I am frequently amazed at some of the thought provoking threads that appear on this forum. One of the reasons I come here is to appreciate the depth and variety of the folks that are attracted to this band. I thought I'd tease out more stories by asking what is your longest span between Phish shows. I'll start with:

I had to leave the wife and 3 kids at home to attend my first Phish show at Plattsburgh. It wasn't until Coventry that we decided we couldn't pass on the 'last' opportunity to attend a show together. That was a span of

2919 days = 7 years, 11 months, 28 days

between shows. So 3.0 has been a blessing that we are trying to take advantage of, now that we can be away without arranging for childcare.

I was wondering if any one else has a similar gap, for whatever reason life confronted them with. This isn't a contest for older fans, for example, someone on active duty might have been overseas for an extended period of time while serving our country. Who else has come back after an extended period of time? Who couldn't stand to be away and has the shortest span?

Here's a link you can use to perform the math:
calculate span

wow, pretty tough to get off the bus after vegas '96!!

Over a year off all music from Dead's last Shoreline(early 95) run to Phish San Diego 12 4 96. Was a bit overspent from every last effort to see all Jerry shows I could. Just went surfing for a while.

I didn't listen to Phish at all from 2004 (just after Coventry) to like 2007. At all, period. That's like 2 1/2 yrs. I needed a break. Coincidentally, I went back to school (again) and pretty much zoned in on jazz. That's probably ~1000 days ... that's gotta count for something

4/17/94 Fairfax until 6/25/10 Camden - span of 5,913 days or 16 yrs, 2 mon & 8 days.

We had our first child in 95 and I stopped going to a lot of shows. Now that the kids are older I've been seeing more concerts and was psyched to see phish again.

Haha, what a funny juxtaposition between frcool and yoursongtoo! Back to back.

I had a couple of large gaps in my show-going history. I was at 7/25/92 in Stowe, the opening set for Santana. The next show I saw was on 11/29/98 at the Worcester Centrum. Following that, the next show I saw was at Fenway and since then I've seen about 10 shows...no real explanation other than I traveled a lot in those years and Phish kind of fell off my musical radar for a long time. Right after that Santana show I was in South America for over a year and couldn't believe how they blew up when I got back. I was like "now it's hard to get tickets to see Phish? Fuck that!"
So, gap number 1 : 6 years, four months and four days.

gap number 2: 11 years, six months and one day.

94 - 98

The scene change dramatically going from theaters to arenas and there were MANY young kids being dropped off at shows by soccer moms. I also think that the death of Jerry helped the whole thing explode. Heads were looking for a place to go. I just didn't dig it anymore.

In any event I'm back and it seems like everyone has aged a bit. I don't feel like such a fossil. Also the music is great, the new material rocks, and the band sounds amazing. Whats not to like?

It was 3445 days or 9 years, 5 months, 5 days between my shows
6/28/2000 to 12/3/09
no good reason at all - just took a pause
Happy to say I've hit 9 Phish shows, 3 TAB, and 1 Trey solo in Princeton since.
I'm so thrilled to be back -i was very lucky to hit some great shows this run

this is a great thread, and i realize i'm not alone out there. my gap is 8/20/93 to 6/5/09 or 5768 days, or 15 years and 9 months. i saw about a dozen shows between 4/91 and 8/93, and the explosion i witnessed from bar band to red rocks didn't sit well with me. i was shocked, and saddened by the presence of a scene milling about the red rocks parking lot, replete with tripping youngsters and miracle seekers. jerry was still alive, and i couldn't wrap my head around the fact that the band i saw on my campus bar was resembling the dead scene. i simply got off the bus. spent the next decade grooving on the colorado music scene, and got to experience leftover, sci, and yonder in their infancies. new orleans was a huge influence at that time as well with bands like the meters, galactic, denson, etc. after the reunion, i was discussing my love of music with a younger guy at work, who couldn't believe i hadn't listened to phish in all these years. he encouraged me to download hampton, which i did, and then i found myself at jones beach in the rain. this new year's run will make 22 shows since the reunion for me. i have no regrets, as i wasn't ready for the phish reality of 93-04, and i couldn't possibly be any more psyched for it now. hope to see you all out there! happy thanksgiving all

First gap was from spring '92 to 10/31/96. Holy moly how things had changed from Colorado shows '90-'92 (when I saw my first shows) to Halloween at the Omni. I felt like the whole scene was fake and a nightmare and I just blew off Phish for a long time. Came back to a show this summer 7/3 Alpharetta and the band blew my mind. Kinda sorry I missed out on 14 years of music but other than the great music 10/31/96 there was nothing positive for me in the drugged mess I saw.

@wrinkledraisin said:

this is a great thread, and i realize i'm not alone out there. my gap is 8/20/93 to 6/5/09 or 5768 days, or 15 years and 9 months. i saw about a dozen shows between 4/91 and 8/93, and the explosion i witnessed from bar band to red rocks didn't sit well with me. i was shocked, and saddened by the presence of a scene milling about the red rocks parking lot, replete with tripping youngsters and miracle seekers. jerry was still alive, and i couldn't wrap my head around the fact that the band i saw on my campus bar was resembling the dead scene. i simply got off the bus. spent the next decade grooving on the colorado music scene, and got to experience leftover, sci, and yonder in their infancies. new orleans was a huge influence at that time as well with bands like the meters, galactic, denson, etc. after the reunion, i was discussing my love of music with a younger guy at work, who couldn't believe i hadn't listened to phish in all these years. he encouraged me to download hampton, which i did, and then i found myself at jones beach in the rain. this new year's run will make 22 shows since the reunion for me. i have no regrets, as i wasn't ready for the phish reality of 93-04, and i couldn't possibly be any more psyched for it now. hope to see you all out there! happy thanksgiving all

This is so classic! I've heard this from others over the years. 3.0 rules though.

I'm taking my wife to the 2nd Worcester show. I took her to her first show, when we were dating, back in 94. She always enjoyed the Dead, however, Phish was not her thing. Recently she has been listening to some of the 3.0 shows that I have attended over the past few years and she likes Joy, the record. That is a 16 year span. Her first show...

April 16, 1994

Mullins Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Set 1: Runaway Jim, Fee^[1], Axilla (Part II)^[2] > Rift, Stash, Fluffhead, Nellie Kane > Run Like an Antelope

Set 2: Sample in a Jar, Poor Heart > Tweezer -> The Lizards, Julius, Bouncing Around the Room, You Enjoy Myself -> The Vibration of Life -> You Enjoy Myself, The Squirming Coil^[3], Tweezer Reprise

Encore: Fire

[1] Trey sang verses through megaphone.
[2] Debut.
[3] Thank You tease from Page.

Notes: Trey sang the verses of Fee through a megaphone. This show included the debut of Axilla (Part II). In Trey's place, Brad Sands was the substitute trampoline jumper during YEM. Coil contained a Thank You tease from Page.

Coventry (8/15/2004) - Current.

However, it's set to end on 12/31/2010..... so a total of 2,327 days without a Phish show. Crazy. I have a valid excuse though, I moved to Alaska and have never been down to the lower 48 when Phish has been touring. But I'm visiting family over the holidays and traveling with my girlfriend whose from Switzerland, and it'll be her first show. Can't wait to ring in the new years with my favorite band!

As much as I love Phish, I have no regrets. Summer in Alaska is the best.

From 7/15/00 to 6/2/09

That's 3244 days or 8 years, 10 months, 18 days

From Monday, August 4, 2003 (morning after IT)
To Saturday, June 4, 2011 (ah, Blossom)

2861 days

Or 7 years, 10 months

5341 days
10/26/94 - 6/10/09

Regrets and more regrets

8-15-04 to 3-6-09

Like many others I was pretty burnt after coventry and took some listening time away from phish......but man i remember showing at work that morning when the reunion concerts were announced and it felt like my first time all over again.

@sphractor - I agree about keeping it light and not having crazy expectations.....i just want awesome live music for my night on the town.

Breakup + grad school = 2695 days; Or 7 years, 4 months, 17 days

14 years 8 months 19 days

11-28=94 to 8-16-09

I was up in the mountains in Montana, fully focused on fly fishing all summer and skiing every day in winter. Got married, had kids, etc.

Rediscovered Phish while living in Albany, NY 2009-2010. Went by myself to the summer tour '09 closer at SPAC without a ticket. For some reason I just knew I would get in, even though extras were selling for $150-200 on the lot, and I only had $60 in my pocket! I stayed positive and scored a ticket for $55.

Now I am back in Montana, but was still able to travel to SBIX and The Gorge this year. Hope to see some shows here in the west in 2012.

THINK: APOCALYPSE PARTY - PHISH IN VEGAS DEC. 2012 !!!!