Music can’t lie — it really is the universal language. People can hear your intent. If your intent is to sell records and make money, people will hear that, and it blackens the music. That’s why the live thing has been so exciting, and so spiritual for us. Once the fans are in the room, there’s nothing we can do on-stage that will bring us any more monetary gain. So we’re then free to explore and celebrate the spiritual aspect of the music.

For the 73rd consecutive week, the Blog is proud to bring you another Mystery Jam. As usual, we will be playing for an MP3 download, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). The hint will come on Tuesday and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Tuesday Hint: No hint needed this week.

Wednesday Answer: It's the 7/30/97 "Bowie" -> "Cities" -> "Bowie," specifically the segue into "Cities." So bl002e is our winner for the second time in four weeks. The Blog will be back on Mon. with another Mystery Jam.

Bluegrass topped by a Klezmer tune, mock-classical counterpoint dissolving into free-form a capella vocals, pop lounge songs and light funk, blues guitar licks and bombastic rock vamps — Phish’s [concerts have] all that and more in nearly three hours of benignly virtuosic music.

Welcome to the 72nd installment of the Mystery Jam here at Phish.net. As usual, we will be playing for an MP3 download, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). The hint will come on Tuesday and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Tuesday Hint: Sigh. No hint needed this week.

Wednesday Answer: It was the 11/16/94 "Simple." Nice work by cerqs being the first to get it. See you all next week with MJ73.

Phish lyricisit Tom Marshall has been tweeting up a storm, featuring the release of unheard cuts including the original Backwards Down the Number Line, the original Silent in the Morning, and the original I Am Hydrogen.

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…we can be long-winded.

Welcome to the 71st installment of the Mystery Jam here at Phish.net. As usual, we will be playing for an MP3 download, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). The hint will come on Tuesday and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

Tuesday Hint: No hint needed this week.

Wednesday Answer: Congrats to Blackeyedsloth for correctly ID'ing the 12/7/99 "Gin." The Blog will be back on Monday with another Mystery Jam...

MP3 Downloads Courtesy of LivePhish.com.

Phish has performed in 775 venues thus far. Many have come, many have gone - and this chart summarizes them all, with the total numbers of venues played for the first and last time in each year. Venues were of course heavily "gained" (played for the first time) during the band's 1990-1994 growth - though many were "lost" (played for the last time) in each of those years as well. Indeed, more were lost than gained in '91 and '94 - and then in every year from '97 onward, with the decline in the number of shows and the resurgence of multi-night runs at the same venues.

Welcome to the 70th installment of the Mystery Jam here at Phish.net. Thanks to TAB week, we will be playing for TWO MP3 downloads this week, courtesy of our friends at LivePhish.com / Nugs.Net. The rules haven't changed: you need to correctly identify the song and the date to win. Post your guess in the comments. One guess per person per day (with the second “day” starting after I post the hint). The hint will come on Tuesday and the answer will be posted on Wednesday. Good luck...

(Late) Tuesday hint: No hint needed this week.

Thursday Answer: Congrats to bl002e for quickly nailing the 2/17/97 "Carini" and winning two LP downloads in the process. See you all Monday...

MP3 Downloads Courtesy of LivePhish.com.

We've written before about trademarks and bootleg merch sold on "Shakedown Streets" at shows. The phishnet forum and Phantasy Tour message boards have been buzzing since the Dick's shows about the strange affair of a freelance contractor, Dave Anver, long active in seizing supposedly bootleg merch for promoters in the Denver area.

The Westword blog site in Denver covered the original incident which was sparked by a YouTube video and a "Stop Dave Anver" Facebook page campaign and writer Dave Herrera has returned with a long and troubling discussion of what happened that day in the lot at Dick's with a "bootleg merch bust" that somehow went very, very bad.

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IT did not last long enough! Phish played quite well at SBIX and on the second leg of their Summer tour, and it was tough to see the tour end in Colorado. But Vermont’s misfortune from Hurricane Irene inspired Phish to play a benefit show in Essex on September 14, a webcasted show that raised over $1.2 million for flood relief efforts, and also gave fans, particularly those in Vermont, a special performance. It was Phish’s first Vermont show since Coventry, and one of only a handful of benefit shows that Phish has ever performed. It was also an appropriate way to conclude the Summer’s impressive musical achievements: generously, warmly, and with a familial vibe near the green mountains where Phish began.

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