Back to the audience Phish tapes

I realized something last year after the Atlantic City Phish shows.

The awesome and pristine soundboard recordings provided by LivePhish.com for around 10 bucks apiece are missing something crucial - the audience.

A Phish show is a communal experience.  When you are there, you are among friends with whom you bond, sharing those special moments of great jams, surprise song selections and crazy segues.

Sometimes the audience participates in a way that enhances the experience even more. In A.C. last year, the shouts of "Woo!"  from "Twist" carried through to the next song "Piper" by the band and audience alike.  I was in the front there, and there was clear interplay between us with the "woos".  By the time the encore came, the band probably forgot about it, or at least put it behind them.  But as "First Tube" began to swell, we started doing the "Woo!" shouts again.  Trey saw it, acknowledged it and, I believe, played to it.  It was like electricity flowing between the band and the fans.

When I got home, I excitedly downloaded the shows and the first thing I went to was "First Tube".  None of what transpired came through on the recording.  It was just another (excellent) "First Tube".

Several months later, I was thinking about that night, so I downloaded the audience recording of "First Tube" from Phishows.com.  It gave me chills - the whole experience came flooding back.  The thrill of really being there, not listening at a distance, was present in that recording.

I thought about it again this year at SPAC when the audience was singing along to "Cities".  I started to wonder when "Cities" became a singalong.  You would never know it from the soundboards I had been downloading for 10 years.

So in the interest of saving some money and getting the communal experience again from listening to shows I can not attend, I will be exclusively downloading the audience recordings this year.  They take me back to the time when all we had were audience tapes and they remind me of how great it is to be at the show.  Great jams still comes through - we certainly enjoyed them through every hissy Maxell tape back in the day.

Now they are more accessible than ever and free thanks to the tapers that still schlep their equipment to the designated taper sections and to Phishshows.com which puts them out there for all who care to listen.  We do not even have to pay for postage and blank tapes anymore!

After the tour is completed, maybe I will cherry pick a few choice songs, jams, and shows to listen to in the amazing high-quality audio provided by LivePhish.com. But for now, I will favor the vibe of the experience over the clarity of the sound...and save 10 bucks each time.