harsh review of phish and the dead

Why Do Hippies Still Exist in America?

"The Grateful Dead is notorious for the intense availability of every drug known to mankind at their concerts. Young people tempted into this illicit world rarely return unharmed. Entering into these events, one is assaulted by sexual and psychedelic demands that push you into naked frenzies and hours-long blackouts. The music itself is harsh and overwhelming, crafted to outrage our most basic moral instincts. It celebrates an elite form of hedonism so sickening that one imagines the deepest pits of hell couldn’t possibly be more terrifying. Children have long been cursed into lifelong spirals of wanton sexuality and extreme political fanaticism after being exposed to this sort of experience."

"The Phish play for a younger, more innocent crowd less concerned about social activism and more preoccupied with a sarcastic disdain for conformity. The songs revolve around the absurd, yet still force the simpleminded to celebrate self-indulgence and radical consumerism. For fans of The Phish, life is about expressing an identity through purchasing “green” products and watching adult cartoons. They will abuse drugs and frustrate their parents, but never enough to land in jail or lose their allowances (even into adulthood). Masturbation and LSD are also shockingly common in this crowd. For your average Phish concert-goer, it’s not uncommon for them to awake in odd circumstances (at the side of a road, wallet emptied and their body covered in bruises, for example) with no recollection of what transpired the night before. This cycle of amnesia is what keeps them coming back for more shows as they try to figure out what they could have possibly done to themselves."