Six Weeks to #60: By the Numbers

As my 60th Phish show approaches in Charleston tonight, I decided to conclude my six-week odyssey of reviewing the five “milestones” in my show-going career by listing 60 pertinent Phish facts. Unfortunately, I only came up with 34 (well, 39, if you count the ones on which I doubled up).

Most of these statistics are only worthwhile to me (and perhaps a handful of others whose fanaticism often rivals my own), but I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labors.

60: After tonight, the total number of times I’ve seen my favorite band, Phish.

57: Longest gap (in shows) for any Phish song from the first time I saw the band play it until now; the last time I saw Phish play “Crossroads” and “Dogs Stole Things” was 8.9.97 (show #2)

54: Length (in minutes) of the “Ambient Jam” that Phish played the first night of 1998's Lemonwheel (show #8), still one of my most memorable Phish experiences.

53: Number of Phish debuts I’ve seen. Ween's “Roses are Free” (12.11.97, show #4) and Prince's “1999” (12.31.98, show #14) are among my favorites.

52: Number of times I saw moe. (of my 71 moe. shows) while Phish was either on hiatus (22 shows from 2000 to ’02) or “broken up” (30 shows from ’04 to ’09)

50: Percentage of times I’ve seen Phish play Led Zeppelin’s “Misty Mountain Hop,” two of the four times its been played (7.20.99, show #17; and 10.10.99, show #25)

45: Number of shows between seeing The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” (8.10.96, show #1, and 3.7.09, show #45)

42: Number of shows I’ve seen in the Eastern time zone (the most in any time zone by far)

38: Number of songs I’ve seen the only time they were played (including two Halloween shows). Favorites? Bob Marley’s “Trenchtown Rock” (8.11.98, show #6) and The Police's "So Lonely" (11.14.98, show #12)

37: Number of shows I attended before Phish’s 2000 hiatus

35: Length (in minutes) of the longest Phish song I’ve witnessed, a loose, rambling “Runaway Jim” (8.11.98, show #6)

34: Stretch (in months) between 9.15.00 (my last pre-hiatus show, #37) and 7.29.03 (my first post-hiatus show, #38)

33: Number of hours (approximate) it took to drive from Camden, New Jersey to Coventry, Vermont for Phish’s “farewell” festival in 2004. We even skipped out on Camden’s “Frankenstein” encore but still missed the first two sets on 8.14.04!

32: Most shows I’ve seen with my longtime tour buddy Rick (the most of any one person)

AND

Number of shows before I saw “The Lizards” (the Phish song I “chased” the most) on 7.14.00 (show #31)

30: My 30th show was 7.11.00, the infamous “Moby Dick” show at Deer Creek

25: Number of cities in which I’ve seen Phish
22: Number of shows I’ve seen since Phish's 2000-2002 hiatus

21: Average number of songs played per show (20.6) in the 59 I’ve attended

19: Percentage of shows (11 of 59) I’ve attended that have opened with either “Punch You in the Eye” or “Chalkdust Torture”

18: Times I’ve seen “Character Zero”, “Down with Disease”, “Ghost” and “Piper” (the four songs I’ve seen the most)

17: My age when I attended my first Phish show (8.10.96)

15: My age when my high school friend Matt gave me my first Phish tape (10.19.91)

AND

Number of shows (not counting the coming weekend) I’ve seen since the band’s 2009 reunion.

14: Number of shows I’ve seen in New York (the most of any state)

12: The most Phish shows I’ve seen in a calendar year (1999)

11: Times I’ve seen “Tweezer Reprise” as an encore (no complaints!)

10: Three-set shows I’ve attended

8: The first show I owned on CD-R, my eighth (8.15.98 Lemonwheel)

7: Times I’ve seen “Down with Disease” open a second set

AND

Number of Trey solo shows I attended while Phish was either on hiatus or broken up

6: Number of shows I’ve seen at Alpine Valley and Deer Creek (six each)

5: Number of venues where I’ve seen every Phish show (Empire Polo Club, Newport State Airport, Oswego County Airport, BlueCross Arena, Vernon Downs)

AND

Number of songs in my favorite set (12.30.98 Set II, show #13)

4: My favorite show (still) is my fourth (12.11.97)

AND

Number of Phish festivals I’ve attended (Lemonwheel, Oswego, Coventry, 8)

3: Number of t-shirts I bought at my first show (8.10.96): official tour shirt, bootleg tour shirt, Cat in the Hat shirt

2: Number of times I’ve slept in my own bed after a show (11.13.98, show #11; and 7.1.10, show #55)

1: Show I had a ticket for and didn’t attend (10.19.96); at the last minute my mom decided that at 17 years old I shouldn’t be spending the night in Buffalo.

I was aided greatly during my quest by those who witnessed most of the moments above by my side (in no particular order): Rick Mattison, Ben Althof, Matt Miehl, Jeff Miller, Alex Rose, Liam Gooley, Dave Simon and Bernard Levin.

Also, huge thanks to David “ZZYZX” Steinberg’s Phish Stats site.