Reply #31: Amen brother/sister...

[Earth_First]

While this isn't an attempt to put down your favorite band, it's a very valid question in my opinion. This isn't just a band that will provide you for an excellent night of music as your favorite musician could/would, this band brought so many things to the next level. Their lighting director, Chris Kuroda is hands down, the 5th member of this band. His ability to light a room is hands down NOTHING I have seen non-"jamband" acts utilizing. I know this for a fact that I consider myself a well-rounded individual taste in music, so I've seen what the other acts bring to the table. Even extending beyond the ability for Phish to stimulate your auditory and visual senses, they would create these giant events ("festivals") that culminated at the end of each tour for several years, that would incorporate ALL senses. These vast open areas in expanses of the country that have some of the most beautiful landscapes, and turn them into, in essence, "adult playgrounds". The greatest part of these festivals is that they were, as the culmination of the tour, almost an appriciation of the fan event, every year just topping the surrounding landscape and adding 3 sets of music for two nights. I cannot express to you enough how these "long weekend" 'vacations' are what have kept me going in such a positive direction for nearly a decade, I am truely going to miss this experience.