GPN has a long history with Phish (see <a href="http://www.thisissomewhere.com/2009/01/15/vermont-musicians/">here</a>, for details). 

For those of you out of the Phish loop the band has reunited for a new tour and just completed a highly anticipated three night set in Hampton, VA. In a stellar, fan-friendly move the band has made MP3's of all shows available for free at <a href="http://livephish.com/">LivePhish</a>.

I'll leave it to the Phishophiles to pick the best original tune. I'm happy to point out one of the fantastic cover tunes from the show. "Rock and Roll" - an old Velvet Underground tune.

<strong>"Rock and Roll"</strong>
[audio:http://www.thisissomewhere.com/audio/phish/rockandroll.mp3]

<a href="http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/03/09/rock-and-roll/">Mr. Lefsetz</a>
<blockquote>Yup, that’s rock and roll.  All the promises go out the window.  You follow this sound, all the way to the Hampton Coliseum, in Nowheresville, Virginia.  You can’t help but dance to that fine fine sound, YOUR LIFE IS SAVED BY ROCK AND ROLL!

This live take is informed by the definitive live version from "Rock n Roll Animal".  Even though it was played last night, mixed instantly, it’s got more vibrancy than all the pap made on machines and auto-tuned that comes out of the speakers of the radio stations people still listen to.  Radio is dead because the music it plays has lost its exuberance.  Sure, they used to sell commercials, but they were incidental.  Radio was the Facebook of its day, the Twitter.  It was the tribal drum, there was a sense of immediacy.

Where do you go to get that hit today?

The show.

You pack up your alcohol and drugs, you lay down your fifty bucks, enter the building to join your brethren and when the sound comes out of the speakers and starts cascading over you in waves, YOUR LIFE IS SAVED BY ROCK AND ROLL!</blockquote>

 