Our partners at GlowStickWars.com ("GSW") are sponsoring a special glowstick war to fire up the band at the moment the lights go down for the first set of the NYE run at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, 12/28.
Here's how it will work:
As soon as the house lights go down inside MSG, the GSW organizers are going to RAGE the first ever pre-show (that is, pre first note) glow stick war!
The idea is that lights go down, glow sticks go up, the band walks out to the most emphatic crowd response and proceeds to just murder the show with a ferocity we've all been waiting for. This energy will carry through the entire run.
GlowStickWars.com will donate $0.10 to The Mockingbird Foundation (www.mbird.org) for each of the first 3,000 confirmed attendees!
GlowStickWars.com will also be contributing five Show Sticks (soft, thin and super-bright glow bracelets) to this cause for each of the first 3,000 confirmed attendees! GSW plans to hand them out outside of MSG before the show on 12/28, with a little note detailing these shenanigans.
GSW has setup a couple of special discounts specially for this event:
5PHISHNY - Receive a 10% discount and FREE shipping on orders of 5+ tubes!
25PHISHNY - Receive a case of Show Sticks (25 tubes, aka 2,500 glowies) shipped to your door (or hotel) for $150!!
Order now at https://glowstickwars.com/store/products.html.
Further information at the GSW Facebook page here.
If you liked this blog post, one way you could "like" it is to make a donation to The Mockingbird Foundation, the sponsor of Phish.net. Support music education for children, and you just might change the world.
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The Mockingbird Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Phish fans in 1996 to generate charitable proceeds from the Phish community.
And since we're entirely volunteer – with no office, salaries, or paid staff – administrative costs are less than 2% of revenues! So far, we've distributed over $2 million to support music education for children – hundreds of grants in all 50 states, with more on the way.
the glow stick thing has just gotten annoying. one spontaneous glow stick war per show during some dark jamming in the second set is enough for me... in 3.o every time trey hits a high note some kid is throwing hand fulls of glowsticks. its just lame when its a constant thing at every show.
also... ever think about the tons of non recyclable plastic that is being thrown out because of this.
the whole glowstick thing is lame... and now some company is doing everything in there power to sell more glowsticks, waste more plastic, annoy more people just to make a buck.
and this was just a fun idea to spark some energy to kick off the run... we think it would be pretty awesome if the band took the stage to a sea of glow sticks as their welcome committee!
lastly, we are donating FREE product to this event. and we are donating money to mbird simply for people joining our facebook page. i'm not sure the whole "just to make a buck" argument holds water here.
And how stupid does this promoter think we are to claim that glowstickwars aren't making money from these sales? And donating 15,000 sticks to the first confirmed attendees is supposed to be a big deal? I took 10,000 sticks to Rothbury myself.
Glowstick wars were cool when they were original and spontaneous.
THAT is corny...... And arrogant. So now you are the primary and most effective supplier of energy to Phish? Why not just go into their dressing rooms and throw sticks at them before the show?
The most arrogant statement is this: "This energy will carry through the entire run."
If your glowstick war goes down, and then Phish plays some good, high-energy shows, you've already taken credit for it.
Get over yourself. The Phish experience has been just fine for the last quarter-century without you.
i think its great that you're donating money to mbird. but im sure you hope that telling people that will boost your sales. (thats the only reason your getting exposure on .net, right?)
i think glow sticks have just become a distraction from the music. instead of the cool interactive experience that trey is describing in that video it's become something for people to do at shows instead of listen to the music. im so sick of having to get out of the way for some kid to collect glowsticks off the floor so he can throw them up in the air when ck puts the white lights on and trey hits a high note. it doesnt even look cool. glow sticks should be reserved for dark jams when the lights get dim... it used to be exciting, now its just every single show for the whole show people are throwing glow sticks.
honestly i think doing this at the beginning of the show is just going to add to the typical 3.0 phenomenon of the first 2 songs of the show being the highest energy. the crowd is so amped when the lights go down and than the energy dies off because no one cares about the music. a lot of them are there for the spectacle.
and remember, you are making money off this... probably quite a bit of money, so stop acting like you're some mystical wizard who's just bringing good vibes to the masses out of the kindness of your heart. you're running a business. that is all.
and from the looks of these comments most people agree with me. so just be happy that the noobs will buy up your product and you'll get paid. stop acting like your doing every phish fan a favor by selling us your plastic pieces of garbage that will be in a land fill the next day.
that's called advertising. you're idea was for people to buy your product, and thats fine, just stop acting like you're the messiah of msg.
i dont think there were any amazing glowstick wars, that made the energy great at the best shows of 3.0 like utica or 10/30/11 or hartford 09... because everyone was paying attention to the music not the glowsticks which is why the energy was so great.
...and the Trey interview is from when? He's talking about The Great Went's glowstick war, which was different. It was spontaneous, it felt like a once-only thing. Now you can pretty much see the band sighing when the glowsticks start flying during some inopportune moment, first set, Ocelot, whatever. Enough already.
Or maybe, instead of generating your glowstick-war-pleasure and/or displeasure from pontificating on the nature of its spontaneity or it eco-friendliness or the intentions of your fellow phans, why don't you just open your eyes and enjoy.
Or maybe it's just too damn hard to enjoy an epic glowstick war during a Phish new year's run.....better just stay home, I guess.
Probably shouldn't say anything here, but most forum readers here know that "glowsticks pro and con" has been debated endlessly in the past and would not be a popular topic for a new thread.
Lots of people like glowsticks/glowstick wars at Phish shows. Enough so that since Phish's return, GSW's contribution of 10% of its sales has resulted in over $10,000 in donations to the Mockingbird Foundation's efforts to support music education programs for underprivileged kids and the awesome non-profit work of this site, Phish.net, in archiving setlist and performance information online.
Phish.net incurs considerable costs to allow up to 30,000 users to access this site at the same time during shows without "crashing", and provides somewhere on the order of a million pageviews per month during Phish's tours. These are impressive statistics for any website, even "corporate" or "commercial" sites.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but speaking personally as a Foundation director, I'd challenge anyone above who made negative comments above (or on Twitter or our FB page) especially rather rude and "opinionated" ones, to go to Phish.net's home page, or mbird.org, and click on the "Donate" button and make a PayPal donation to support the site of even a modest amount, say $10 or more (roughly the undiscounted cost of one tube of 100 glowsticks).
Paste your "don't like glowsticks, etc." comments in the "comments" box and whether you'd like to be acknowledged here by name or amount or be anonymous. All Paypal contributors, as always, will be acknowledged in a letter and the contributions are tax-deductible, as we are a 501-c-3 charity.
Or buy a t shirt or some other merch at the Phish.net store...there are some items there that would be great Christmas gifts for your tour friends. Sales of our logo merch through our Port Merchandise store (access through our homepage top menu) also benefit the Foundation and the operation of this site.
You should do this especially if you've never donated to us before (as most users, unfortunately haven't, other than perhaps indirectly through the portion of LivePhish download profits Phish, Inc. has generously donated to the Mockingbird Foundation since that service went online in 2002).
In other words, "talk is cheap", but perhaps if you want your opinion to really count with us, "put your money where your mouth is". I'll post the results of this "challenge" to the blog sometime after Christmas and before the MSG run.
These opinions about glowsticks are my personal opinions; as an officer of the Foundation and member of the .net site team, some of us differ on them, but all of us agree that the Foundation does some awesome charity work including operating this site since 1994, and should be supported by all Phish fans.
I will get back to you here as to how many people rise to this challenge and support their negative opinions about glowsticks with contributions to our good works.
Thanks for reading.
With all respect to each of you reading this, and my best wishes for the holidays and an enjoyable Phish NYE run.
Hard to knock anyone giving to a worthwhile charity like Mockingbird, but does it have to be glow sticks? I'm just glad this guy doesn't sell motor oil and isn't asking us to pour a quart down the aisle during set break.
But I will say this $300.00 to get on the first page of phish.net is a good deal considering
"Phish.net incurs considerable costs to allow up to 30,000 users to access this site at the same time during shows without "crashing", and provides somewhere on the order of a million pageviews per month during Phish's tours. These are impressive statistics for any website, even "corporate" or "commercial" sites."
So as a fan of the band and a fan of going to their concerts I say donate to Mockingbird by the bucketful. I encourage every business to tie in to each show. Come to think of it why didn't Hanes™ get in on this "white out" for the 29th? Come to think of it why don't they? At least I don't have to dodge things when people wear specific clothing.
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We think that the busy "quilt like" look of the site like most other newspaper or popular websites like Facebook etc. only adds a lot of visual clutter and detracts from the look and efficient serving of the site. We also don't want to track users and by selling ads, and lose control over the content of the ads and the site. (You sell space, "they" decide what ads to put there). We don't want to support whatever ad companies like Google choose to stick on the site, like "Lower my monthly bills" or "How bad is my credit score" or "10 incredibly easy tricks to lose a fat belly".
Like NPR or PBS, we like being "non-commercial" and every time the idea has been floated, even as recently as a few months ago, it's been shot down.
It is easy for users to contribute with our front page PayPal button, though, :-) and unlike NPR or PBS, we don't badger our users with endless "fund drives" or nag screens to click through to access our content. Even the APIs are free (except for licensed "apps).
I only raised the issue today because of this outcry about "planned" glowstick wars that overlooks the benefit to the fan community and kids we try to help with music education programs.
Thanks for your thoughts @silverguitar and providing the opportunity to respond directly to the "banner" ad issues we've discussed amongst ourselves.
BTW, to clear up one other thing: just by being a fan and going to a lot of shows, you are not donating anything to Mockingbird or Phish.net. The only donations we get from your Phish fandom itself are a small portion of Phish's profits from downloads purchased from LivePhish.com/nugs.net separately from the "free" downloads that come bundled as part of a ticket purchase.
The Mockingbird Foundation is an independent not-for-profit corporation that is otherwise not connected officially with Phish, Inc. or funded by Phish other than the LivePhish.com downloads mentioned above. Phish has its own charitable organization, Waterwheel, and we likewise have no official connection with them. The Mockingbird Foundation and this website have always been an unofficial organization run and managed entirely by Phish fans for the benefit of charity and "giving back" what Phish has given to us.
Spending a bunch of money on litter is a poor reflection on what the Phish community is about.
Dont buy them in the first place. Save everyone's eyes from damage.
Donate directly. There is nothing good about buying trash.
I have never heard of an actual injury from glowsticks.
So why should I care so much about this group if they're not Phish? Forgive me for being honest, but I go to Phish shows to listen to the music Phish plays. I don't go to save the trees, save the whales, save the children, or save my soul. I go for Phish. Any person or group who attempts to insert themselves into that activity in a distracting manner is going to draw my ire. These people are making money from selling glowsticks and they want to exploit a Phish concert to increase their sales. If the Mockingbird Foundation was selling the glowsticks directly to the phans will ALL profits going to their work then I wouldn't have much of an argument here. If someone paid to advertise on phish.net to sell glowsticks for any occasion I wouldn't have much of an argument, but manufacturing a predetermined glowstick orgy that interferes with a Phish concert for the purpose of making more money is what is upsetting. And it isn't interfering, for me, because of the glowsticks themselves but because of the intentions. This prearranged, commercialized "glowstick war" is not an honest creation of phans. I'm sure Phish will be really impressed with how many sticks you sell.
All of this work has been done by unpaid volunteers for the love of Phish. Because we're not-for-profit, the over $620,000 we've earned has been donated for over 100 grants for music education programs for underserved kids. Part of the reason we've done this is to improve the reputation of Phish fans as not being useless "hippies" who should be harassed rather than welcomed by venue host communities.
That's why we care, and why you should care. It really isn't about "glowsticks". More info about Mockingird is available on the "about" pages of this site and www.mbird.org.
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Maybe **you** don't care about collecting basic information about setlists, or providing a site with a forum, but a lot of people do. Your mileage may vary (or you might be a noob, but since you asked....hope you don't mind us responding.
and saying this, "The idea is that lights go down, glow sticks go up, the band walks out to the most emphatic crowd response and proceeds to just murder the show with a ferocity we've all been waiting for. This energy will carry through the entire run." is basically claiming they will be responsible for the run being amazing which in turn will give them even more advertising and popularity...
he's not getting backlash for trying to do something good. he's getting back lash for advertising his business as if its some amazing community thing thats going to make the phish community so much better and help the music be better as well... and he thinks he can get away with it cause hes donating 300 bucks...
and $300 is just an amount we will contribute to mbird for THIS event, it doesn't have anything to do with the THOUSANDS of dollars we have contributed to them on a regular basis in the last 2 years.
but sure, hate on it if you want. and @TNTNeal, your whole argument about this event distracting from the show is moot, as it has been made abundantly clear that this is simply a fun activity BEFORE the music starts.
no more posts from me on this subject as it's upsetting that people can be so harsh over something so trivial that certainly has benefit to our company (i didn't realize making money was a crime) but undoubtedly has benefit to a great not-for-profit and would not be possible without the willing consent of thousands of fans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCNzNvMcomU[/quote ]