MSG NYE '23 12/28-12/31

[mbw]

So... people sure like this Gamehendge thing. There's some lizards, I guess? And a knight? And a big bird and a big book?

You've like, heard those songs before, right?

[cactusfan]

So... people sure like this Gamehendge thing. There's some lizards, I guess? And a knight? And a big bird and a big book?

You've like, heard those songs before, right?

Perhaps I'm exaggerating for effect. There are definitely some lizards.

[mbw]

I was impressed that they cast a black dude as the one character who can't swim very well.  That's some serious attention to detail.

[PIE-GUY]

I was impressed that they cast a black dude as the one character who can't swim very well.  That's some serious attention to detail.

Vermont motherfuckers. 

[WhatstheUse?]

So... people sure like this Gamehendge thing. There's some lizards, I guess? And a knight? And a big bird and a big book? Very fun show (watching at home, and to be sure, I wish I coulda been there), but I guess I'm just not as invested in teenage Trey's stoner fantasy writings as some. Musically, thought set 2 on the 29th was the highlight of the run. But, yes, theatrically, yay for Phish being goofy and Phishy!

I'm gonna bite here... proooobably 'cuz I'm still riding the high BUT also because you and I generally seem to agree on shows when we've talked in person.

This show was as "Phishy" of a show as I've ever seen. Gamehenge aside... The Bag jam was great... as was the SOAM.... Possum actually built tension....

and then they did "the thing" that separates Phish from all other bands. Teenage, stoner, fantasy come to life! It was as dorky as can be. It was unique and creative.

Musically/Improvisationally, I'm with you - 2nd set on the 29th was my jam... but as a whole.... that NYE show will be legendary.

Go Phish.

[cactusfan]

So... people sure like this Gamehendge thing. There's some lizards, I guess? And a knight? And a big bird and a big book? Very fun show (watching at home, and to be sure, I wish I coulda been there), but I guess I'm just not as invested in teenage Trey's stoner fantasy writings as some. Musically, thought set 2 on the 29th was the highlight of the run. But, yes, theatrically, yay for Phish being goofy and Phishy!

I'm gonna bite here... proooobably 'cuz I'm still riding the high BUT also because you and I generally seem to agree on shows when we've talked in person.

This show was as "Phishy" of a show as I've ever seen. Gamehenge aside... The Bag jam was great... as was the SOAM.... Possum actually built tension....

and then they did "the thing" that separates Phish from all other bands. Teenage, stoner, fantasy come to life! It was as dorky as can be. It was unique and creative.

Musically/Improvisationally, I'm with you - 2nd set on the 29th was my jam... but as a whole.... that NYE show will be legendary.

Go Phish.

Well, you were there, after all. Makes a difference. And yeah, that Bag was fantastic. But then that's exactly what the set needed--current Phish jamming in the midst of very old-school Phish.

I doubt we really disagree here. I'm all for wacky theatrical Phish doing their dorky thing. Maybe it's just that this whole Gamehendge story/narration thing never struck me as especially compelling, outside the kind of meta-aspect of it, that it goes back to the beginning, that it's dorky, and that only we dorks have any idea what it all means, thus making it a kind of massive secret language in itself. And in that respect, sure, it's awesome they put on this show. Yet in the end, if I had to choose between seeing this show and, say, Thrilling Chilling, I'd take Thrilling Chilling, because it's more exciting to me to see them go out on a limb and do something they've never done before.

Which maybe that's not even really saying anything. I don't know. I was just mulling and pondering while watching the webcast, and here we are. Go Phish!

[susep]

Very fun show (watching at home, and to be sure, I wish I coulda been there), but I guess I'm just not as invested in teenage Trey's stoner fantasy writings as some.

I believe Trey was 23 or going on 24 when he finally submitted TMWSIY at Goddard.  Check out what he says beginning at Part One: The Lizards.  Teenage stoner fantasies or not, Trey's grasp on Western music history and composition is impressive to say the least.     

https://phish.net/page/tmwsiy

[cactusfan]

Very fun show (watching at home, and to be sure, I wish I coulda been there), but I guess I'm just not as invested in teenage Trey's stoner fantasy writings as some.

I believe Trey was 23 or going on 24 when he finally submitted TMWSIY at Goddard.  Check out what he says beginning at Part One: The Lizards.  Teenage stoner fantasies or not, Trey's grasp on Western music history and composition is impressive to say the least.     

https://phish.net/page/tmwsiy

Safe to say I'm impressed with the music he makes. It's the written word part that's a bit... half baked. Or all baked.

[anthrax]

https://phish.net/page/tmwsiy

The main point I wanted to get across about Icculus was his ability to see beyond triviality. I saw Forbin as the most trivial thinker, Tela as the least trivial, except Icculus. "Your end is the road" is supposed to mean that something that seems important at the moment is all part of a greater flow of things, and that to be happy, one must just realize the inevitability of things. Tela realized that Wilson would just be replaced by another tyrant, so she began t o respect him for taking advantage of an inevitable situation. Icculus says in the first song, "the trick is to surrender to the flow" and that is they key to the whole musical. I think that I had a very cynical view when I wrote this, because I really view Wilson, Tela, and Errand Woolfe as the ones who surrendered to the flow. By "surrender to the flow," I meant that they saw that no matter what action we take, the world remain filled with evil, and that it is a wise person who realizes this and subsequently takes advantage of the situation. I think of Forbin as a naive and ignorant man, who just wouldn't admit to the way that the world really worked. Maybe it's just a stage, and maybe I'll learn someday that the world really is black and white, good vs. evil, a simple place to live and make choices.