Phish phans rejoice

Shaun O'Connor, 30, teacher assistant
No. of Phish shows: 50
Ticket for the Asheville show: Yes

Phirst impressions

I was in 9th grade, and it was in my buddy's room, listening to Junta. I pictured a bunch of long dreadlocked, elastic-like figures bouncing around on stage. I was wrong about that. I remember really enjoying the music but for some reason it didn’t stick right away, and it would be about four more years before I really got into them.
Phishtory

My first show was in '97, in Philly. I was at Kutztown University at the time, some friends of mine went down on a Friday night. The show pretty much blew my mind. The next day we realized the show wasn't sold out so we went back, and after that it was on. After that I tried to get to as many shows as I could.

Phish-Ville

As long as I was seeing Phish, my friends and I would joke about how amazing it would be if they ever played Asheville. But where would they play? What venue could hold or handle the whole experience? Never did we think it would be a reality.

Even from before the band called it quits, each member had been here to Asheville several times. I truly believe that they saw the beauty and charm of the area, and genuinely love coming to play here. Its going to be completely surreal when they are actually all on stage together here.
Phishing for tickets

I actually got my tickets on TicketsNow the day of the online sale. I don’t want to say what I paid. It was a little too much, but it's worth it. I just wish the actual fans in Asheville, and there are a great amount of them, all had a chance to get in.

Shannon, 32, mom/Asheville Pizza Company
No. of Phish shows: 20-30
Ticket for the Asheville show: Not Yet

Phishtory

It's good, danceable music. I just love to go dance and get my energy out and sweat and enjoy it with everyone else. When I'm dancing at a show I love to turn myself around and just look at everybody around. If it's a place that has a balcony, just look at everybody thoroughly enjoying themselves and getting down and having a great time. It practically turns me on, just makes me very happy.

Reunion

I'm excited. I figured one day it would happen, I just didn't know when. Hell yeah. I think the first time I hear them again live I will definitely be teary-eyed and get chill bumps. It'll be very magical, I feel.
Phishing for tickets

My friend has a ticket and she said that there's two circumstances that will determine if I get the ticket. One, if her friend from Alaska doesn't decide to come into town to see the show. Also, if that friend doesn't come, then if her friend who got her and her husband tickets doesn't mind if she gives her ticket away to me. … All I'm hoping is that the greater good out there will find me a ticket. And I believe that if I'm meant to go, I'll go.

Drew Maykuth, 29, chef at The Admiral
No. of Phish shows: 30-something
Ticket for the Asheville show: Not yet

Phirst impressions

I think it was the first time I felt that music was cerebral. I never listened to classical music but it sort of reminded me of what classical music could be like — these long things that I sort of got lost in and wondered around in thought. It was sort of a catalyst to thinking and becoming a young man. … It was something new and different. I didn't know the Dead or anything. I grew up in conservative "Flag City," Findlay, Ohio. The music was cool, and also, I think it symbolically meant something at the same time, culturally. I think the whole country-club, Catholic-School existence that I had up until that point, gave me a lot to rebel against.

Phishtory

I didn't know what to expect going to my first show. It was bizarre. It was like that island where Pinocchio goes to, where all things are accepted. There were all these weird people with dogs on hemp necklaces, and people selling drugs. I'd never seen anything like that. If you've ever been to Findlay, Ohio, then you know where I'm coming from. Initially that's what you first see, and it's bizarre, and it's crazy. Then the music starts, the lights, I was speechless for three hours, the whole time I was at that concert. From that point, there was something that happened. …

Not once in my life had I ever been to any event with that many people where everyone was on the same exact page or level. That's a pretty neat thing. I don't want to say spiritual, but there's something special about connecting with a big group of people like that. There's something cool about being with 20,000 or 70,000 or 10,000 people, whose brains are all doing the same thing more or less, or if not doing the same thing, being stimulated by the same thing.

Reunion

For the band members, it's a four-way love scenario. It's a relationship. You understand the people you're with. It's easy to go have sex after you break up with someone. I think there's a lot of that. Because you know what they like, and it's easy. You don't have to start from scratch getting to know each other. You've already developed this chemistry. … I'm not a musician, but I know that to work well with anybody without words takes a lot. And I think they've developed this chemistry that they'll probably never find again with any other musicians. They were getting f—ked up, doing drugs, doing whatever. So they went off and tried to do their own thing and tried to recapture their first love but they couldn't find it. It's the first love, and nothing will ever trump that, and I think it was just inevitable that they would get back together.

Phishing for tickets

I'm a busy man, I got a job and I got shit to do, and I don't want to waste hours and hours trying to follow some lead or something. I have money, I get paid, and I'll buy a ticket for as cheap as I can find it on the internet, $150, maybe. Which is weird to me. I've never paid that much for a ticket, I've always paid face value.

But it's a band that I love that I haven't seen in a long time coming to the town that I live in that I love. I've got to see it.

Becca Lane, 29, mom
No. of Phish shows: 0
Ticket for the Asheville show: Not Yet

Phishtory

I never cared for Phish until recently, because of all the kids I went to college with that were so annoying about Phish, so I boycotted the whole thing because I didn't want to become an annoying Phish fan. … That's all they talked about, whenever you were with them, was Phish. They’d pop in a CD and be like, "Guess the date of this one!"

What's changed since then is my husband likes Phish and forced me to listen to them. But now that I've had a chance to really listen to their music, I really do like them, totally appreciate them, and I would totally love to see them in Asheville. Now that I've had a chance to get away from the annoying Phish fans and find the good Phish fans.

Phishing for Tickets

I'm trying to go see my first show, unless I have a baby. The plan is to go down there and write on my belly, "baby's first Phish show," so I can get tickets for myself and my friends. The baby's due date is on the date of the Phish show.

David Krantz, 20, musician/student
No. of Phish shows: 2
Ticket for the Asheville show: Not yet

Phirst Impressions

The first time I heard Phish I was in the 8th grade. … I heard a live "Divided Sky" and I was blown away. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and from then on I was hooked.

I realized about a month or two after I heard that "Divided Sky" that Phish was playing in my hometown, Greensboro, in a couple weeks. … You can imagine, or maybe you can't, being a 14-year-old kid at a Phish show. I really had no idea what was going on around me, but damn, that show was incredible. It really changed my life, not just from a musical standpoint, but it showed me the incredible power that music has to bring people together. I had never seen that many people in one place, paying so much attention to one thing. The "Piper" from that show is still my favorite "Piper" ever, along with "Foam."  Seeing a live "YEM" [“You Enjoy Myself”] really sealed the deal though — I was a Phish-head for life.

Phishstory

After that show, I committed myself fully to researching all things Phish, and hearing as much live Phish as I possibly could. Throughout the rest of high school, and still to this day, meeting someone else that likes Phish was an immediate connection. There was that understanding, that knowing, not just about the music, but about the lore and stories and the antics — the whole Phish thing as a whole — that could draw people together regardless of age or background.

Pheelings

Single biggest influence in pretty much every aspect of my life. As a musician and artist in general, the approach to songwriting was so goddamn refreshing. Why should lyrics and compositions have to make “sense” in the traditional notion of the word? Phish taught me that when you put all your energy into something creative, people will make sense of it for themselves, and really, things that aren’t concrete can have a much deeper personal meaning than things that have a definite, obvious meaning, because they allow the listener or viewer to assign meaning to it more freely, and when you can connect consciously to an abstract work of art, it, for me, is a hundred times more powerful than being told “this is what this is.”

Reunion

I was at the first night of Hampton. Tears are welling up in my eyes recalling it right now. It really was a beautiful thing.

Phishing for Tickets

If I’m supposed to see Phish in Asheville, I will see them in Asheville. Simple as that.

Andrew Kirk, 22, musician/landscaper
No. of Phish shows: 0
Ticket for the Asheville show: Not yet

Phirst impressions

I was about thirteen or fourteen the first time I heard Phish. I hadn’t heard anything like it. I had been listening to dark, heavy music prior to hearing them, so I wasn’t really sure what to think. I thought it was kind of goofy and thought the songs were too long at first. I think the first couple songs I heard were “Bouncing Around the Room” and “Ya Mar.” I remember hearing a really long version of “Ya Mar” and not understanding the jam element to the song, which I would later find to be one of the most important things about this band. I definitely liked what I was hearing, I just didn’t really understand it, but I wanted to.

Phishstory

I had also been playing guitar for a few years and never heard any other guitarist play like Trey up until hearing Phish. I was and still am intrigued by his ability to take a theme and expand upon it to no-end. It’s also unbelievable how he creates tension in his playing and will complete a jam with an explosion of raw energy. His playing, from what I noticed from the first few notes I heard him play, is totally in the moment. All the members are equally adept at this and I think that is what makes their music so special. After acquiring a few shows and albums, they soon became my favorite band, and I will honestly say they are all I listened to and talked about throughout high school.

Phishing for tickets

I recently acquired a Knoxville ticket!

Amy Stoner, 27, legal assistant
No. of Phish shows: 90-something
Ticket for the Asheville show: Yes

Phishtory

I used to go to every possible show I could go to no matter what the cost, in all realms of cost. I would just do it. It was one of the most important things to me at that time. Honestly, I wouldn't exchange those experiences for the world. I feel like it made me the person I am today. And I feel like it really taught me a lot about people and how to carry yourself in life and still lead the life that we live, and do it right. …

I fell in love with the music first. I fell in love with the scene. I met some of the most amazing, wonderful, beautiful people that are still in my life right now. I have some of the best friendships that I will cherish for the rest of my life, because of the experiences we had.

Reunion

The boys have been through a lot of shit through the last couple of years. Honestly, we all needed it. In the last five years I became alumni of UNCA, I'm working a full-time job at a law firm, I have my own house in Asheville. I'm ready to do this, I'm ready to go on tour professional style. It's definitely a whole new era. I got a lot more money. I think we're entering an age of professionalism here. …

This tour, instead of rolling around with a bunch of dreadlocks, I'm flying to the shows. … I'm doing Asheville, Knoxville, Bonnaroo. Then I'm going to fly out to San Francisco to do Shoreline. Then I'm flying up to The Gorge, then I'm flying to Chicago. I'm from Pennsylvania originally so I'm going to meet up with all my old high school buddies I used to go to shows with, and we're doing Merriweather.

I'm definitely growing up, and things are different. But it's definitely nice to be reminded of when you were a kid again. … That's one of the biggest things that really hit me right before going to Hampton — it's like, "Alright, it's time for me to be a kid again." I've been working my ass off for the last four years to obtain a college degree and get a good job and do all the things my parents wanted me to do, and I've done all those things now. So now it's time for me to be a kid again. A responsible kid.

Phish-Ville

For the first time in my life I'm going to be able to see a show and then walk back to my house and sleep in my own bed, which is kind of an intense thing. It's definitely cool. The Civic Center is fantastic. I like that it's a smaller venue.

Phishing for Tickets

I think there should have been some measure taken, I'm sure everybody in Asheville feels the same way, so that residents of Asheville would have had a better chance of getting into these shows. Instead of all the tickets going to scalpers.

I think that the same thing is true today than it was five, 10 years ago; if you really want to get into the show, you'll get in. I really wanted to get in.

One of my friends was telling me that his buddy wanted to get in to Hampton, so he went down to the Wal-Mart and bought himself a reflection vest and a walkie-talkie and walked in the back like he was security and saw all three nights of Hampton from on the stage, pretending to be a security guard.

Julie Houston, 29, daycare provider
No. of Phish shows: 40-50
Ticket for the Asheville show: Not yet

Phishtory

I went on tour right when I graduated high school. And then I went to the Lemon Wheel up in Maine. How we got in, is, we were traveling in this school bus and it broke down in New York. There were 10 of us, so we all had to split up and hitch the rest of the way. So I had gotten this ride. We had to hide under blankets, because only the driver and one other guy actually had tickets to Lemon Wheel, so we had to hide under all the clothes and blankets in the back. There was no checking. It was great. I think they kind of looked in and noticed, and they were like, "It's all luggage."

… And then we got in, and just walked around, and we had scissors, and we were like, "Can we clip off the end of your wrist bands?" I still have that wrist band, all sewn together, so fun. I remember keeping that because I was like, "this is so cool." Nobody noticed. It was put together with black yarn or something.

Reunion

I couldn't believe it when all of a sudden it was back. … I miss being able to just pack up and go on tour. I remember asking people, "Why aren't you going on tour?" and they'd be like, "I have a job," and I'd be like, "Quit your job, just go on tour, this is what you want to do!" And now I'm kind of on the other end of that, kind of going "I wish I could have no responsibility and just go for it!"

… I always kind of laughed at people who had tickets for every show, like, "You planned ahead? That's so lame." But now it's like, "They did the right thing." I could see how that worked for them, because I'm there now. It's funny to have that change in your life, but still have that constant. Phish is still going to be constant and listening to those Hampton shows, it's like you're there. The energy is insane at those shows. It makes me want to cry almost.

Phishing for tickets

Someone has mine, and they just haven't realized it's mine yet. I don't know who that person is yet. I'm just going to go to the show and whoever it is that has my ticket is going to see me and realize, "That's the girl that's supposed to have my ticket."
… I'm going to be standing out front yelling "I need a ticket." That's pretty much my game plan. I think I'll be singing. I tend to sing a lot when I'm trying to miracle a ticket. "I believe in Miracles" is a good one.

Another part I'm going to play for getting a ticket is the cute girl card. I mean, not having a penis can help in certain situations. Most of the people that are going are guys, and they're going to give their ticket to somebody, or sell it to somebody; might as well be a cute girl, I figure. I've been given multiple tickets to shows sometimes. …

If can't get a ticket, I don't know, the stairwells look pretty promising. There are other ways that one might gain access to the Civic Center. I've done a little bit of snooping there, so we'll see how that pans out.