I got asked by a friend to curate some Phish shows for him that would sort of give a taste of what the band is like, live. I just want to recognize how hard this was for me. A few shows? I am sitting on 500+ shows here and it’s always growing. Narrowing this down was O(Hard). It’s like asking a drug addict for their favorite high. Every one is amazing and the next one is going to be even better.

So here it goes…

Phish has four “versions” as the plans have dubbed them. From 1.0 to the current 4.0. The band has remained the same, but how they’ve approach life and music has evolved. I tried to pull a show from each version. I’d recommend listening to them in chronological so you can see how they’ve changed. Mellowed as they’ve aged.

Pre-2000 was the raging years. Lots of drugs. Oxycontin was a big thing with the band. And the spacey cow funk jams really reflect it. For this decade I’ve picked a show from 1998 for you. April 4, 1998 in Union Dale, NY. It includes a second set jam that really and truly captures what 90s Phish was all about. It’s jazz. But it’s funk. It’s rock. It’s Phish. The Live Phish release of this also includes the soundcheck which is fun to listen to because they’re goofing around and trying things out and talking to each other and it’s intimate as well as exceptional.

For the 2000s we’ve got the Saturday night, three set show from their sixth festival: IT. August 02, 2003 in Limestone, ME. It was a glorious, glorious weekend of music. Truly transformed me as a human being. I’m a real sucker for the ballads and they ended Set 3 with one of my favorites: Bug. And jammed it out. And I never wanted that moment to end and I still feel that way when I listen to this show. It’s possibly also my favorite version of Reba — compare it to the 98 Reba maybe? It’s a good way to see how no two shows are the same.

The band fell apart around 2004 — they “broke up” at the 2004 Coventry festival. A disaster and a low point in my personal Phish pilgrimages. We got in but the mud was intense and we bailed before they played on Friday. We had a great weekend exploring Vermont though and really fell in love with New England. Trey got busted for impaired driving not long after that. Dark days. It was over.

Then: 2008.

But I’ll skip 2008 and we’ll go to 2009. November 28, 2009 in Albany, NY — a two night run (and let me tell you picking the night here was HARD). Albany and Phish are magic. I can’t explain it. I’ve seen them in Albany more times than another place. Always exceptional. (Attendance bias is real) We did some chilly camping outside Albany and warmed up on the lot pre-show each night. Backwards Down the Number Line reminds me of all my friends and especially the friends who went this weekend run with me. Uncle Pen was a “bust out” — a song they hadn’t played live in over a 100 shows. And the encore You Enjoy Myself was amazing. The vocal jam with the lights just put you on another plane of existence for a brief moment in time.

Finally, we come to modern era Phish. Phish 4.0. They don’t “tour hard” any more. Everyone is clean and sober. There’s less reckless abandon to what they do on stage, but it’s still great. I’m going with December 31, 2023 — this day will live on forever in Phish lore because Phish performed the entire opera Trey wrote in college, known as The Man Who Stepped In To Yesterday set in the land of Gamehenge, and had actors and dancers and stuff on stage the whole while with them performing it. Never before, never again. And that’s what we love about this band. This is not an accessible Phish show by any means. But this is what a 30+ year fan of the band like me lives to experience and it’s captured perfectly.

I could do hours of live takes of just ballads. Or just ”bliss” jams. Or just ambient jams. Or just the best cow funk. Or the best covers they’ve done. Or the best solo tracks they’ve got. Or…or…or…

It’s deep, man. Real deep.

I’ll cap this off by saying: don’t sleep on the studio albums. Live is where it’s at, but the studio albums provide the most accessible versions of the songs. The songs are composed and constrained. You get clean mixes so you can really hear the lyrics. Farmhouse and Billy Breathes are end-to-end perfect albums if you ask me. So start with those. Then try A Picture of Nectar for some early Phish. And Feugo or Sigma Oasis for some new era Phish. Round Room is Phish at their weirdest on a studio album.

Enjoy.