Hello Burlington! A #threetunestuesday post

I've been hinting at it for a while, and I am nearly at the point where I can fully disclose the details of @mrsbozz and I's recent anniversary trip. In case you haven't guessed yet, we traveled to Burlington, VT to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary.

As I said, I am not going to get into a bunch of detail about the trip right now, I have plenty of time to do that in the coming weeks. Just know, I have been planning this trip for quite a while now and one thing I didn't realize during that time was the fact that the band Phish is from Burlington, VT.

They met at the campus of University of Vermont apparently and when they were getting started, they spent a lot of their time playing the clubs and bars in the Burlington area.

In fact, there is a walking tour of key places you can visit if you are really into that sort of thing.

My love of Phish dates back to before I met my wife. I've seen them in concert twice and the put on a really good show. That being said, my wife isn't necessarily a fan like I am, so I didn't want to inundate her with tourist sites from a time before we even knew each other.

Back in the day, The Grateful Dead was the key Jam Band in the US. Hippies would chase them all over the country to see them play. When they were no longer around (in the same form) and Garcia had eventually passed, there was a jam band vacuum that was kind of created.

Then Phish came on the scene and they started gaining attention as the next big jam band in the vein of "The Dead". Now, they have disbanded and gotten back together several times, but people chase them all over the globe to watch them play.

Thus, in honor of #threetunetuesday started by @ablaze, I am going to dedicate this week to Phish.

I should also point out that band leader Trey Anastasio has also done a fair number of solo shows and work over the years. I actually had the chance to see him play down in Detroit, but I missed half the concert due to a broke down car... That's a story for a different time though.

As I said, I am going to share three of my all time favorite Phish songs, so let's get started.

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You definitely want to grab a snack before you dig too deep into this post. Some of these clips are going to be really long. The above one is no exception. If you have never had the pleasure of seeing a jam band live, you really don't know what you are missing.

One song clocking in at 24 minutes is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to jam bands. I remember seeing this song live at an outdoor venue down in Indiana. I think it was at a place called Alpine Valley. It was just starting to get dark out and they came on with this song.

The opening acapella part of "Halley's Comet" started to be sung and suddenly people started throwing glow sticks back and forth through the air and it was a psychedelic light show. If you happened to be high on something (which most of us were), even more so!

It's probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen at a concert and it will be etched into my memories forever.

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I honestly can't tell you why I like the song Bathtub Gin by Phish, it's just a really good song with a really good vibe. It is a song they played at one of the two shows I attended and I am pretty sure that is a fair part of why I am attached to it.

I get that jam bands aren't for everybody. It's definitely an acquired taste and there are definitely times that it can get a bit tedious to watch them play. This 15 minute version of Bathtub Gin shouldn't be too much for most of you to handle. If you couldn't quite make it through the first video.

The truth is, they are all pretty talented musicians and some of the melodies and rhythms they put together are really quite impressive.

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Finally, I am going to leave you with a mash up of songs, but most specifically "Llama" by Phish. I get it if you can't get through the whole 45 minutes, but if you are able to leave it on in the background, it is worth it.

There is actually an interesting story to "Llama" and some of the other songs by Phish. Back when he was in college, Trey created a musical called Gamehendge as part of his masters or doctors thesis. I don't remember the full story, either he never finished it, or he dropped out before finishing it, but as far as I know, the songs have never been played all together in their entirety.

If you listen to the lyrics, it sounds like it was a pretty silly musical, but it is still kind of cool when you consider it all as a whole.

If none of these songs really do it for you, I suggest you check out the songs "Farmhouse" or "Heavy Things" on your preferred streaming platform. Those are a couple of my favorites that have a more pop vibe to them.

So there you go. You've now taken a bit of a deep dive into Phish!

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced