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Widespread panic on mixlr12/29/2023 This piece has been rewritten for months and months, just getting longer as the story continued to unfold and the pandemic dragged on. In the broadest sense, the pandemic changed everything about the world we had come to take for granted. The loss of livelihoods and outlets for joy for many was a small but significant part of the broader economic fallout from the response to the exponential spread of the virus known as SARS-CoV-2 in the last two years. Furthermore, the industry generates billions of dollars with wide-ranging effects on millions of lives. It provides much-needed respite, camaraderie, and even catharsis when we’re lucky. Even though it would be hard to find anyone who doesn’t appreciate the arts, for many fans of live music-and especially Phish-the experience offers more than just musicians on stage in the centerpiece of a big swirling production. Musicians and production crews that worked on the road and in the venues would be severely impacted, and the future of the industry always felt uncertain. That said, the pandemic affected live music perhaps as much as any other industry outside health care and education - essentially shutting down all concerts with an audience month after month beginning in March 2020. This one-liner from PT is an appropriate place to begin because it's not lost on me that writing a history of these recent times, which have been so hard on so many, in the context of one band may seem indulgent. How could one be so narrow-minded to compare the beginning of a global pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus to a single rock band festival cancellation? After all, following the Curveball announcement, we just had to find something else to do for the weekend, get our refunds, and blaze on to Dick's in a couple of weeks. I heard it as though from a character where you know it’s a joke, but the actor plays the part so well, the chance that he was serious is what makes it gold. That thread title made me smile when I first saw it on March 11, 2020, as the pandemic first began to affect travel. Phantasy Tour/Phish Message Boards User “Its like the whole world getting Curveballed” Trey in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown. Part II of this ongoing series follows last week's first installment. Since Phish’s first unaffected tour since 2019 recently concluded at the eleventh Labor Day run at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, it seems like an appropriate time to finally share a chronicle of all that has occurred with Phish during COVID-19. The challenges and responses that would continue to arise through 2021 and even again this year display the persistence of the band and fans to find some way back to the shows. And when the time came, their commitment to return to the road as safely and quickly as possible likely reflects their passion to play together as much as their awareness of how much we would appreciate it. Fortunately, Phish found engaging ways to keep us tuned. 42nd Street, New York, NY, on a Saturday Night during COVID-19Īs a band whose success and even identity have always been bound to their live performances, the pandemic challenged Phish to continue to reach their audience at a time when many would benefit the most from the distraction of chasing tour rumors, planning trips, and following setlists.
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