Well it’s been exactly 3 years since I had the pleasure of trudging through traffic, rain, and mud on my way to the final two Phish shows at Coventry. I didn’t get to see as many shows as I would’ve liked (I think 11 shows from ‘97-’04) but they still provided me with joy, happiness, and an appreciation of music that I might not have had otherwise. This post is hard for me to write, because I don’t like feeling as if Phish is in the past…but with Trey’s legal and drug problems, it doesn’t exactly seem as if a Phish reunion is right around the corner.

As a kick in the nuts, Trey guested with DMB last night at SPAC. Any other year I probably would’ve been there, but thanks to the weird tour this show happened to fall on a Tuesday night and we chose to go to Hartford instead of Saratoga. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

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I was in my car on Thursday afternoon (actual date: June 14th - it’s taken me a while to write up this post) driving to what was sure to be another mundane meeting in downtown Rochester - listening to ESPN Radio on my Sirius Sportster. I enjoy The Dan Patrick Show in the afternoon because he normally has a good guest on (or Olbermann sitting in) and there is some genuinally interesting banter to listen to. The only time his show turns me off is when he goes off-topic and talks about something he really has no clue about.

To my dismay, I tuned in just in time to hear Dan foray briefly into the world of music. He was talking about “one-hit wonder” teams and players in the world of sports and how he always enjoys seeing greatness no matter what sport it is. He then tried to parallel these comments with some thoughts on Hootie and the Blowfish, remixes, and the Dave Matthews Band:

Apparently the only hit Hootie ever had was “Hold My Hand” (Dan somehow forgot about that video for “I Only Wanna Be With You” with Dan Marino Sportscenter played bits of constantly in the mid-90s). This is entirely forgiveable, however, since Hootie hasn’t been relevant in music since Cracked Rear View finally dropped off the charts around ‘96 or ‘97 - I’m actually not even sure that they tour together anymore since Rucker became the singing cowboy for Burger King.

But the comments about Dave Matthews Band are far more horrific - not because they are really relevant in today’s music industry either, or because I’m a fan, but because Dan simply has no idea what he’s talking about. Jamming (and I’m not sure you can really call it that) is what made DMB into the live act it is today, and varying up the setlist a bit every night is what keeps it fresh and interesting. I’m sure they would’ve broken up years ago if they stuck to “playing the hits” all of the time - in fact, I’m pretty sure most of the fan base would’ve vacated by 2003 if “The Space Between” kept getting consistent show time. Let’s face it, the song is a turd- it’s a tune to make 15-18 year-old girls swoon and hug their boyfriends spontaneously while everyone else goes to take a piss.

But Dan says The Stones are great at playing the same shit over and over again! I know that it must really be hard to appease 10-20k baby boomers who just paid $150 to see skeletons with guitars - I’m sure that doesn’t get old at all. Price gouging, Dan?? Take a look at the average ticket price between the two acts. It must be worth it to see those “acoustical” versions of all of those classic rock tunes.

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Filed under: Music, Sports