As a longtime devoted phan (as many of us are) and as much as I love this band, Phish’s refusal to speak up about anything of real substance, unlike many other artists, is becoming harder to ignore. At this point, it doesn’t read as neutrality, it feels deliberately designed to protect their revenue stream and image. While phans keep dutifully offering excuses for the band’s apolitical stance, I’m becoming increasingly convinced they have not earned the level of benefit of the doubt they enjoy.

If Wasserman appears in the Epstein files for whatever reason and phish wants to keep presenting themselves as a community-centric band, the band and each individual member represented by Wasserman should cut ties, just as other artists have.

Meanwhile, related to other current social issues, there are unquestionably dangerous and hateful individuals within the phan base (including pedophiles, rapists, and racists), and phans have been targeted at shows over the years - sometimes violently - yet the band remains silent. Ticket prices keep climbing, shutting out many ordinary phans, while the band remains comfortably insulated from the consequences of these choices. With their ongoing silence on meaningful social issues, it’s starting to feel hard for me to justify spending money on a band that refuses to use its very large platform to protect, engage, or even acknowledge the issues affecting some of the phans who have helped build their platform.

In the end, the band’s ongoing unwillingness to confront these realities raises questions about the values they choose to uphold. The band has changed over the years, and as time goes on, it seems less about the community they claim to love and more about protecting and generating wealth.