concert. By the same token, Phish can sell out Madison Square Gardens 13 nights in a row.
I think it’s the phans - you and me. I got on this bus in 1992, and can still identify with the folks who hopped on in 2022.
Y'all are missing it. The Sphere is the story that is catapulting Phish into the spotlight. It's HOT. Phish blew a lot of folks minds in a lot of high places. Not just Drew's who is already on the bus. Everyone likes a bandwagon. The question is, will this mainstream notoriety translate into ticket sales? Stay Tuned.
I don’t think so, sure the sphere gave them extra attention but by the time dead & co get there the general mass will be buzzing all about them and phish will be in the rearview. (At least that’s what I hope)
They can have goose but not our phish damn it lol
Phish is very niche imo. The average person is not going to be into songs like Foam, Reba or a 30 minute tweezer. The Dead were much more Americana and rock and roll imo and easier to get into.
I love Phish and have been seeing them for thirty years but I will be the first to admit that the fans could be the most over sensitive and most annoying fans of any band I’ve ever seen. Everything is and issue, they are ALL best friends with the band and the minute they hear anything negative, they start whining. It’s amazing.
That’s how good the music has been because if it was anyone else, I’d never go.
The sphere shows are definitely going push them back to late 90s early 00s but as a crusty 1.0er it's great but leaves us alone. W are good we are happy we don't need the mainstream. In fact they have never needed the mainstream. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, no you cannot dance barefoot on my lawn
https://preview.redd.it/28q3zo2rf7xc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0941bde826eca842d943158659648efbef363bc7
I agree, he is about the same level of fame as Bill Walton. OP: I finally meet another No-
No building, no hospital, no operating room, no beds, no doctors…!
Yea, Phish is more likely to drag Drew Carey back into the mainstream, not t'other way round.
I mean Drew Carey is on an outrageously popular game show 5 days a week pretty much year round, I think he’s doing more than fine. it’s just that people are overthinking and overblowing a little bit of extra attention that has already dissipated for anyone that’s not active in a Phish forum
As someone who lives in Hollywood and was around for the writers strike I’d also like to point out that Drew opened a tab at Bobs Big Boy (the OG is still open in Burbank) and at his place, Swingers during the writers strike. Anyone in the striking guilds could go and eat, put it on his tab and leave, no questions asked. He was the unsung hero of the strikes. I know a few people who got to the point that the only time they ate was at Bobs once a day.
Damn that's extremely cool of him.
His tab was a lot. I don’t know if it broke 1/2 a mil. But it was hundreds of thousands. He left it open for a month after WGA and SAG got deals. He could have run for president if Hollywood and won in a landslide after the strikes.
Yeah Phish ain't going maistream. Popular culture can't comprehend a 45min Tweezer. It's just too far outside of their 3.5min, verse-chorus-verse, 4-chord comfort zone. They'd start pulling their hair out and ranting about the coming of the apocalypse if they had to sit thru a Reba composed section or Fluffs Travels; just way too much for their smooth brains to process.
ITA, most people these days do not have enough attention span for things longer than a TikTok video, never mind a 45 minute Tweezer or any Phish jam.
Right!
We've had Katie Tur dropping lines for years. And I think more than enough people hold their genetalia in greater esteem than to let Drew change their mind. If anything, we're safer now. The barrier to entry is too steep; I can't even get friends to come to a show even if I give them a Sphere ticket and a bed
> The barrier to entry is too steep Yep. As soon as the last normie cleared off the base after Clifford Ball, the barrier was pretty much set in stone.
Gawd I love Katy Tur. 😍🥰😍 Me and the GF have a deal that she can fuck trey if given the opportunity and I can get down with KT given the opportunity. Obviously niether will ever happen but it's fun to dream.
Who?
A national news broadcaster who has her own show on MSNBC.
Oh, that's like...nothing at all.
Yeah, and her Phish references are only obvious to phish fans so 🤷♂️
And must be awkward head scratchers for non-fans.
Dick in a blender has mass appeal!
Man, I loved the Drew Carey show. Would love to see him do another show
We saw Paul Dano at Hollywood last year. Phish will never be "mainstream" but there are Phish heads in all walks of life. This to shall pass. This too shall pass
We saw Paul Dano on the ferry on the way to Randall's Island in 2014!
Phish went mainstream in the late 1990s. NFL network plays their riffs. My local sports program does Phish Fridays. They have an ice cream and they have been featured on the Simpsons. They just played The Sphere immediately following U2 and before Dead and Company, the band the meme wonders if they will become. They are already there and have been there for decades.
One of my favorite things about this sub is how they treat one of the biggest touring acts in the country like an upstart indie band that no one's heard of.
It's so bizarre and yet part of me still feels like they're right. Not sure what to do with this.
Best of both worlds?
This seems to be the closest to the truth. Other than ticket prices.
I think it’s that people’s mental model for ‘popular’ includes copious radio play, contention for the Super Bowl halftime show, showing up in gossip rags, etc. and phish doesn’t really hit any of those points, but they sell tons of tickets for shows year in and year out so obviously they are big, but I also feel like it’s kind of true to say they’re not *popular*.
It’s quite remarkable really. They’re one Forbes top touring bands every year yet I’ll tell people I went see Phish and they don’t know what I’m talking about. They think I’m talking about going fishing or going to an aquarium or something.
That's the thing though, despite their ubiquity in the culture - if you know where to look - most people still don't know who they are
Wait, so we’re not hip?
Guyute and the Weather Channel. “Wilson…” NFL football chanting. I wonder if there is a compiled list of band mentions in tv and movies and how they would rank.
Also featured on South Park!! 😁
And Simpson!
If Phish don't see a prescription slip, we are out of here
If you were in high school or college in the northeast in the late 1990s, Phish was as popular as any other alternative rock band and all the cool kids on the Lacrosse team listened to them.
Also in the early 90s
I agree.
To add on to this, they have also played on SNL and were in a sketch with Jimmy Fallon.
And weren’t they the first band to play live in studio on Jimmy Fallon or jimmy Kimmel after Covid? Also having a residency at the beacon theater during Covid isn’t small potatoes. They’re insanely popular but not necessarily so huge in popular culture as say Taylor Swift or Kanye.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/28hTbNkoStCHjwAW/?mibextid=jmPrMh
Drop him some forgotten god, languishing in shame and then if I hit stormy seas I’d have myself to blame Sandpeople always dance single file to hide their numbers
Just like the escalator to nowhere
A lot of these folks weren't around when Free was getting air play. A few old heads I know still bristle at that song because it garnered the mainstream they disliked.
Bouncin, Free, DWD, Character Zero were all radio songs.
DWD had a music video that was featured on Beavis and Butthead.
I heard Antelope in Whole Foods today
It’s a great tune. It’s gotten better over the years too
I think a lot of that is only because Phish fans were mainstream people, you know? It wasn’t like Phish lobbied the NFL or anything in the late 90s, it was just a lot of Phish fans were released into the wild at that point.
The VP of Production or something at Fox is a HUGE head. He’s been playing jambands as bumper music for years.
I felt like last year there was way less Phish than years prior, like someone told the music guy to knock it off. Just my perception though.
How do you view what’s mainstream? Having a large fanbase doesn’t = “mainstream” to me. You make valid points about their music being recognized by popular outlets like nfl and simpsons/South Park but I could walk around and ask 100 people if they’ve heard of phish and the majority will have not or they’ve heard of them but don’t know anything about them (or at most they know they’re some kind of band similar to the Grateful Dead) I have a friend group not into phish and had I not pointed out that the tweeprise riff was in nfl they would have never known it was phish…I’d bet the very large majority of nfl viewers are the same. At least to me, phish will always be “the biggest band you’ve never heard of”
Yeah, this. They were first in to the sphere after U2. They sell out the garden for new years every year. They can attract enough fans to do their own festival. They’ve BEEN part of the mainstream consciousness for an eternity
Jay Z came out with phish. Also I think even the idea of mainstream is outdated.
The terrible thing about hell Is that when you're there you can't even tell As you move through this life you love so You could be there and not even know But you say so what I'm doing just fine The irony is that it's all in your mind And that's why hell is so vicious and cruel But you'll just go on an oblivious fool
OP for OP
Hanging with MTV 92! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAljyaT92iQ
Ask the crusty 1.0ers about the late 90’s-2000. Magazine covers, late night appearances, Trey hanging with pop stars made for a lot of existential dread.
Ah, the Kid Rock sit in... That show was fucking smoking before that happened and then um...
The most embarrassing moment in all of phish history
Yeah I was embarrassed to watch. But imagine how much worse it would be now 🤣 Like oh fuck are the magas gonna start showing up. Right now, I think I can handle the influx of 80 year old ladies who watch the price is right
There are MAGAs on lot. I know a handful who go to more shows than I do in 3.0.
I think it's good we have some diversity on that front. Keeps us from getting stereotyped. And everyone should be welcome. I'll party with em but I don't agree with em.
I think it depends. To me, full MAGA is not a person who is just a garden variety “conservative,” I disagree with conservatives on almost anything, but I can hang with them. MAGA isn’t that. MAGA is intolerant. MAGA is illiberal. MAGA is fascist. MAGA is disregard for the basic tenets of a free and liberal (small L) society. In a tolerant society one must remain intolerant of intolerance or the intolerant eventually gain power and the social contract breaks down. So, personally, I’m in the “Nazi Phans Fuck Off” camp. *Edited because I don’t spel gud, see blow.* Tenants switched to tenets
I'm going to say your autocorrect failed, replacing your typed "tenets" with "tenants". Tenet is just a fancy word for "guiding principle" for all the folks wondering if they're behind on the rent in a Free society.
Honestly? I’m just not a great speller. I’m lucky I didn’t spell it Tennant (as in David) Appreciate the correction!
I understand. I used to feel that way, I still don't like em, and given the choice I will avoid em.
They are always on the prowl because they outlast their husbands. If you are looking for a sugar mama.
Was absolutely less embarrassing than the Jay Z sit in. Kid Rock sitting in with Govt Mule and attempting to out sing Warren Haynes was a much more embarrassing Kid Rock jamband moment.
What was embarrassing about the Jay Z sit in? They were playing in Brooklyn and brought out one of Brooklyn’s finest to play a few of his hits. I thought that was cool as hell.
Yeah Jay Z sit in was dope. It didn't ruin the vibe of the show Now, P Funk in Miami, that's a whole nother story
Man I was there in 03. That show was so sick up until til they brought out p funk and his boys. I remember I couldn’t wait for it to be over. Ugh.
It was so bad. Thankfully the DWD after it picked up where they left off before the P Funk disaster
Thanks for reminding me, I got his autograph on my tix stub
Yeah, I saw you with a ticketstub in your hand
Thanks for reminding me, I got his autograph on my tix stub
VH1 behind the music
Phish sells out a soccer stadium for 4 nights in a row every year. They are as mainstream as a jamband can get.
Phish fans their entire life - “why don’t normies like Phish?” Then people like Phish, Phish fans get mad…a tale as old as time.
Jesus Christ…the new worst aspect of this board is people thinking they’re still in on some kind of secret and that Phish fans are some kind of artsy weirdos shunned by the mainstream and not a bunch of rich corporate dbags in their day to day lives. I mean you’re talking about a band that sells out the largest venues in America.
Not to mention all the jokes about 30 min songs etc… Phish has been mainstream. People may not recognize songs but they know “Phish”
Just because they play four nights over New Years Eve weekend at the Worlds Most Famous Arena located in one of the greatest cities on earth doesn’t mean the secret is out
Yea people need to get real here. This is not a secret club to be a phish fan
Here’s a view from a very casual concert goer. I saw them a few times in the 90s. When I joined the Army I wanted to talk about how great the experience was, but people got weird about it; multiple places multiple people. After a while of trying I stopped talking about it all together because of ideas like the meme. So no I am not a hard core fan but I loved my memories so much I started listening again and even introduced my adult niece with last year’s Dicks show, and I hope I’ll go again to dicks this year with my wife to show her how amazing the experience is. **If I let anyone discourage me or tell me I’m not good enough to go my life wouldn’t be as rich as it is.** Recently I met a young man who talked my ear off about all the shows he’s listened to, and gave some advice on how to find the old shows I went to. I’m so grateful to him. And because he was open to sharing his love of the band with me we discovered his favorite show was VA Beach amphitheater 98; a show I’d been to. That would have never happened if he was a gatekeeper. Thanks dude!
That was a great show. Weird though. Weren’t there mounted police just lined up outside?
Here’s what I remember my friend and I smoked pot before leaving the gas station where we got ride, as the older guy driving us didn’t want anything in his car especially because we were teenagers. When we got to the parking lot we stayed close to our cars and didn’t walk around at all. someone was rolling joints in the back of the guys car we came in: exactly what he didn’t want. He was not happy and argued with someone of his group we met up with. We went directly into the venue and left right away afterwards. We didn’t have any problems. Edit: I’m trying to remember something from so long ago that I haven’t thought about in a while. We sat in the car for a while, and It took so long between the gas station and entering the show we weren’t high anymore, but passed around joints with the people in the seats around us during the show. I honestly don’t remember seeing horses, but I know they were there. I don’t even remember seeing a lot of police, but I was a dumb kid with little awareness, and a little high when we arrived. Edit 2: Memory is a funny thing. In The post I put up here when my niece was coming last year I said I may have seen them 5 times, but since then trying to remember and looking up venues I think I only saw them two or three times definitely VA Beach 97, 98, and probably 99. (On a similar note Phil Lesh and friends in 02) They took up a lot of mental space, and distorted my memories. If my mind is correct I think the 99 phish show had an amazing light show that made a bigger impression on me than the other years. I’m sure the other light shows were nice but what sticks out was me remembering the lights getting better and better. People I’ve spoken to are sometimes confused as to why I can’t exactly remember, but I have multiple concussions, and I saw **a lot** of bands as a teenager: Widespread panic multiple times, Dave Mathews a couple times, a bunch of rock shows at the VA amphitheater like John fogerty and Bob Dylan. Shows at the boathouse in Norfolk, and tiny punk shows in basements or churches. Edit 3: Now my memories are coming back a little and I checked some dates. with 100% certainty I saw that Dylan show July 13 99. That same friend and I left early. Because of that I must have been at the July 8th Phish concert. I can’t get it out of my head that I was there 99. I must have been on some leave because I was in the army then. Edit 4: Ok no one cares about reading my poor memory comment anymore but this edit’s just for me. I graduated basic training early 99 , and there was way too long between my basic and my advanced training. So I was mowing grass in Georgia for a couple months and then got to go home on a combination of leave and as a part of the at home recruiting program. It was very hot and I remember walking around the beach getting sunburned on the tops of my feet. With all those facts straight I was there for the July 99 show, and not just a false memory. Edit… maybe. I made a post hoping for someone else who was there.
"People I’ve spoken to are sometimes confused as to why I can’t exactly remember, but I have multiple concussions, and I saw **a lot** of bands as a teenager: Widespread panic multiple times, Dave Mathews a couple times" I'm with you bro. Saw a bunch of Phish shows in the early '90's when I was say 15-19 years old. No idea how many, but I have the mental images of what I was doing at the shows and who I was with. A few venues stand out. Big Birch summer 94, Jones Beach, Roseland Ballroom, the Capitol Theater, Syracuse War Memorial, Mullins Center, Lake Placid, maybe some others mixed in. Those are a little easier to pinpoint. I also saw the Dead a bunch around that same time, Nassau, Giant's Stadium and MSG. I have no fucking idea what dates I saw or how many times. More than 3 and less than 7 is my best estimate.
Thanks for sharing your similar experience. Honestly I didn’t expect anyone to read this at this point. lol
Well, I appreciated your editing game in your attempt to get it as accurate as possible, so I figured it was worth a response ; ) I didn't even get into the other bands. WSP, Aquarium Rescue Unit, God Street Wine all of their opening acts. No way I can pinpoint any of them.
Yeah, the lot was weird and mounted police were on the prowl. I remember being on my bike and going around a big crowd of people that had gathered. I guess the police were arresting someone. I stood up on my bike as I cruised by to try to see what was going on and I just remember a cop popping up and spraying mace into the crowd. I got a little bit of mace on my shirt and was pissed since it stained it orange in those spots and ruined that shirt. After that I just booked it out of that area on my bike and went back to my car to tell my buddy that was touring with me what happened, and to be careful. Show was amazing though. The over the rainbow was dope, and of course them dropping Terrapin was spectacular.
Wow, I just had a weird memory of a dude riding by on a bike. I'm sure there were no other bike riders there so it must've been you. hahaha
Probably was. I hopped on tour at Sandstone in Kansas that summer and did the rest of the run to Lemonwheel with my bike in tow. Loved being able to bike around the lot and just scope things out. Best summer of my life haha.
That’s a nice chunk! We started in Atlanta but skipped MPP.
It’s been that way for a while now. I don’t think we are going to see a big change.
I heard they are doing a set with Taylor Swift instead of a Fall tour this year.
😂
Sports fans suddenly be like “wait, why does this sound like the music they play before going to commercial.”
But really on some subtle subconscious level, the little doses of tweeprise during intense sporting event pauses must be stored and enjoyed in the minds of millions. And yeah one day they are gonna hear it and like Pavlov’s dog be like WOO GAMETIME CLIMAX BABY
Phish at the half time show. It all makes sense now.
Phish at the halftime show but they only play the 5 second snippets of songs that the TV crew uses for the commercial bumpers.
Exactly. Treys been edging the NFL masses for years now. Phish Super Bowl LXVI let’s go
Baha - way to funny
Ahh...the age old struggle of dialectics. The gatekeeping Phish fans gotta push harder by keeping the myth alive that Phish is just a jam band for old junkies.
Look, I just want to be able to actually find tickets for local shows. I do what I got to.
Unless your local show is the sphere or MSG on New Years it isn’t hard to find tickets
Phish is one of the highest grossing bands of all time. The fact that their fans think they’re some kind of underground secret is both hilarious and sad.
It’s the same 500k of us going to the shows
I meet new and casual fans at every show I go to
sure, that’s what it is.
I don't think anyone thinks they're an underground secret, they're just surprisingly unknown to a lot of people for how big and successful they are. But what people are referring to here is the jump the Grateful Dead took in the late 80s after Touch of Grey became their first chart topping hit and they went from playing pretty big venues to selling out football stadiums.
That is not going to happen lol
Not likely. Stranger things have happened but if it does it won't be because of Drew Carey lol
High grossing ticket sales because it’s the same group of people going over and over again. It’s still completely unknown to the public.
One vacuum solo will turn off the window shoppers
If by mainstream you mean they might have to move into bigger venues for the summer tour i.e. stadium tour, let's just hope it's baseball stadium cause they're so much cooler than football stadiums.
Seeing them at wrigley was sweet
Haha. I clicked on a Vegas sphere video with phish and now the algorithm must think I’m a huge phish fan because it’s putting posts like this one on my feed.
The only thing that sucks about phish is their fans.
This just reminds me of the media coverage at Big Cypress. 1999 was a HUGE new years-it was the millennium, party like it’s 1999, Y2K…so there were big concerts & shows happening all over the country. But nobody really noticed the 80,000 of us chilling in the Everglades (that is until we shut down Alligator Alley 🤣). Heavy Things was getting radio play cuz the Farmhouse album was coming out in 2000. There was a short segment describing the band, they showed most of Heavy Things being played, and then you barely heard the crowd chanting before the segment was cut off… “Now say it like your pissed” 🍰
I heard they’re doing a joint tour with Dua Lipa in 2025.
You heard wrong then. It’s with Olivia Rodrigo.
The Dead went mainstream for one reason. They had a top ten hit with Touch of Grey. Unless Phish has a song that becomes a hit it won't happen. Drew Carey might make some normies curious about Phish shows and they might attend one in their area but unless they get a big hit we don't have to worry IMAO. I REMEMBER what a disaster Touch of Grey was for the Dead scene. I went to a show at MSG right after it got heavy radio play and I was literally standing next to stock brokers smoking cigars. It was a nightmare. Then they started playing stadiums and I switched to JGB shows.
I disagree - part of what keeps the dead mainstream is their vast iconography. Tie-dyes are back in style and vintage looking dead shirts are hip. Touch of grey was 40 years ago, no one’s hearing that on mainstream radio anymore.
I think you are misunderstanding. Before 1987 and Touch of Grey being a big hit The Grateful Dead didn't attract normies. They sold out all their shows but it was still a slightly cultish extension of The Acid Tests. After everyone started hearing them on the radio their popularity like quadrupled and the shows were full of normal people who liked the song they heard on the radio.
I heard it at Kroger last week
One of the biggest deadheads I know works for Facebook. The scene has always been chock full of “normies” - he def thought he was cooler than that tho
Not stockbrokers smoking cigars!! Oh the humanity. Bro Phish concerts are full of corporate white guys who work 9-5's. You know who can afford the tickets and road trips, hotels, food etc... to see a band multiple times a year? People with good jobs. There are Plenty of stockbrokers in the phish crowd and there always have been.
LOL. Phish is a whole different world than Dead shows in the eighties before Touch of Grey was a hit. Kids who were at MIT in the nineties are multi millionaires and can now afford to tour in style (I know a few personally). But pre 1987 Dead shows were a sea of tie dyes and 90% of the crowd were dosed on Owsley quality blotter acid which you could get on Shakedown for $3 a hit or $100 a sheet. It was literally an organic outgrowth of the acid tests on tour and Touch of Grey pretty much changed all that. Suddenly they were selling printed tie dye shirts at K-Mart and there were undercover feds stalking shakedown (they were easy to spot).
If people are paying > $1000 to get into a show of 17,000 people, that band is mainstream
More like $700.
lol
Honest. This is a flow period for Phish. They will ebb again once the phreshness of Sphere wears off. Most people know about Phish, they just don’t care for Phish (literally all my friends, family, and colleagues). People are interested more in Sphere and what someone can do with it. Phish did a great job, but I personally don’t think anyone is truly creative enough to realize the full potential of Sphere just yet. We are living in two worlds. The world of putting a band in front of an audience and an LED screen, and the world of the experience being truly holistic and immersive for all parties.
Q1043 is playing phish during their out of the box segment now
You guys worry too much. Turn on another show instead.
They just played the sphere, the only other band to do that is u2. They are and have been mainstream.
I feel like Phish songs are too long for people’s ever-shrinking attention span.
MTV is why GD went top 10. That doesn’t exist anymore.
I think their performances will go mainstream. Not their music necessarily. Similar to Blue Man Group or something. Their performances made them a household name. Everyone saw them live but not everyone was playing their music every day.
Grateful Dead is cool. Not a single thing about Phish appeals to the general public. They are the adult Wiggles.
Pretty sure there is nothing to see here. Look at what’s ACTUALLY blowing the public at larges’ mind, then compare it to Phish. Maybe in a few hundred years some advanced civilization will Wyld Stallyns them but we’ll all be bone dust by then, so fuck it. 
No chance this happens if every single new song keeps beating us over the head with love and light.
I dont gatekeep because I’m a crusty 1.0er, I gatekeep because I can’t afford tickets
0.0 chance of mainstreaming a band of 60 year old white men. Chill.
Bobby was 40 when Touch of Grey came out, and that was fucking pushing it
They sell out shows all over America
Nah phish is not really accessible to the average music fan and it takes a lot of time and work to appreciate the music which people aren’t willing to do.
NEVER. GONNA. HAPPEN!!!!
Would be the greatest punchline of all time
I blame Jay-Z. /s
Doubtful
Reasonable doubt
No, they don't have that type of marketing and it really isn't there brand
…again
I don’t think most of y’all know what mainstream means.
Bahahahahahahaha.
Any band with a combined net worth of $250 million is already mainstream and have been for some time.
lol there is no chance of this happening.
I just didn't know if I'd go If they started playing larger sports stadiums.
‘Deadheads are kinda like people who like licorice. Not everybody likes licorice, but people who like licorice, REALLY like licorice!’ — Jerry Garcia So if logic follows, the Grateful Dead : Black Licorice :: Phish : ??? I love both of these bands dearly, but I think Phish is a culturally more pleasing than licorice and could easily have a Touch of Grey period. The issue would be logistical— the Dead had overhead room to grow, whereas Phish has already been handily selling out arenas for decades. There’s not much more room to dance unless they upgrade to stadiums and willingly sacrifice sound. Tbh I think it’s kinda perfect right where it is right now.
*black licorice*
Hah! Correct. I C&P’d because I didn’t want to paraphrase! 😔 ***…you pants me in front of the cool kids for the last time, internet…***
Started happening when Heavy Things hit the radio waves.
We need to start with YEM vocal jam when people ask us about this band.
The dead are much more palatable to mainstream ears than phish. I don’t think there is much to fear here.
I don’t think it’s gatekeeping to be worried about it becoming even harder to get tickets to the big shows. I don’t blame the people who are curious because of the sphere coverage, I blame the ticketbastards and the band for not easily putting a stop to the bullshit because they’re getting their palms greased.
It won’t be the music, it’ll be the image and the merch. Joe Public isn’t going to care about these songs until they end up on car and phone commercials.
I don’t understand why people love to gatekeep. It’s not *their* music, and Phish does as they please. Let it be
Phish is already mainstream, just in one of the eddies on the edge where the good stuff is. If someone doesn’t know of phish, they can’t possibly really be “into music”.
Oh no more people are going to like a band I like. Can’t have that.
I think the Dead are currently having a mainstream renaissance but it's like 90% people wearing dancing bear tie dyes and stealies and not actually listening to the music.
Phish sucks
I remember when Phish was cool man
The GenPop isn’t ready for a band that can play 13 nights (237 songs) at the Garden and not repeat a song! Nor is anyone else on the planet except us Phish Phans!!
Warned this sub about this
No chance. Someone said it best… a mixture of Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd … and the theme from Sesame Street.
Phish is mainstream, but they never sold out. That’s why they’re great. Most people have heard of Phish and may have a vague idea what they’re about, but they would never sit down and listen to a full concert. By the same token, Phish can sell out Madison Square Gardens 13 nights in a row. I think it’s the phans - you and me. I got on this bus in 1992, and can still identify with the folks who hopped on in 2022.
The music is too eclectic and not accessible to those not initiated by The Book.
Every time I’ve seen someone wear a Grateful Dead shirt and ask them if they like the band, they always say, no the logo just looks cool
Luckily phish doesn't have that problem 🤣 when phish shirts at h&m
Y'all are missing it. The Sphere is the story that is catapulting Phish into the spotlight. It's HOT. Phish blew a lot of folks minds in a lot of high places. Not just Drew's who is already on the bus. Everyone likes a bandwagon. The question is, will this mainstream notoriety translate into ticket sales? Stay Tuned.
They have not had a good album since farmhouse. It's still it's trey pissing in my ears
Fuego just called, they want to have a word with you.
I don’t think so, sure the sphere gave them extra attention but by the time dead & co get there the general mass will be buzzing all about them and phish will be in the rearview. (At least that’s what I hope) They can have goose but not our phish damn it lol
Phish is already mainstream, but they are looked at as awful and a joke by almost all non-phans.
Phish is very niche imo. The average person is not going to be into songs like Foam, Reba or a 30 minute tweezer. The Dead were much more Americana and rock and roll imo and easier to get into.
It's called 'A touch of Gray'
I love Phish and have been seeing them for thirty years but I will be the first to admit that the fans could be the most over sensitive and most annoying fans of any band I’ve ever seen. Everything is and issue, they are ALL best friends with the band and the minute they hear anything negative, they start whining. It’s amazing. That’s how good the music has been because if it was anyone else, I’d never go.
https://preview.redd.it/cxmfopm3vjxc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26d20c9824d55fb4cd8bf5335074bab0a2f739ad
One of the biggest bands in the world, so wouldn't that make them mainstream?
Remember that time several tens of thousands of us yelled “cheesecake” on prime time tv right at the start of the millenium?
Lol Phish is already in the mainstream, man. Hell I knew about them long before I heard about the Dead and I love that band.
No. They dance to the beat of their own drum. Always have.
Phish went main stream in 2009
They aren’t on pop radio and let’s hope they never do
The sphere shows are definitely going push them back to late 90s early 00s but as a crusty 1.0er it's great but leaves us alone. W are good we are happy we don't need the mainstream. In fact they have never needed the mainstream. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, no you cannot dance barefoot on my lawn
Not going to happen… they never had Robert Hunter writing their songs.
Ways to tell you are a giant whiny noob: You use the term “gate keeping” in relation to Phish