Phish tours

American rock band Phish is one of the most successful live acts in popular music history, forging a popularity in concert far greater than their album sales, radio airplay, or music video presence would otherwise indicate. Phish tours, at the peak of their popularity in the mid to late 1990s, consistently ranked as one of the highest-grossing concert tours in the world.

One of the major factors of Phish's live success was the fact that every show in the band's history contained a completely different song setlist. Throughout 30 years and over 1,600 shows, the band never played the same concert setlist twice. Additionally, many Phish songs were rarely played the same way twice. This approach to live performance influenced Phish fans to attend multiple nights on a particular tour, much like sports fans buying season tickets, since they were guaranteed a completely different concert on a nightly basis. Phish fans recorded the band's concerts (with permission) and circulated the music throughout the country. Therefore, fans could collect large numbers of live recordings free of charge, a practice encouraged by the taper-friendly band. Guitarist Trey Anastasio considered it "free advertising" since it enabled the band's music to be distributed and traded all over the United States and, eventually, the rest of the world.

Tours

Tours (French pronunciation: ​[tuʁ]) is a city located in the centre-west of France. It is the administrative centre of the Indre-et-Loire department and the largest city in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France (although it is not the capital, which is the region's second-largest city, Orléans). In 2012, the city of Tours had 134,978 inhabitants, while the population of the whole metropolitan area was 483,744.

Tours stands on the lower reaches of the River Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. The surrounding district, the traditional province of Touraine, is known for its wines, for the alleged perfection (as perceived by some speakers) of its local spoken French, and for the Battle of Tours, which took place in 732. The city is also the end-point of the annual Paris–Tours cycle race.

History

In Gallic times the city was important as a crossing point of the Loire. Becoming part of the Roman Empire during the 1st century AD, the city was named "Caesarodunum" ("hill of Caesar"). The name evolved in the 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first "Civitas Turonum" then "Tours". It was at this time that the amphitheatre of Tours, one of the five largest amphitheatres of the Empire, was built. Tours became the metropolis of the Roman province of Lugdunum towards 380–388, dominating the Loire Valley, Maine and Brittany. One of the outstanding figures of the history of the city was Saint Martin, second bishop who shared his coat with a naked beggar in Amiens. This incident and the importance of Martin in the medieval Christian West made Tours, and its position on the route of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, a major centre during the Middle Ages.