Editing Phish (section)

==Live performances==
{{main|Phish concert tours and festivals}}
The driving force behind Phish is the popularity of their concerts and the fan culture surrounding the event. Each a production unto itself, the band is known to consistently change set lists and details, as well as the addition of their own antics to ensure that no two shows are ever the same.<ref>{{cite web |title=Phish heads descend on Virginia |url=https://www.telegram.com/article/20090306/NEWS/903060293 |website=Worcester Telegram |access-date=26 May 2020  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ferguson |first1=Kirsten |title=Phish plays some surprises along with the expected {{!}} The Daily Gazette |url=https://dailygazette.com/article/2019/07/03/phish-plays-some-surprises-along-with-the-expected |website=dailygazette.com |date=3 July 2019 |access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref> With fans flocking to venues hours before they open, the concert is the centerpiece of an event that includes a temporary community in the parking lot similar to the [[Shakedown Street (vending area)|"Shakedown Street"]] bazaar held outside Grateful Dead concerts.<ref>{{Cite book | author=Gibbon, Sean | title=Run Like an Antelope: On the Road with Phish | year=2001 | publisher=Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Griffin | location=New York | isbn=0-312-26330-9 | page=[https://archive.org/details/runlikeantelopeo0000gibb/page/95 95] | url=https://archive.org/details/runlikeantelopeo0000gibb/page/95 }}</ref>

Similar to the Grateful Dead, Phish concerts typically feature two sets, with an intermission in between.<ref name="wapogreen">{{cite news |last1=Greenberg |first1=Rudi |title=A jam-packed look at the similarities (and differences) between Dead & Company and Phish |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/2019/06/20/jam-packed-look-similarities-differences-between-dead-company-phish/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=17 March 2022}}</ref> During concerts, songs often [[segue]] into one another, or produce improvisational jams that can last 10 minutes or more depending on the song.<ref>{{cite web |title=Segues: FAQ - Phish.net |url=https://phish.net/faq/segues |website=phish.net |access-date=17 March 2022}}</ref> Several regularly performed songs in Phish's repertoire have never appeared on one of their studio albums; these include "Possum", "Mike's Song", "I Am Hydrogen", "Weekapaug Groove", "Harry Hood", "Runaway Jim", "Suzy Greenberg", "AC/DC Bag" and "The Lizards", all of which date to 1990 or earlier and have been played by Phish over 300 times in concert.<ref>{{cite web |title=Song Histories |url=http://phish.net/song |website=phish.net |access-date=11 April 2019}}</ref>

Chris Kuroda, who has been Phish's lighting director since 1989, creates elaborate light displays during the band's concerts that are sometimes improvised in a similar fashion to their music.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Greenhaus |first1=Mike |title=Chris Kuroda: Visual Vocabularies |url=https://jambands.com/features/2016/07/25/chris-kuroda-visual-vocabularies/ |website=Jambands |access-date=10 September 2022 |date=25 July 2016}}</ref><ref name="baffler1">{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Justin |title=Pieces of the Big Thing |url=https://thebaffler.com/latest/pieces-of-the-big-thing-taylor |website=The Baffler |access-date=10 September 2022 |date=5 September 2022}}</ref> Justin Taylor of ''[[The Baffler]]'' wrote, "You could hate this music with every fiber of your being and still be ready to give Chris Kuroda a [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur "genius" grant]] for what he achieves with his light rig."<ref name="baffler1"/> Kuroda is often referred to by fans as the unofficial fifth member of the band, and has been given the nickname "CK5".<ref>{{cite web |last1=O'Brien |first1=Andrew |title=Phish LD Chris Kuroda Explains The Unlikely Origins Of His Lighting Design Career [Watch] |url=https://liveforlivemusic.com/media/video/phish-chris-kuroda-explains-makeitshine/ |website=L4LM |access-date=10 September 2022 |date=1 February 2018}}</ref>

Since Phish fans began to discuss the band's live performances on the [[internet]] in the late 1990s, they have developed a widely used framework for analyzing the varied forms of [[musical improvisation|improvisation]] that would regularly occur during a given show. A January 1997 post by Phish fan John Flynn on the rec.music.phish Usenet group first defined the two "types" of jamming that Phish performs in concert. Flynn wrote: "I think Phish jamming falls into two types of jamming: 1) Jamming that is based around a fixed chord progression 2) Jamming that improvises chord progressions, rhythms, and the whole structure of the music." Since then, Phish fans have used the terms "Type 1" and "Type 2" and Flynn's definitions to contextualize the structure of Phish's shows and songs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Revisiting "Jamming Types" - Phish.net |url=https://phish.net/blog/1311714510/revisiting-jamming-types.html |access-date=2022-03-16 |website=phish.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=FAQ - Phish.net |url=https://phish.net/faq/jamming-types |access-date=2022-03-16 |website=phish.net}}</ref><ref name="wapogreen"/>

Because Phish's reputation is so grounded in their live performances, concert recordings are commonly traded commodities. In December 2002, the band launched the LivePhish website, from which official [[soundboard recording]]s can be purchased.<ref>{{cite web |title=LivePhish Downloads Launches |url=https://phish.com/news/live-phish-downloads-launches/ |website=Phish.com |date=20 December 2002 |access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref> Legal [[field recording]]s produced by [[Taper (concert)|tapers]] with boom microphones from the audience in compliance with Phish's tape trading policy<ref name="taping">{{cite web | title = Frequently Asked Questions – What is the Phish and Band Member Taping Policy? | publisher = Phish.com | url = http://phish.com/faq/#taping-guidelines | access-date = 2018-10-03}}</ref> are frequently traded on any number of music message boards. Although technically not allowed, live videos of Phish shows are also traded by fans and are tolerated as long as they are for non-profit, personal use. Phish fans have been noted for their extensive collections of fan-taped concert recordings; owning recordings of entire tours and years is widespread.<ref name="mash"/>

Fans' recordings are generally sourced from the officially designated tapers' section at each show, by fans with devoted sound recording rigs. Tickets for the tapers' section are acquired separately from regular audience tickets, and directly from the band's website, instead of the venue or a service like [[Ticketmaster]]. However, tapers are also required to purchase a general admission ticket for concerts.<ref>{{cite web |title=Official Phish Tickets Website |url=http://tickets.phish.com/information/ |website=tickets.phish.com |access-date=24 October 2018 |archive-date=24 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024152531/http://tickets.phish.com/information/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Recordings patched from Paul Languedoc's soundboard were also made until 1994 and circulated among fans.<ref>{{cite web |title=FAQ: Recording Sources |url=https://phish.net/faq/recording-sources |website=phish.net |access-date=28 October 2023}}</ref>

In 2014, the band launched their own on-demand streaming service, LivePhish+.<ref>{{cite web |last=Geslani |first=Michelle |title=Phish launch streaming subscription service LivePhish+ |url=https://consequence.net/2014/10/phish-launch-streaming-subscription-service-livephish/ |website=Consequence of Sound |access-date=16 September 2018 |date=30 October 2014}}</ref> The platform features hundreds of soundboard recordings of the band's concerts for streaming, including all of their shows from 2002 onwards, as well as all of their studio albums.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gilmer |first=Marcus |title=How Phish became the unlikely heroes of digital music streaming |url=https://mashable.com/article/phish-streaming-pioneers-band/#qPurm2UQ4PqL |website=Mashable |date=19 July 2018 |access-date=16 September 2018  }}</ref> Phish continues to allow fans to tape and distribute audience recordings of their concerts after the launch of the LivePhish storefront and streaming services.<ref name="mash"/>