http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9187957749659635512

Pretty cool documentary about Phish I got from Google. Just thought people who haven't watched might enjoy it. Enjoy!

Woah they have the entire thing on Google? I mean I have my own DVD of it but you would think there would be copyright issues of some kind. Pretty fun film though.

Dudes, this documentary is out to get the band and make 'em look bad. Especially Trey. To the casual music fan, this film is absolutely designed to make Phish look incredibly egotistical with a fan base that doesn't appreciate quality music. I can't say I'm a fan. Watch it, though.

@IenjoyMyself said:

@TheDeerman said:

Dudes, this documentary is out to get the band and make 'em look bad. Especially Trey. To the casual music fan, this film is absolutely designed to make Phish look incredibly egotistical with a fan base that doesn't appreciate quality music. I can't say I'm a fan. Watch it, though.

agree and disagree. The Documentary doesn't make the band look great, and definitely depicts the fans poorly too. BUT, i don't think that Todd Phillips had that intent. I believe it was Phish's idea to film the documentary and they purposefully brought in someone who wasn't a phan so it would have some objectivity. They wanted to explain phish to people who had never heard of em. I don't know that there is any part that makes them look egotistical....confident sure, but not cocky. I mean Trey sits there and reads bad reviews about themselves while laughing about it. There really is limited interaction with any of the other members (which is dissapointing), but there are some humorous parts as well as some decent musical clips. Cant believe dude was touring with the boys in 97 and couldn't dig up some better musical clips.

Anyways, definitely some shitty messages put out because of the documentary but for fans its actually laughable.

I always thought that it was pretty bogus when they were cutting everybody's heads off in the pictures. I would be pretty excited to be able to get a picture with them. And then get the pictures developed and no one has a head. Thank god for digital cameras. Those sneaky bastards won't trick me when the day arrives.

Yeah I disagree. Sure, it could have absolutely been better, but for what it is, it is a pretty cool documentary. I mean the director did put things in the wrong order, and more interviews with the other band members could have been better, and better musical highlights could have been used, but it was made by a dude who is not really a fan, so look at it that way.

And think of all the footage that exists that wasn't in the film, maybe that will surface someday too. :fingers crossed:

Some of the stuff was enjoyable...I always love seeing concert footage and some behind the scenes stuff...what about when that chick was stalking Trey backstage at the Great Went...and he was like "I have no idea who you are"..funny stuff...

@IenjoyMyself said:

what drug dealers?

Trey bartering at the weapon store was comical, and how does the naked photo shoot bring negative vibes?

You gotta look at this from the perspective of someone who doesn't know the scene at all. Of course it's funny to us, but to anyone who doesn't know who Trey is, he looks like an asshole. There's a guy who they interview that sells weed to stay on tour. The way they show the fans makes us look like we're all hippies/wookies/bros. Maybe that's the prominent image put out there, but that is definitely not the "average" phan.

Though I do have to admit that I didn't know the scene in '97. Maybe that's how it was? Still, I would guess not.

@TheDeerman said:

(3) The Dave fans in the tent

that whole bit about VW's and girls with hairy armpits was just weird

blonde nitrous girl.

"Love... [huff] ...love will keep us together... [huff] ..."

I can tell you that in the part of the film when they were at a show and the camera crew was asking a fan, who was clearly a space shot, a question on why he listens to Phish and the kid answered with something like what a space shot would say, then the camera guy said that he didn't get it, and the kid kept going on with his space shot answer, the camera dude was clearly f***ing with him. So I don't know how much the filmmakers knew about Phish or not but that little part of the film made it seem like they knew what was going on with Phish and their fans. But I don't know just my two cents.

Good thread. I'm surprised how many vets hate on this film. I don't think it portrays fans negatively, just in the colorful light an outsider would see. (They even found a guy who said you don't need drugs to enjoy Phish! How many of those were on tour in '97?!) Trey has some absolutely priceless quotes in it and yes, the band come off as dicks sometimes, but I doubt that's inaccurate. Too bad there isn't more music, but it's great to be able to see some of the scene @ that moment in time.

The streaming versions ARE copyright infringements and keep getting taken down. I finally caved and spent 5$ on the DVD.. now I"ll probably never want to watch it again.

I think Trey summed up how we all feel at a show in this clip

@Onlymike said:

Nobody mentioned Trey calling Brad a tool? That was it for me, honestly. I took a long break from Phish after that. No kidding.

I don't know if you are being sarcastic or not but Trey wasn't being an asshole he was just f***ing with Brad. In the clip before that scene Trey is in his hotel room and is asked by the cameraman if he had heard what someone said about a song they played the night before, Trey said no and the cameraman told him the person said the song was ruined or botched because they missed a change. Trey replied with that he could give a f*** if they missed a change and that he thought the whole night was quote "rockin'" The person who made that comment was Brad Sands. So that's why the next day Trey, half-jokingly, said kiss my ass you fckin tool and threw a beer can at him. He was pissed that Brad would care that they missed a change. It was not meant to be cruel, friends f*** with friends all the time, doesn't mean it doesn't happen in Phish.

some of the comments in this thread have left me scratching my head. Maybe the footage in Bittersweet doesnt translate as well now as it did when it came out?

I'll be the first one to mention that that link says private video. I've seen Bittersweet Motel several times, and was trying to show it to a new phan just a couple days ago but it is nowhere to be found online. At least by someone with low internet download savviness

I love how they cut from Roses are Free rehearsal to show on that change! Saw this for the first time in a theatre in Peterborough, ON. Canada (actually promoted it/brought it in).

Also love during the NYE stuff when they show a clip of a group of peeps from St. Stephen NB Canada ... don't know em, but it's pretty handy to where I grew up ... very cool!

And how does anyone not love watching Trey slay the Went Simple.

I think it was made in the tried and true documentary style that tries to show the whole enchilada, good and bad, in as objective of a way as possible. And I bet the band wanted it to be that way.

The GD Movie that Jerry himself directed and edited left in the scenes with the concession stand vendor who doesn't like loud music, the drug use and the weirdness of the spun out fans. Some people would be turned off by some of those choices but I love it. It gives you the real feel of what those whows were like.

Another example is the Band's Last Waltz movie that has Neil Young with a giant boulder of white hanging out of his nose as he sings Helpless. Scorsese showed it all didn't hold back.

For these reasons I love B. Motel. I think it is hilarious but also bittersweet during some scenes, and I cringe when they show the tweaked out Trey talking to the other guys when he is clearly flying at the edge of space beyond the troposhere or whatever.

The IT doc is a much more of a 'show the band in the best light' type of a thing, imo..

@TheDeerman said:

Dudes, this documentary is out to get the band and make 'em look bad. Especially Trey. To the casual music fan, this film is absolutely designed to make Phish look incredibly egotistical with a fan base that doesn't appreciate quality music. I can't say I'm a fan. Watch it, though.

I don't think so. I thought it was fair and balanced.

@Sprachtor said:

It is what is it. At this point, it is water under the bridge. They were young guys having fun and maybe they did make asses of themselves. But...they have certainly changed and adopted a more humble, adult approach.

I wonder what the band thinks of the movie now.

My daughter likes to throw on old home movies we have of our family when we were all younger. My wife and I cringe because we seem like such idiots. We were very young parents and it shows when we see videos of ourselves from during that time. But, it is what it is and our kids have turned out pretty good regardless.

I took my non-phan girlfriend to see this in the theater when it came out. Her first reaction as we left the theater that night was "Man....those guys are dicks." I was taken aback at first, but after I got over the urge to leap to the band's defense, I started to see where she was coming from. It actually made me realize that Phish were human just like the rest of us and that the scene was indeed pretty sketchy to an outsider's perpective.

I recently re-watched the DVD and came away with a much more positive perspective on the film. I mainly attribute that to the fact that I had grown up quite a bit myself and I also knew alot more about the history of Phish and the struggles they had with their backstage scene. The musical parts seemed a lot better to me as well.

Cutting the heads off? Really? Still we complain about this?

This is the band that f*cked everyone over who flew to Vegas in 98 to see Dark Side, by playing it the next night. I remember a lot of peeps who shelled out major $$$ and were piiiiiiiissssed off.

This is the band that teases 2001 for three minutes when they have to play an 'A' tune in an out of this world show, and then they play Alaska.

This band has been Lucy to our Charlie Brown for decades. I would have been disappointed if they hadn't cut the heads off in those pictures.

This movie is fun and people need to get over it.

"Sir!!! 10,000, sir!!"

Sprach was never teased on 8/31/12. That was just super ambiance, you shouldn't have expected 2001.