re: PHISH vs WSMFP

Panic doesn't jam. A guitar solo isn't a jam. Phish peaked in the 90's but at least they engage in full band improvisation.

Edit: Okay, yes, a guitar solo that stretches the song beyond the recorded version is technically a jam. Back in the 70's it was typical for bands to "jam out" on a song when playing it live by giving the soloist the freedom of an extra measure or two or three. What I saw in the two Panic shows I attended was that. Never were they all winging it at once.

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WSP is a glorified frat band.

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I know that comment got you a bunch of downvotes, but it's pretty much true. It is what it is. Maybe they aren't as much a "glorified frat band" these days, but I was there in the beginning, and the frat crowd absolutely carried Panic on their backs for years...if it wasn't for them, the band would've folded by the time the 90's rolled around...

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growing up The Allman Brothers were the jam band of choice. Grateful Dead was played a lot too but ABB took the cake. In terms of modern music I like to use that example to why I like panic over phish

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1. LOL at ranking ABB over The Grateful dead. Just LOL.
2. frick you for even thinking about using Widespread Panic and Phish in a comparison related to The Grateful Dead.

Sure, there's truth to that, but "credit card hippies" do cover a wider demographic IMO, plus I don't really think they hitched their wagons 'til Phish got a little bigger. At those early Panic shows, I pretty much knew what kind of crowd to expect, and many of 'em didn't GAF who was onstage, as long as they could drink beer and raise hell. Again, not a knock, just an observation, and obviously things worked out well for the band in the long run...

Of course why not, lol...but whether it's WSP onstage or a regional cover band, it made not one iota of a difference to many of those fraters, as long as they could get fricked up with their buddies. Now, I've said before in other threads, my favorite WSP shows were from those days, but at the same time I saw what I saw offstage too....

I've caught some late night Jazz Fest shows in smaller venues. Also in 08 Panic played an impromptu street jam on Dryades Street close to where I lived in Nola at the time. The jam came about because they were trying to raise money for a bar owner (old black man) that was close to losing his dive... they roped it off and went to work for a few hours to help him out.

I would have liked some early 90s dive bar Panic for sure.

Yea I always wonder about some of the shite ton of random bands I've seen when they were just starting out... what they will make of it.

I worked the water tent by the Acura stage for that show. Every Phan I know hated it.

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This is only brought up on a message board based in the south. Phish is a worldwide phenomena, and about to break the record for most shows at the world's most famous arena. They reached unrivaled live musical heights in the 90s via transcendent improvisation and superior musicanship.

WSP is a glorified frat band. This comparsion shouldn't even be made.

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