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Why Phish's 13-night run at Madison Square Garden was so special
When Phish first announced their unprecedented 13-night, 26-set run at Madison Square Garden in January, the general reaction was a mix of excitement, exhilaration, suspense, anxiety and trepidation. Is this really happening? In my city? Can I actually go to 13 shows over the course of 17 nights? Will they repeat any songs? Will I go broke? Is it worth it? Will I die? Will it be worth it if I die? Over the six months that followed, the anticipation that built within the Phish community was unparalleled. The hunt for face value tickets (unless you were one of the lucky ones to score a 13-pack in Phish’s lottery system, or refresh your Ticketmaster browser exactly 0.6 seconds before the official on-sale); the countless out-of-towners planning vacations to NYC; the incessant discussions in Phish Facebook groups and online forums over whether they would repeat any songs, broken down into mathematical equations; the memes. So many memes. Luckily for me, my job not only allows for, but encourages that I have a presence at these shows. As the marketing director at Live for Live Music, I was responsible for promoting 15 late-night shows over the course of the run (yes, after a 3.5 hour show folks still wanted more). Our entire staff attended each of the Baker’s Dozen shows as well, and with our small but dedicated editorial team waking up at the crack of dawn to get each night’s review posted, I had little reason to justify skipping any of the shows. Now that the run has come to a cl