Dozens of Fans Have Already Been Arrested at Phish's New Year's Eve Shows
Speaking of regrettable ways to spend New Year's Eve, perennial jamband hooligans Phish is returning to its usual Madison Square Garden stint for a four-night marathon. It's off to a great start! Only an estimated 60 or so fans phans have been arrested so far, according to a report in DNAinfo New York.
The mayhem took place at Saturday night's show, and while no one seems to know exactly what crimes were committed, no one is especially confused, either: the band's lengthy, jam-filled live shows have been synonymous with drug culture since well before its youngest fans were born. CBS New York, though, points out that recent arrests at an Atlantic City show included prostitution charges:
The publication said the nature of the charges against those arrested was not clear, but recent Phish concerts in Atlantic City resulted in 42 arrests ranging from drug distribution and possession, imitation drug deals and prostitution.
Still, 60 arrests seems remarkably high. What gives? Is Mayor Bloomberg celebrating his last week in office by cracking down on the city's real crime underbelly—jamband culture? Or are New York cops simply more bored than ever with fewer murders to investigate?
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Thing is, despite Phish's Madison Square Garden tradition, the band's marathon performances have always been more suited to remote, rural settings, like the group's 2004 farewell festival in a tiny town in Vermont or the time they accidentally made an air force base the largest city in Maine during the course of one weekend in 1997. (There's a whole Wikipedia page devoted to those famous weekend-long festivals.) So why not take the NYE debauchery back to that lonely air force base, where it can thrive? Free the wookies from the NYPD! Let Bloomberg end his reign free of wafting patchouli and "You Enjoy Myself" medleys! All aboard the Coventry Express!
Anyway, the third show takes place at Madison Square Garden tonight.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2013/12/60-people-arrested-at-phishs-new-years-eve-shows/356573/
