@jwelsh8 said:

I find it hard to believe that anyone can actually attend show after show and experience it on its own terms.

Yes, it is a hard thing to believe.

I am also curious as to this "jaded" self-awareness. Can one actually be "jaded" and not have it be a function of the music?

Yes.

The members of Phish have worked their entire lives to try and achieve -- as a routine matter -- a state of egoless group communication. I think the fullest experience of the resulting music is to be had in a similar state. I have a hard time getting there sometimes, and when that's the case I tend to hold my own difficulties against the music, the band, the night, the crowd.

This is bullshit of course and I want to be done with it. Some dudes wanna defend their right to keep on keeping on in their own heads? How dare I argue.

@sethadam1 said upthread that...

I wonder...how you can in one sentence [say] someone who has an emotional response should "fuck off" and the a few words later say to give the ticket to someone who will enjoy it "on its own terms."

But he's missing my point. 'Jadedness' isn't about the music. It's not an emotional response to the shared experience, because the whole point is that jaded motherfuckers aren't taking part. They're having their own experience, willfully separating themselves for whatever private and very human reasons.

And those folks are better off taking time out for other experiences. This site overflows with comments from back-in-the-day fans who've gone away awhile and come back with a new, powerful love for Phish's music and the weird Events at which that music is made. I don't think 'jaded' fans owe me anything; I think they owe themselves the happiness that distance can afford.

And it's nice to pass on a ticket -- even a $70 one -- to some kid who's dying to find out what the joyful noise is about.