It’s that time of year again… Tomorrow, Phish will return to New York’s Madison Square Garden for their annual four-night New Year’s run. Each year, we like to celebrate the season in the days leading up to Phish at MSG with the 12 Days of Phishmas, a daily series that gives you your Phish fix and helps stoke your excitement in the days leading up to the run. In 2016, we took you back to 12 historic Phish performances at The Garden. In 2017, with the Baker’s Dozen barely out of sight in the rearview, we relived the magic and mystery of the band’s historic residency.
For years, we’ve been earmarking some of our favorite Phish interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and other cool content that we haven’t found the right occasion to share with you…until now. For 2018, we’ve made you a very special Phishmas Advent calendar to help spice up your countdown to showtime. As we approach the start of the run on the 28th, we’ll open up one panel a day and reveal a fun surprise inside—a little something sweet and Phishy once a day until the Garden party begins. No peeking! By the time we’re finished with the calendar, it will finally be time for the gift we’ve all been waiting for: Four nights of Phish on their home court at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
1 Day Til Phish: Why I Watch ‘Bittersweet Motel’ Before A Big Phish Run
On the twelfth and final day of Phishmas… Halfway between Erie and Pittsburgh we find Bittersweet Motel, the 2000 Phish documentary produced and directed by Todd Phillips, who would go on to achieve widespread success at the helm of some of the 2000s’ biggest comedies like Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and the Hangover trilogy.
The film follows Phish on their travels both domestic and international throughout 1997 and 1998—a time when many fans feel that the band was at its creative peak. While Phish documentaries are few and far between, and often only focus on a particular event, Bittersweet Motel is one of the few (if only) long-form snapshots of Phish during a given period of time. That lengthier purview lets the viewer in on a multi-layered look at a band hitting their stride. You see some high points, and you see some low points. You see the creative process of songs and arrangements being crafted, and you see those songs presented onstage in their finished form. You see the band relish the opportunity to reflect on their story, and you see them question the premise of why they wanted to make a movie about themselves in the first place.
Along the way, you get a treasure trove of amusing situations and one-liners that still float around the Phish community in the form of memes and inside jokes and parking lot banter, from “You paid us!” to “Page’s new shirt” and the “chicks in the front row” to “urinating the in the ears of the listeners.” To list all the quote-worthy snippets from Bittersweet Motel would be to transcribe the entire movie word-for-word.
I’ve watched Bittersweet Motel more times than I can count. It’s my go-to sick day movie, a perennial backdrop for house cleaning, a perfect dose of Phish mythology when it’s been too long since I’ve been home—that is, since I’ve been to a show. It’s not the first thing I’ll show to a Phish-curious friend, but it is what I’ll send to a friend (along with a good live “YEM”) when they’ve already caught the bug and just need that last little push into the all-consuming fandom with which we’re all so familiar.
It’s also become a personal tradition to watch it the day before a run begins. I usually try to avoid listening to Phish right before seeing a run of shows, to let myself be fully gobsmacked by the experience again and again without too many expectations to color it. I don’t like to go into a show hoping for a specific song, a specific kind of jam, a specific sort of set. I don’t guess openers, I don’t guess themes. I like to go in hoping simply for Phish—all that this band is, all that it means to all of us—and years later, those hopes have come true each and every time (well, other than that one time, but I digress).
Without abandoning my best-laid no-pre-show-listening plans, Bittersweet Motel helps me feel those feelings I forgot—the feeling that with each show, with each year, we get the privilege to be part of the great and growing story of Phish. Re-watching this weighty chunk of the story reminds me of that beautiful notion and gets me in the best possible mindset to live the next chapter. Give it a shot. I bet it works for you, too…
Bittersweet Motel (2000)
[Uploaded by: jason putz]
That does it for our 12 Days of Phishmas 2018! Thanks to everyone who followed along with our countdown. We hope you had as much fun with it as we did. Now let’s head to the Garden and make some new memories.
You can revisit each day on our Phishmas Advent calendar below. Happy Phishmas to all, and to all a good run!
On the first day of Phishmas… The Big Daddy Show
On the second day of Phishmas… David Byrne Interviews Phish
On the third day of Phishmas… Trey Anastasio Talks Fare The Well At The New Yorker Festival
On the fourth day of Phishmas… A Look Inside The Hoist Sessions From Cactus Films
On the fifth day of Phishmas… Mike Gordon Fascinates A Muscle Shoals Legend
On the sixth day of Phishmas… Page McConnell Chats in the Streets of London
On the seventh day of Phishmas… The Peanuts Conjure Cartoon Phish for “YEM” Dance Party
On the eighth day of Phishmas… Trey & Mike Chat with MTV on H.O.R.D.E. Tour (Swig Beer, Cross Legs)
On the ninth day of Phishmas… How Chris Kuroda & Phish’s Lighting Team Map out a Song
On the tenth day of Phishmas… Phish Does IT
On the eleventh day of Phishmas… The “Down With Disease” Music Video
On the twelfth day of Phishmas… Why I Watch ‘Bittersweet Motel’ The Night Before A Run
The post 12 Days Of Phishmas 2018: Why I Always Watch ‘Bittersweet Motel’ The Night Before A Run [Watch] appeared first on L4LM.
