Their tour schedule in the late 90s does look insane. I was aghast following along this summer to see that between 7/15 in Holmdel and 7/26 to close the tour in Deer Creek, they had just two days off...and that includes a fest, a border crossing (easier pre 9/11, sure), and 7 venues. If I'm not mistaken one of the gripes the band always brings up around their hiatus + breakup was the touring schedule...wasn't the Baker's Dozen a 1.0 idea that the phish org said would never work?
I disagree though that '99 was past their audience building days. I think hitting all the college campuses in '99 was intentional and they wanted to grow their market...the band was blowing up at that point and I think trying to make them bigger and putting them places 20 year olds could easily see them was still a real strategy.
Another great, brutally honest write-up. After being in attendance at Shoreline, this night in Irvine was a big let down. But that Stash though! Wow that Stash.
Their tour schedule in the late 90s does look insane. I was aghast following along this summer to see that between 7/15 in Holmdel and 7/26 to close the tour in Deer Creek, they had just two days off...and that includes a fest, a border crossing (easier pre 9/11, sure), and 7 venues. If I'm not mistaken one of the gripes the band always brings up around their hiatus + breakup was the touring schedule...wasn't the Baker's Dozen a 1.0 idea that the phish org said would never work?
I disagree though that '99 was past their audience building days. I think hitting all the college campuses in '99 was intentional and they wanted to grow their market...the band was blowing up at that point and I think trying to make them bigger and putting them places 20 year olds could easily see them was still a real strategy.
Another great, brutally honest write-up. After being in attendance at Shoreline, this night in Irvine was a big let down. But that Stash though! Wow that Stash.