Ha. In college in central wisconsin thats a big negative man. Green bay is also not so much. So yeah. Its not good.

He digs.

More tickets for us! (I'm 26) and have been into them since 1.0.

i went to high school/ college in new england, so phish was a little more "in" than most places at the time i guess.

Yeah, I'm 23, and Phish is almost non-existent even in MY age bracket. Older phans might not get this... but most people under 20, hell maybe even under 25, do not listen to music with instruments. They listen to RAP. Rap is the predominant music nowadays. In the south, and in a few other parts of the US, country is still big, but Rock and other types of music with instruments is dead, particularly among females. Girls love rap, period. Even preppy rich girls get down to the thuggiest rap. Go look at the Billboard Hot 100 and see how big rap is. Even the "pop" hits nowadays are basically rap songs (i.e. black eyed peas, drake). Do you see people like that, who listen to "beats" getting into Phish nowadays?

If Phish still played like Fall 1997 they might attract some of that group, but people under 20 do NOT listen to music like Phish. It's all about Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj, and lets face it, when all the girls in high school listen to thug rap, the guys are going to listen to thug rap too because they want to get with the girls. Just the facts of life.

End rant... I just wish more young people were into Phish.

@Frizz said:

As for what I know about high school, no. My 16 year old nephew wants me to take him to a show. But he grew up like I did, music not in his age bracket.

Are you going to take him frizz and show him the ways of the force like yoda?

depends on where you grow up

"At my college, where I got into phish, there were tons of phish heads, but it always seemed like there were more kids into Bisco, Lotus, and STS9 and other similar bands that phish"

Was this the majority of kids though? I am 23, graduated in 2010 from College, and while I was in school it was only a small minority of kids that were into any kind of jam band, including the much-hated dubstep. The large, LARGE majority of students at my university (about 15,000 students) were into rap and went to clubs on the weekend to shake their ass to it. Maybe 5-10% of the campus was into jam bands?

And it's not like I went to a straight-and-narrow christian school or anything. Kids smoke and drank, they just dug rap more. Most kids.

what @RR1994 said about people not listening to instrumental music isnt anything new. When I was in high school (95-98) it was the same back then. Once hair metal died out, the high school crowd went to rap and never went back. there was always the grunge/emo kids but they are a minority. And not a single phish head to be found. But then when I went to college it was a whole different story. Of course, I went to an art school in boston that focused on recording and sound production, so obviously it was a head magnet. Phish will never be popular, they will never be accepted by the mainstream, and thank god for that! I would hate to go to a phish show and be surrounded by a throngs of white boys with their beltlines at their knees and their flat brims turned to the side.

at 31, I'm an old fart when it comes to what's up with the youth in my town. And, of course, I'm out of the loop. But, I used to host an open mic for, like, 3 years and I have some younger friends through the arts and music scene... and, of the kids I know, nobody is into Phish. And I'm in upstate NY. It's the 'indie' underground and dubstep stuff that's in. The people that I know, that are into phish in my town are my age or older.

@RR1994 said:

"At my college, where I got into phish, there were tons of phish heads, but it always seemed like there were more kids into Bisco, Lotus, and STS9 and other similar bands that phish"

Was this the majority of kids though? I am 23, graduated in 2010 from College, and while I was in school it was only a small minority of kids that were into any kind of jam band, including the much-hated dubstep. The large, LARGE majority of students at my university (about 15,000 students) were into rap and went to clubs on the weekend to shake their ass to it. Maybe 5-10% of the campus was into jam bands?

And it's not like I went to a straight-and-narrow christian school or anything. Kids smoke and drank, they just dug rap more. Most kids.

I would say about a third of the 5000 students were heads. My school is near Woodstock so it has that kind of vibe. Like there were even frat dudes I was friends dropping L and that kind of stuff. I actually ran into one of those frat dudes in the bathroom at MSG in NYE

I was the most into them in HS. Now, all of my friends listen/go to shows. I've changed a lot of peoples lives. I feel the best about the DMB outcasts.

Im 18, a senior in high school in the Burlington region. By far the biggest fan in my school and I try to share the wealth of Phish, but sadly it's a uphill battle. There are more teachers that like them then students... Only a couple of my friends that I've brought to a show understand and "Get it" and now we try to go to any show we can. I think the reason they aren't as popular is because in todays fast pace world teenagers don't have the attention span to sit down and listen to a 15min Fluffhead... damn even my parents couldn't make it to bundle of joy. A lot of people just don't give it a chance. If concerts were easier to attend and more frequent (hint. hint. please come back to Essex). I think they would be more popular because it is impossible to not have a good time at a phish show=More people becoming fans.

18, a few of my friends dig Phish but are not obsessed and can't take listening to a song longer than 5 minutes. I try my best to get people turned on but it doesnt always work out so well. That's why I love talking to you fine folks all the time!

im 17 and at my school, i have 2 homies that i see shows with. It all depends tho my brother is 20 and he has a big crew of friends who are all wooks, so they all have been showing me the ways since summer tour '10.

@Frizz said:

@batshitcrazy said:

@Frizz said:

As for what I know about high school, no. My 16 year old nephew wants me to take him to a show. But he grew up like I did, music not in his age bracket.

Are you going to take him frizz and show him the ways of the force like yoda?

#1. Vader.
#2. My brother has said no plenty of times.
#3. I would like to.
#4. Bacon.
#5. What was I typing about?

He will join us or die, my master.
Btw you are an uncle of awesomeness for wanting to take him.

I'm 19, live in Bloomington, Indiana where IU is and I'd have to say that Phish is actually somewhat big down here. Alot of people are into them, and there's always awesome shows goin on down here. I mean I didn't really start to catch a ton of shows until last year, but I was still a really big fan when I was in high school along with a big group of my friends, we just couldn't really hit a bunch of shows. So ya down here we actually roll up to shows and festies with pretty big crews, its definitely legit. I guess I'd have to say that suprisingly a good amount of people listen to them down here, but thank god the douche bags dont

@_________________________ said:

I am 23 and my friends and I were into the GD in high school. There was another crew that was also in GD. I see some of the kids from that other crew at phish shows. At my college, where I got into phish, there were tons of phish heads, but it always seemed like there were more kids into Bisco, Lotus, and STS9 and other similar bands than phish

Sign'd

as a 21 year old going to college in northwestern WI, I can tell you that I may be the only true "head" on campus, I've met people who know who phish is but have no real idea what "Phish" is
I have been showing some people the light though....
this whole situation is frustrating and I mostly just have to be excited about phish of dead or my own music collection in general within myself because being outward about it is useless among my peers...

My high school was full of jam band fans, though certainly not the majority. Graduating in '08 there obviously weren't any body going to Phish shows, but there were a bunch of different groups that caught every UM, STS9, Lotus, YMSB and other shows whenever they would come to Chicago which thankfully was quite often. Now that they're back together I've caught a few shows with some of them.

Unfortunately most of my friends are into the scene somewhat and will probably catch a few shows with me this summer depending on the tour schedule, but they're bigger into electronic music than Phish.

I'm 20 years young going to college in a tiny town called Annville in south central PA. I can say for sure that there are only 2 real Phish heads, myself included, that have been to shows and listen to the band on a daily basis. There are a few others that can dig Phish, but they are few and far between. I guess it has to do with the fact that the college I attend has less than 2,000 students and almost every student is narrow minded with crap taste in music. And nobody really has interests in broadening their musical horizons. I hear way to much pop, rap, and shit music around campus. It really sucks

@Purple_Humpback_Whale said:

I'd like to see Skrillex put together a 34 minute darkstar type song (maybe thats extreme) but you get my point...
/end rant

Skrillex could do that for sure.

The only problem is, it'd be the same thing over and over and over, and extremely boring.

I went and saw Tiesto recently (mainly because some cute college girls lured me into going with them)... It was crap. They loved the shit out of it. Of course it wasn't all bad... except it was BORING. the music was the same, over, and over, and over. I heard one song, with 20 different titles that night. Seems like kids care more about drugs, getting sweaty, and BITB's at those types of events. I mean it wasn't all bad. I took these girls to their first 2 phish shows too, about a month prior-- night 2 and 3 dicks last year. They loved the shit out of that too. Of course, there were drugs, people sweating, and they had my BITB as well.

Anyway, I agree with a lot of the things said in this thread.

/backtowork

@Friedmann said:

I'm a senior in high school right now, turn 18 on Sunday. There's only about 3-4 other heads at my school, and a few others that would go to a show with us.
All but one of my close friends hate them though

I also go to the high school that Mike Gordon graduated from :p

I'm a senior at Natick High, pretty close by. And yeah I only know of 1 other kid in my grade that is a big phan. 99% of my friends are 'ragers'. and they all hate phish.

@Purple_Humpback_Whale said:

anybody wana make a college for heads that go to college where being a head isn't like 1 in 12,000 like myself and the majority of other peeps who've commented on this thread? We'll call it "The Great Head" experiment haha

There is such a place my friend. It's called Appalachian State University and it's located in Boone, NC. Not everybody is a crazy head, but I can't think of a single person at App who hadn't at least heard of them when I was there from 2006-2008. Hell, the Grateful Dead was still popular there when I was in school.

@batshitcrazy said:

He will join us or die, my master.
Btw you are an uncle of awesomeness for wanting to take him.

My brother and I have taken him to Primus and Tool.
It's not a matter of him deciding. Hahah

@SaltyDog said:

You know, Vader never did have an apprentice. I mean yeah, he restored balance to the force, and was supposedly more powerful than any Jedi in history, but he never did get to train an apprentice. So, I support your quest to turn your nephew onto phish.

The force is strong with this one.

Technically he did have an apprentice. But not in the movies.
Starkiller from a video game called Star Wars: The Force Unleashed