Rocky Mountain High:

Red Rocks

Phish on the Rocks

August 4,5,6,7 1996

by Brad Gregory Serling
photos ©1996 Jon Michael Richter

"We're not on Dead Tour any more, Toto!" Then why are all these Tour Rats following me around? I'm not talking about Dead Heads, I'm not talking about Phish Heads - I'm talking about the dreadlocked, grimy, smelly, panhandling, spaced-out, ticketless hordes who travel from show to show with no money, no clue, and no respect for those who have enough money to go on tour.

PHISH on the Rocks
Split Open and Melt!

"I bet I like Phish more than you do!!!" exclaims one ticket-seeking female tour rat as I'm running up the mountain with DAT deck in tow. Hmmmm, let's think about this. If she really likes Phish more than I do, why would she come to the show without a ticket? Why would she stand outside the show all night long harassing those with tickets? Why would she travel across the country with no money and try to beg, steal, or borrow her way into a show that I have planned on going to since it was announced in May? Meanwhile I have flown out to Colorado from New York, dragging all kinds of taping equipment so that I can record the shows and relive my vacation once I'm back home. And she really thinks she likes Phish more than I do and deserves my ticket, which I mail-ordered for months ago?
Mike
Ya Mar

Maybe she does like Phish more than I do. More power to her. That's great. Whatever. But why should I give her my ticket?

And let's say I had an extra ticket (which happens to all of us every couple shows). Would I scalp the ticket? (some people were paying as much as $150 for tickets to these shows). No, I would not scalp it. In fact, even through 125+ Dead shows and many many Phish shows, I have never scalped a ticket. All I ask for is face value or a kind trade. What really burns me is that this girl would not even have offered me money. Maybe some beads and a half-eaten veggie-burrito at best.

Phish Acoustic
Come Waste some time with Phish acoustic

Fish
Fish Stashes the Gumbo
So much for intelligent life on tour. The "professional" Tour Heads have gone where the wind don't blow so strange, and all that's left on tour are the young, gripless, ratty heads who give us all a bad name. When the CNN cameras start rolling in Morrison as the heads are rioting in the streets, what does middle America see? Filthy dreadlocks, drug freaks, and a whole lot of bad news for the rest of us. The media is hungry enough as it is for any jab they can take at music and communities they can't understand. Why are we feeding them this garbage to fuel their fire?

The bottom line is going to be that Phish will not be allowed to perform at Red Rocks again. Just like Jazz Fest. Do you see a pattern here? Sound familiar? Remember the Greek Theatre? Remember the Frost? Remember SPAC? Do we want to spend the rest of our touring days in concrete football stadiums or would we rather be in Camelot at the foot of the Rockies for four nights?

This is a choice the band and the heads are going to have to make, whether we like it or not. Either we clean up, or it''ll be the end of the road.

The music's the thing. Not the parking lots. Not the nitrous tanks. Not even the kind veggie burritos. Well, maybe the grilled cheese!

Let's not forget about the shows. As Trey said on the last night, "We've had such a great time here and we're gonna remember this for the rest of our lives. We hope you will too!" Come on, Trey! How could we not remember four glorious nights in Camelot?

Trey
What a beautiful buzz!

In retrospect, The Ball made up for all that was wrong with the scene at Red Rocks. Oh, Clifford! Great weekend.... Sorry, didn't take pictures....

Photo Montage from Deer Creek and Wolf Mountain

See also:

Set Lists for Red Rocks (from the WWW-HPB)

 
     8/4/96
     Set One:
     Chalk Dust Torture 
     Funky Bitch 
     Guyute 
     Fee 
     Split Open and Melt 
     The Mango Song 
     The Sloth 
     Maze 
     Loving Cup 

     Set Two:
     AC/DC Bag --> 
     Reba --> 
     Scent of a Mule 
     Sample in a Jar 
     David Bowie 
     Sweet Adeline 
     Slave to the Traffic
     Light 

     Encore
     Star Trek Theme 
     Rocky Top 

     8/5/96
     Set One:
     Wilson 
     Poor Heart 
     Guelah Papyrus 
     Divided Sky 
     Wolfman's Brother 
     Foam 
     If I Could 
     Julius 
     The Squirming Coil 

     Set Two:
     Also Sprach
     Zarathustra --> 
     Down With Disease 
     It's Ice 
     Halley's Comet 
     Somewhere Over the
     Rainbow 
     Waste*
     Talk*
     Train Song* 
     Strange Design* 
     Amazing Grace 
     Mike's Song --> 
     I am Hydrogen --> 
     Weekapaug Groove 
     *acoustic

     Encore
     Cavern 

     8/6/96
     Set One
     Makisupa Policeman 
     Rift 
     Suzie Greenberg 
     Simple 
     Theme From the
     Bottom 
     Lizards 
     Dinner and a Movie 
     Horn 
     Run Like an Antelope

     Set Two
     The Curtain --> 
     Tweezer
     (with Norwegian 
     Wood Jam)
     Prince Caspian 
     A Day in the Life 
     B.B.F.C.F.M. 
     Purple Rain 
     Harry Hood --> 
     Tweezer Reprise 

     Encore
     Johnny B Goode 

     Wednesday 8/7/96
     Set One
     Punch You in the Eye 
     Sparkle 
     Stash 
     Ya Mar 
     Gumbo 
     Taste 
     Lawn Boy 
     99 Years*
     Ode to a Dream* 
     Doin' My Time*
     (*Tim O'Brien
     on mandolin, acoustic
     guitar and lead vocal)

     Set Two
     Runaway Jim
     (with Gypsy Queen Jam)
     Free 
     Colonel Forbin's Ascent--> 
     Narration --> 
     Famous Mockingbird 
     Possum 
     Life on Mars 
     You Enjoy Myself 
     Hello Ma Baby 

     Encore
     Bouncing Around 
     the Room 
     Golgi Apparatus