[phish.net welcomes and thanks guest writer, Robert Ker, for the recap of 12/29/18 - ed]

By all accounts, this shouldn’t be happening. Bands that have retained the same lineup for 33 years, various hiatuses included, simply shouldn’t be continuing to push their boundaries. This is the age when most bands that keep their lineup generally intact coast into their golden years atop a current of breakups, reunions, tepid albums, nostalgia-focused tours, and diminishing returns of creative energy. If you compare them to other long-running bands, Phish is now at the point when U2 released the little-loved No Line on the Horizon and when the Rolling Stones were five years past “steel wheelchair” jokes; they’ve now lasted longer as a quartet than the entire careers of R.E.M. and Sonic Youth. You can make the case that Radiohead, which also solidified its lineup in 1985 and remains vibrant, is Phish’s only peer. Don’t laugh.

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