I know it's best to never have any regrets in life, but it's easier said than done.

Most of the regrets in my life that even come to mind are small, insignificant things. For the most part, it's relatively easy for me to ignore haunting thoughts of the things I wish I could go back and do differently. What's the use? (pun intended)

Except when it comes to the Phish.

Now, my Phishy regrets are few & far between, and I realize, in the grand scheme of things, QUITE insignificant. However, for whatever reason, they do dwell quite frequently in my mind, and they get me kind blue from time to time.

The time has come for me to BE DONE with my Phishy regrets!!

Consider this thread a virtual confession booth. (Do those little booths have a proper name in the Catholic faith? I forget.)

I'll start. Feel free to list your own. We're all in this together!!!

1. I wish I had seen more than 1 show in 1997.
This was my first year Phishing. I was young, inexperienced, and had ZERO friends that enjoyed the same music as I do. In the Fall '97, I had no job & had stopped attending my college classes. There is NO REASON why I couldn't have hit the road and seen some of the most beloved shows in phishtory.

2. I wish I had seen 7.1.1998.
By 1998 I was back in school. The beginning of Phish's 1998 Europe tour coincided with my very short 1-week summer vacation. My high school friend Katrine was a Danish exchange student and she agreed to let me stay with her & her folks. So, although this was only my 2nd Phish show, I pulled the trigger and flew out to Copenhagen. I took my Danish host Katrine with me to the first show, and by the setbreak, she had had enough. I felt very uncomfortable for the remainder of the night...i don't enjoy holding people as my "musical hostage". After thinking about it later that night, I regretfully decided NOT to go to the show the next night...thinking it would be RUDE for me to say to my hosts that I wanted to take off & do my own thing. Ugh...SO SILLY!!! Instead, I let Katrine take me to some house party her friends were throwing. I was a miserable BASTARD the entire night, and she quickly understood why. She told me me go back to Christania on the third night, and even convinced one of her friends to go with me. He was a Romanian Count whose all-time favorite band was Iron Maiden. He ended up having a GREAT TIME and really enjoyed the jams, or as he put it, "the guitar player's 20-minute-long solos". STILL, I flew thousands of miles to see Phish play 3 Europe gigs, and stupidly settled for 2.

3. I fell asleep at Big Cypress. We had been smoking a lot of pot the entire day on 12-31-99 (imagine THAT!) and my body just gave out on me around 4am during The Show. I was halfway between the soundboard & the stage, and it was pretty tight quarters up there, but I didn't care...I wasn't LEAVING....I simply laid on the ground and lost consciousness for about an hour while people kicked me & stepped on my head (accidentally, of course!) Not a big deal.....at least I was there, but still, it was lame, and one of my deepest Phishy regrets.

4. I didn't try to get onstage for TUCKING at Portsmouth last week. I was front & center riding the rail, but I'M SHY, and I was only wearing a Fishman donut T-SHIRT...not a full muumuu. But those fools who got up there truly SUCKED AT TUCKING.....i KNOW i could have done better and made the phish PROUD of us!!!!! But I hesitated, and the moment passed. (sigh)

Alright, .Net, it's YOUR TURN. I have bared My Soul (another pun!) to you.
What are your Phishy regrets?

I left halfway through the second set at Hartford in 2009 because my ride had work early in the morning. I could have gotten a rise back with other friends

/fail'd

I regret not following more lines going south....

...mainly the ones that went to big cypress (brother went and I wasn't able to tag along).

It's hard for me to say that I have regrets. I've missed some of the best shows that Phish has ever played, and certainly could have made it to them (with a lot of driving). Would I have loved to be there? Absolutely.

The flipside is that I've been raising my family during that same time so if I did pack up and drive to The Went, or Cypress, or the Mothership I would regret having missed that time with my kids.

I would say not making a single Phish Festival ever is my only regret. The plan is to hit the next one, wherever it is.

@JayDubya said:

It's hard for me to say that I have regrets. I've missed some of the best shows that Phish has ever played, and certainly could have made it to them (with a lot of driving). Would I have loved to be there? Absolutely.

The flipside is that I've been raising my family during that same time so if I did pack up and drive to The Went, or Cypress, or the Mothership I would regret having missed that time with my kids.

I would say not making a single Phish Festival ever is my only regret. The plan is to hit the next one, wherever it is.

Damn kids ruin everything. =p

I regret not giving Phish a chance before last summer. I regret not going to Superball...which is 45 minutes from my house!!!!

I have 2 specific and one general regret:

Skipping 8/14/97 because I wanted to get to the Great Went a day early. Oops - missed the Pranksters show. This is a particularly painful one as I missed seeing both Tela and Col Forbin, two songs I have been chasing for 75 shows now!

Not doing the Japan 2000 tour. I don't really have any reason for not going. Before I was married and had kids, I had a good job, I could afford it. I did some summer and Fall shows, but the Japan run would have been a lot of fun.

Biggest regret of all is not seeing them live until 1996. I started listening in 93/94 and should have seen some close northeast shows, but was too young to know what I was missing, figuring I would see them later.

I picked going to the US Open last year with my boys (a weekend of golf, drunkenness and Rory McIlroy blowing away the field) over going to Super Ball IX by myself.

I would've made friends for sure but it just seemed awkward to do it solo, but I wish I had just for that Mound and ASIHTOS.

Please, me have no regrets.

you can watch my video of the portsmouth show I just posted and re-live the "you suck at tucking" moment!

I don't know if I have any real 'regrets', but I definitely had/have missed opportunities...
-Could have easily caught a ride for Fenway
-Didn't go to SuperBall (I'm too comfortable/ornery at home and/or in a bed these days to deal with a festival)
-Car accident in 99, made me miss the second 5 of 10 shows I was hitting that summer. I wish I was paying better attention behind the wheel.
-My bro went to Darien 97 and I just headed to Great Went
-I went to several shows with an old 'girlfriend' and friend who were kind of a drag

There are a lot of local/attainable shows I missed just due to prior plans or responsiblities. I don't consider those a regret, because I just couldn't do it (IT, Boston 20th Anniversary, NYE 02/03, Worcester '12, etc.)

slept through the tower set at IT.
wasn't born ten years earlier?

I regret not going to every single phish show ever. I regret that I wasnt the guy who got to drive Mike to the PA show. I regret that I didn't make a sign for my favorite song which Trey then played only because of my sign. I regret that I didn't cut off Mr Millers toe and throw it on stage at Blossom. I regret that this post has somehow gone a camera.

^^

I did MPP the night before, Starlake 2 nights after and then the Lemonwheel.

Missed it by a show. I guess that one does hurt just a tad

1) On Big Cypress: "I'm not going. They'll probably do something like this again."(although I did see a pretty awesome Reverend Horton Heat show that night)
2) Not taking the Halloween '95 tickets that were offered to me because I thought Phish sucked
3) Not going with my friends to AV or DC '96 or '97 because I thought Phish sucked
4) Missing 9-22 and 9-23-2000 to spend time with my girlfriend, who sucked.
5) Only catching two shows in 3.0 so far

@Shukky said:

I regret waiting 10 years to see my first show and then regret that my first show was Coventry

coventry was my first show(s) as well! at that point i had been listening to them a decent amount so i knew coventry was definitely not what they were capable of. but i didnt have that connection to the band like so many did (and i have now), so i wasnt completely let down by what happened on the stage that weekend. i feel bad for any first timers who saw them in august of '04 and never came back...

i regret not getting into them sooner. someone offered me tix to see them in 2000. i said something like "who's phish? no i dont want to go".

I regret that I did not get into Phish earlier.

1. In 04, I was taping the SPAC/Deer Creek shows and had a tapers ticket for 6/25 (1st night AV). We got a great start, but Chicago traffic was a nightmare. We were about an hour from the venue and about thirty-minutes to start time. As a taper, this doesn't work. So instead of just going and being late I pouted and gave my ticket away to a kid who was riding with us. We booted him from the car and drove to see moe @ Summerfest (which turned out ok, I was the only taper). However, I wish we would have just committed.

2. Not seeing phish on 12/16/99. I was a sophmore in HS at the time, and mom made the call on that one to not allow me to go. Bummer. I should have just gone.

3. And my number one NOT regret was listening to Hoist when it came out in 94. I was 11 at the time and my friend's older brother said I might like it.....little did he know. It led me to start taping and spending thousands of dollars on a band that has shaped my life. thanks.

No regrets. I have seen a lot of great Phish.

Well maybe I should have turned around at Coventry when Mike told me to, but that turned into an entertaining hike.

@Sprachtor said:

Dude...how many times do I have to say this to you.

You were at 7-23-97, you should have zero regrets.

I would trade you almost any show I was at to be at that throwdown...almost.

Let me guess... Wouldn't trade 12/29/98 or your 2 island tour shows, right?

Although I would have loved to have made more shows in the mid to late 90's, I don't really feel too much regret in missing shows. Don't get me wrong, it would have been great to see a the 'killer' shows that I missed for various reasons, but I don't really regret making the decisions I had to make at the time.

What I do genuinely regret is being such a teenage spunion that I don't really remember a fair amount of the early shows I WAS at. I mean really, I made it to the show and even made it inside the venue but I'd get too f-ed up to know what was going on. That shit makes me-now, want to kick me-then in the balls.

@chris200w said:

I suppose pulling down your pants and tucking your t-shirt into your underwear would have counted.

I totally would have done this.......SHOULD HAVE done this........ugh.....LOL.

@CornFromAJar said:

3. I fell asleep at Big Cypress.

I feel like this would have happened to me if I was at this show. I just don't see myself having the endurance to make it through a 7 hour set.
My only regret is believing Jeryl's son when he told us that it would be fine to leave our cars at the farm during N1 in Bethel. It makes me feel so naive when I look back at it. After a few hours of tailgating my mentality was: "We're in Bethel, the home of Woodstock. Nothing is gonna go wrong and it'd probably be more responsible to walk since I already have a decent buzz going." I know drinking and driving is bad but looking back I kinda wish I drove seeing that I wasn't that drunk. Especially if I knew parking at that farm was gonna ruin my whole weekend.

Any & all regrets are welcome here!!!!!!!

Even the regrets of those puff-the-magic-dragon mothertuckers I keep hearing about......

Praise all that is goood and righteous, typed that out, stood up to light joint tunred head to the right and............cha ching. FOUND IT. I have no regrets. Missing shows sucks the left toe but imagine meeting emma watson and she is a phan and all about changing perception but she has a foot fetish and I only have 9 toes; I would regret that. If one of you see's a dude with a giant flag on his back carrying a pack and a gallon of water and you do not pick him up, you are not cool.