An intense connection with its listeners and disdain from others appeared last Friday, offering a show complete with twenty-minute instrumental jams and an expanding portable fan base.

This approach definitely appeals to the group of Americans who have flown over from the States to see the shows. However, it is this same devotion that sometimes turns off non-listeners. Phish fans can often be heard rattling the brains of folks who haven't heard of the band: they frequently prattle on about the band's great musical feats. "I'm just not ready for the Phish thing yet," said Prague local Brady Huggett, a confessed non-fan.

Other responses often heard include, "there's not enough words in the songs","I can't get into that hippy sh*t," and "I didn't even really like the Dead," a band to which Phish is often compared. However, as the anti-Phish army grows, the ever-growing throng of Phish Heads spawns at a dizzying rate.

Not all are happy with the growth. Long-time fans complain that for every new devotee of the music, there are ten who are latching on to the scene for the nitrous tanks in the parking lot or just for an excuse to wear their Birks and eat veggie burritos. Couple this phenomena with the "retirement" of the Grateful Dead, and you have a substantial extra weight that Anastasio acknowledged as having an effect on the band. "Probably since Garcia died... we took on this responsibility we didn't intend or want," he said.

Also, along with fame came organizational growth, the same sort of corporate-like growth that, which according to Anastasio "killed the spirit and music" of the Dead. Their record company also had more demands, and suddenly, for the band to do what they loved became a struggle.

"Just to be able to be pure and to be playing the sh*t you want to play has gotten harder and harder... It was probably the worst a couple of years ago... we were losing the battle," Anastasio said.?So, how to combat this all encompassing, yet in-tangible enemy?

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"Sneaking away" was one strategy the band employed - holing up in a big barn in Bearsville, New York to record its latest album, Billy Breathes, and just to jam. Another tactic Phish used to escape some of the pressure and to regain artistic freedom is one that many Americans in Prague can relate to: leaving the States for Europe. Countless bands (and artists of all kinds) have experiences success and then spent their energy trying to recreate that successful formula.

This, to Anastasio, is "the death of art. " Contrastingly, the band is excited about their potential to maintain the driving, creative force that made them start playing in the first place. On coming to Prague even though they have only a few hours to take the place in.

"There's a lot of great artists in Prague, and that's one of the reasons I really wanted to hang out here," lamented Anastasio when he realized he wouldn't get to see the town.

Regardless, the band appeared in quite good spirits when they came out to play the first of two one-and-a-half-hour sets, and bassist Mike Gordon appeared to be sporting a rather nice buzz.

On the long jamming, "Most of them aren't radio songs. You want excitement on the radio and (recent tunes) are pretty intimate... At this point, I think everyone that works on the record has pretty much given up on that kind of success as a radio band."

One of the highlights of the evening wasn't even one of their own, but a tribute to the Talking Heads song 'Cities', from way back in 1978. Now are you curious??"I thought it was incredible, I was really surprised," exclaimed starry-eyed Brit Simon Pospisil, just outside of his first show. This was a common theme of the post-show crowd quotes, from a group who is likely to see these guys perform their magic again.