Phish Riviera Maya vs Panic en la Playa

In early 2016 Phish and Widespread Panic hosted separate destination concerts along Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. I was fortunate enough to have gone to both. A few people have asked me to compare and contrast the events so here are my thoughts. As always, I apologize in advance for the lack of brevity. 

The Music

Music is very subjective and circumstantial. People have different tastes in music. I really dislike the competition between bands in the jam band scene. There is a group of people in each fan base that feels part of their devotion to their preferred band includes hating other jam bands. I really don't like the negativity towards different bands or fan bases because people like different music than you. I'm happy that both fan bases have found a community that speaks to them, music that moves them and fills their souls.

I think one of the reasons for the "rivalry" between Phish and Panic is because of how similar the communities actually are. It's been interesting engaging in both worlds. The thoughts, vibes, feelings, post trip depression, friendships, etc resulting from the Mexico experiences are very similar. In fact I have heard the same comments during and after both events: "Can you believe this is happening? We are so lucky to have been here! How special is our band and family? I love you so much! What a beautiful experience! I hope we get to do this again!" A lot of the time I don't know if I am on the playa freaks page or the phish riviera page.

I often say that Widespread was my first love but Phish is my true love. The first time I truly fell in love with music, the first time that I knew music was going to be part of not just my life but my soul, was at Chastain Park in Atlanta in 1995. I grew up in the music business working for my pops, I worked for Sony Music and was the box office manager of the Roxy in college, I had already been to thousands of shows by then, I had seen Phish, Panic and the Dead multiple times before 1995. Anyway I was walking across Chastain to the box office when, for the first time in my life, I was truly overwhelmed by music. A feeling swept over my body, starting in my ears and quickly penetrating my brain, moving its way through the rest of my body to my arms and in my legs which suddenly started to move and dance, something I had been conscious of but at that moment fully embraced with zero embarrassment. That feeling moved into my heart and ultimately my soul. At that moment I fell in love with music and knew I would love it for the rest of my life. To this day I love music and chase that wonderful feeling that makes me feel so ALIVE!

While I would try to see as much music as possible, Panic remained my first love for a few years. Later in the 90s Phish started to become more and more prominent in my life and I would go to more of their shows. I was in love with both Phish and Panic however it was at Big Cypress that I knew who the true love of my life was: The Phish from Vermont. Fucking love phish. 

The point being that my PERSONAL preference is for Phish. They are my favorite band in the world and as such one of my favorite things in the world. My Morning Jacket is #2 and Panic is tied with String Cheese at #3. I only mention this because it is relevant in the context of my Mexico experiences...which I will now (finally) get to. 

Advantage: Personal preference, but for me Phish

The Name

Panic en la playa just rolls off the tongue. PELP is an awesome acronym. You can do so much with it. Mexiphish or YEMexixo or PRM or whatever we are calling it sucks. Phish needs something much better here.

Advantage: PELP

The Crowd

I am actively involved in the Phish community and have only missed a handful of shows since 2012. As such I know tons of people in the Phish world. I love seeing people I know everywhere I go. I recognize so many friendly faces. I'm able to stop and chat with so many different people in so many different cities. I'm dialed in AF and can get whatever I need whenever I need it. This is my family, my community, my church. This is awesome however it was nice to have some relative anonymity at PELP. I knew a handful of people going into PELP and met some beforehand via ticket dealings and such, however it was a fraction of the people I known from phish t00r. This was a nice change of pace, but I like being a "phishlebrity"

Anyway not sure what that has to do with the crowd so let me just dive in right here....

I would say the median age was pretty similar for both crowds (around 40). White, affluent, educated, professional. Both crowds were about 50/50 male to female (surprisingly). I even think there might have been more women than men at phish for the first time ever. I believe the average age of the phish crowd skewed slightly lower because there seemed to be more (relatively) younger people. 

Panic probably had about 2,000-2,500 people. I was told there were 1,200 rooms or so at the hard rock and at least 2 per room. I had heard rumors that Phish was at about 5,000 but at the event it felt closer to 6,000 (educated guesstimate on my part). So assume phish was 2x-3x as big. 

The primary difference in people was probably where they were from. On the panic page somebody said there were 3 types of people at PELP: Those from the south, those from Colorado and those from everywhere else. Phish was slightly more geographically diverse although you could easily make the same argument just replacing the south with the northeast. The amount of people from Colorado for both was impressive. It does appear that our people are migrating to the Colorado Bluebird Sky. 

Appearance-wise the panic crowd was dressed a bit nicer with more button up shirts and sun dresses. The guys wore more hats (although not as many flat brims as Phish). The panic crowd was more into dressing up in costume. Cloud 9 also puts on jam cruise where dressing up is just short of mandatory, so that probably has an impact. There was a more "coordinated" effort for theme nights at PELP: one night was red hot momma night, one night was PELP fiction, one night was disco, etc. The panic crowd seemed to be more into cohesively dressing up than the Phish crowd. Along those lines a lot of the pelp balconies were decked out with flags, disco lights, inflatables, etc. Again the jam cruise influence but this can also be partially attributed to the fact that this was the 5th PELP vs the 1st Phish whatever we are calling it. Accordingly people are more accustomed to displaying their flags and such in order to find friends. 

All of that being said once again I would like to reiterate how similar the fan bases are. We are like minded folks that have a deep and personal connection to music, a band and a community. We like to party and have a good time. We like to boogie down. We like to sing specific lines and perform specific rituals during specific songs. Most know the music forwards and backwards. We debate shows and tours and years. We are looking out for each other. We are courteous and nice and friendly to each other; everyone says excuse me when they bump into each other. People are open and willing to converse. Of course some in the community get a little too loose, get too spun. Both have wooks (phish wook quotient is higher). There are a couple of assholes in each scene acting like idiots but they are few and far between. Overall we are all believers that just worship at different (or multiple) churches. 

Advantage: None / Draw

The Stage / Venue

For the actual stage, Panic was situated in a courtyard in the middle of the hotel between two buildings. Some of the hotel rooms were situated right on this courtyard with balconies looking onto the stage. Some people were watching the show from their room! Pretty cool. The sound was also very good - the effect of the music coming from the stage between the two buildings made for an awesome sonic experience as long as you were in front of the soundboard. The floor was mostly concrete although there were 2 small patches of grass on either side and way in the back (where after a dead spot in the middle the sound was again very good). The small size of the shows plus some people watching from their room made for tons of space on the floor, everyone had all the room they could ever need to boogie down. But you really had no idea the ocean was behind the stage. 

Phish was on the beach and you could listen to the show from the Caribbean. The sound was great in front of the stage and while it wasn't perfect from the ocean it was still quite good. There were scattered palm trees blocking views. It definitely felt more crowded but still plenty of room. The "venue" was lit up and decorated in an unbelievable manner. The "floor" was sand. Fun but grueling to dance in. 

PELP had been the Dominican Republic for multiple years prior to this year; apparently in the DR the set-up is more similar to phish, as in on the beach and next to the ocean. 

Both had servers weaving in and out of the crowd with drinks. The panic crowd brought more of their own cups / nalgenes / etc that they would give to the servers and ask them to fill instead of the disposable cups. I attribute this to being 5 years in but something the phish crowd should definitely adopt - much more environmentally friendly. 

Dancing in the ocean while listening to phish was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Because of that...

Advantage: Phish

Venue Access

Phish was primarily at Barcelo Maya (including the stage). This is an enormous resort. It seemed that maybe 1/4 of the resort wasn't even there for Phish. Phish also had people at four other locations (including the hard rock). Fortunately I stayed on site at Barcelo so I didn't have to get bussed back and forth to my hotel but I imagine this would've been a huge pain in the ass. Friends couldn't really visit or hang with friends that were staying at different resorts other than at the show. Because the resort had non concert goers and people were getting bussed in and out, there was security and a check in and check out line for the show. Anytime you left or came back you had to scan your RFID chip inside your bracelet. This seemed normal until I experienced Panic....

PELP took over the entire Hard Rock hotel. Every single person that was staying at the Hard Rock was there for Panic. Once you got into the site the first day, there was no more wristband scanning, security checks, etc. Getting around was super easy as the Hard Rock was pretty small and you didn't need to go in and out of the venue using your wristband. Furthermore (major bonus points for the Hard Rock here), your hotel wristband also had your room key coded onto it so you never had to worry about having your room key - it was on your wrist at all times. 

Advantage: Panic (In the words of Bernie, a YUGE advantage)

Check In

The lines and time it took to check in at Panic were non existent. I literally walked up to the "front desk" (technically an area set up in the convention center) at the Hard Rock and checked in within 2 minutes. I then went to another area to get my PELP wristband again with no line. This process took maybe 5 minutes max. 

The phish check in wasn't nearly as smooth. The likes were much longer for both the hotel check in and the wristband check in. Then we had to go to another spot to get our room key. Total check in time was approximately 30 minutes, maybe a bit more. 

Advantage: PELP 

Merch / Swag 

I'm a bit of a recovering merch whore so this was interesting to me. 

At check in, Phish gave everyone a program, an awesome beach towel, some sun glasses and a croakie. PELP gave everyone a program and a baggage tag. 

For the merch, PELP had a merch booth set up in the convention center that opened at noon on day one. They sold out of basically everything except posters within hours. Since this was the 5th PELP, people seemed to know the deal. Furthermore, you could pre-order a concert poster (including uncut) and pick it up there in a separate line. I really wish phish would adopt that poster strategy. 

Phish's merch was set up inside the venue. I never really saw it but apparently it was a shit show. Posters sold out in seconds, it was chaos inside, not a pretty scene. Most of the merch for phish also sold out. 

Fan art: Panic crowd had a lot more stickers and cozies, phish had more pins and posters. I didn't see a single panic fan art poster. 

Advantage: Phish for swag, Panic for merch set-up

The Resort 

We stayed at a premium room at Barcelo. It was nice but not as nice as the basic room I had at the Hard Rock. The Hard Rock room was awesome, clean, modern. It also came with 4 full bottles of booze. Every room at the Hard Rock also came with room service, this was an additional charge at the Barcelo except for premium packages. 

The bed was more comfortable at the Hard Rock. I had a better view at the Barcelo of the pool and the beach. The grounds were easier to get around at the Hard Rock but that's partially because it was much smaller. The rock n roll decor was also awesome. 

The biggest advantage for the Barcelo was that it was actually on the beach and had access to a big beautiful beach. The Hard Rock had pools and lagoons but no beach and you couldn't swim in the ocean, just the lagoons. 

Barcelo had a small casino and a bowling alley, generally seemed like there was more stuff to do there. 

Food mostly sucked at both places, as expected at an all inclusive. That being said I had a couple of good meals at the hard rock Japanese restaurant - the hibachi was fun and the sashimi was fresh. Also the Hard Rock restaurant policy was much better than Barcelo. At Barcelo you had to make reservations for specific times at the sit down restaurants. By the time we tried to make reservations, all of the good times were taken. At the Hard Rock you just showed up and they sat you as long as your entire party was present. 

The Hard Rock also had this resort credit system where everyone had $750 of resort credits and they could book different things with that resort credit (as long as you paid 20%). So with the resort credit I got 2 massages, a facial, a tequila tasting and visited a cenote and underwater cave at dos ojos....for $150 total. They might have had a similar system at Barcelo but I was unaware of it if they did. Communication wasn't great at Barcelo. 

Finally the wi-fi was a disaster at Barcelo. You had to pay extra for it, setting it up took lots of time and it still barely worked. The Hard Rock had free wi-fi throughout the property. 

Advantage: Panic

Extras

PELP had a sunset stage set-up in front of the ocean for 3 shows (Todd Snider, Patterson Hood, Jerry Joseph) before WSMFP. They also had a third stage in the middle of the resort for some awesome late night shows including the New Mastersounds and La Playa All Stars - whose set on the 4th night was incredible. Listen here, serious fire http://www.panicstream.net/vault/playa-allstars-02052016-riviera-maya-mexico/

There were other activities like guacamole cook offs, Texas hold 'em, BBQ contests, yoga and they even brought in awesome BBQ from Moe's for dinner one night. 

Phish might have had some stuff but I didn't really see it nor was it advertised. The Magnaball DJ played at the dance club one night but it was weird. They did have donut inner tubes though. 

Panic also played 4 nights while Phish played 3. 

Advantage: Panic (YUGE)

Cost

4 nights total including four nights of Panic cost $1700 per person for the room that I was in. Didn't include transportation. 

4 nights total including three nights of Phish cost $2700 per person for the premium room (which frankly was very much equivalent to the base Hard Rock package). Included transportation. 

Advantage: Panic (YUGE again)

Could 9 vs CID

Panic en la playa cinco vs Phish's first trip to Mexico. CID did a great job considering it was their first. They have earned some time to dial it in. However here are some things I would like to see them add going forward: 

• Take over a single resort

• Have some more activities 

• Actual late night shows 

• Pre-order poster / merch

• Token system to re-book for future years. Cloud 9 uses a system where you build up "tokens" each year you have been and there is a window where you can purchase the upcoming PELP using these tokens before the general on sale. 

Advantage: Cloud 9 (of course, experience)

Final Thoughts

Phish is my church and religion. It is my community. I roomed with my best buddy Jar and hung out with family (literally), phamily and some of my closest friends in the world. It was awesome, beautiful, incredible... one of the greatest experiences I have ever had in my life. 

I felt a little guilty after MexiPhish because I didn't do any exploring nor see any of Mexico at all. It wasn't even like I was really in Mexico. Shit neither of these resorts feel at all like Mexico for that matter. They are basically docked cruise ships and my pops always says cruise ships are for the newlywed, over fed and nearly dead. Anyway that's a different story. Partially due to the guilt of Phish Riviera Maya, I flew in early for PELP and spent a few days in Tulum. I had an amazing time! I met some cool travelers, ate some local grinds, saw some decent live music, visited the Tulum ruins, snorkeled in gran cenote (was supposed to scuba but that's yet another story) and hung out and got a feel for downtown Tulum, a really cool city. 

Being somewhat solo for PELP was a totally different experience for me than Phish; it was more like a vacation. I had my own room and mostly hung out with my friends Brad and Susan; already great friends but we reached a new and deeper level of friendship in Mexico - it was beautiful. I also got to see some random friends and meet some awesome new ones; a few of whom will be friends for life.

They both were beautiful and amazing adventures. It's truly ridiculous how lucky I am that I was able to experience them both. They ended up being very unique experiences. Panic was much better organized and well run machine. This is hopefully mostly due to it being the 5th year. That being said I had a spiritual set in the ocean and had more of my family at Phish. Therefore...

Advantage: Go Phish