[Take the Bait is spirited deliberation centered around the hyperbole of Phish’s music and fandom, passionately exuded via the written words of phish.net contributors @FunkyCFunkyDo and @n00b100. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of phish.net, The Mockingbird Foundation, or any fan… but we're pretty sure we’re right. Probably.]

Funky: Perhaps it was just a bit unfair to our readers and listeners to (re)introduce Japanese Phish with an all-time, A+ show in 6.14.00. Perhaps. But, then again, would they have taken the bait ::he said it, he said the thing!:: on our three-part series surrounding Japanese Phish had we not led off with something so scrumtrulescent? By reading that sentence you have proved that we lured you back in, tempting you with more morsels of Japanese Phish, and we are not talking about sushi.

Before 6.14.00 ever happened, four shows preceded it, and after it happened, two more took place. So, the natural questions arise: how did Phish build to such dramatic, yet serene, soundscapes? And, what did they do for the proverbial encore? Answers abound, some of which make sense, some of which make little sense at all. If David Byrne were writing this, he’d simply say, “Stop making sense!” Good point - that’s where we will start.

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