Phish performed at Las Vegas Sphere this past weekend (2nd act at the venue after U2). Never heard a Phish song in my life but found this impressive stat: the group’s lifetime tour ticket sales are $600m+. My buddy who went to the Sphere show explained to me why the group is so popular: ▫️ “They are the best improvisational band out there because they’ve played together for ~40 years.” ▫️ “Music selection is super diverse and they blend every genre together (classic rock, jazz, funk, reggae, pop).” ▫️ “No two shows are ever the same.” ▫️ “They create fandom with inside jokes and band lore.” ▫️ “The band interaction with the audience is unmatched…they’ll get you to laugh, cry and scream in one go.” He also said a reason non-fans (like me) don’t know their music is because they’re recorded stuff is not as good as the live (making it harder for casual fans to get into it). The band has also been financially independent since the 90s and there’s no pressure to make “pop” music for radio plays or streaming. They mint from live shows and super fans that will travel to wherever they are and see 100s of shows in their life (similar to Deadheads with the Grateful Dead). Phish sold ~$30m in tickets for 4 shows at the Sphere (~$400 ticket x 18,000 seats x 4 shows) with some fans paying $10k+ in secondary markets. Of note: U2 did 40 shows at the Sphere but Phish only did these 4 and one reason why is that the band wants to keep its promise of every live show being different. It’s hard to make dozens of different live shows for the Sphere because of how much effort and data is required to fill the largest LED screen in the world (160k sq ft): ▫️12k resolutions ▫️ 268,435,456 pixels ▫️a minute of content for the Sphere is comparable to an hour of streaming video Super impressive and — after watching official drone footage of the concert — feel compelled to watch them live (which also makes sense since my last name makes a glorious Phish pun).

Man picks up an Opposum and knows super cool facts about them.

One of the best Human Beings that I've ever known as a Player. Played tremendously well and helped solidify the back end in Barrie and has a bright future in hockey but also in life. A pleasure to get to know him & NHL Teams should be reaching out to him as a Development Camp invitee.