This remnant will be replaced soon. The FAQ is back, with a new design! What is the meatstick dance Song - Dance - Instructions - Record The Song was introduced in Europe in '97, but remained a rarity until the Summer 1999 tour, when it became the tour theme. The newer incarnation (U.S. performances; MP3) includes an introductory section which is said to sound like "Fire on the Mountain" (though both are merely two chords going back and forth). This version was recorded for Ghost and circulates on several outtakes tapes, and is mentioned by Page in The Phish Book. Also, Jesse Jarnow emailed 7/29/99, "Part of the Happy Whip and Dung Song - featured on The Siket Disc - is the music for the verse of Meatstick. That is, in addition to being excerpted for the Siket Disc, the jam was also turned into a song in the same way that the bases for Meat, Fikus, Shafty, etc. are actually pieces of improvisation." The Dance (instructions below) was introduced to the public 7/4/99, when the band was joined by about thirty crew members. Mike and Trey have also led the audience in the dance on several other occasions, sometimes joined by Page's wife Sofie, and explained the instructions on other occassions, such as 9/18/99 when four fans were invited on stage to join in the dance. Also, one of the side stages at Oswego featured Meatstick lessons. But the dance existed in early 1998: The studio version of the song has a spoken (by Mike) break in it who laughs and declares "that could be the next cha-cha"; and Page mentions, in the Phish Book, "though you won't see me doing it". The Instructions: The following schematic (which some fans distributed on a thousand flyers during the fall 1999 tour) details the "Meatstick dance" step by step. Lyrics to the song are above the drawings, in bold; clarifying instructions are below, in nonbold. ... And don't forget the turn! The World Record Phish aimed to break the record for the most people doing a dance simultaneously, with the audience doing The Meatstick Dance. Trey announced 7/4/99 that it would be "bigger than the Macarena", which was the dance that was done for some previous records (50K at a Yankee's game in '96 and 65,000 in Kosice in '97). While some sources (including CNN) have reported that Phish actually broke the record, they did not: The current record was made by 74,000 doing the Chicken Dance () at a county fair in Akron, Ohio. (Mike Hanley, citing the 1999 Guiness Book of World Records.) Phish's first attempt was at Oswego, 7/16/99, but at around 60,000 people, that didn't suffice; nonetheless, Guiness officials were on hand to film the event (as Trey announced 7/15) and are aware of the band's intent. Trey reported during a later show that a second attempt would be made on New Year's Eve, but there is not indication that they/we have the record yet. To note, Phish has broken records before: the Clifford Ball was the largest concert in North America in 1996, 1500 people were nude simultaneously for a photograph at the Great Went, and the 1996 New Year's Eve show featured the largest balloon drop ever. Japanese lyrics, as taught to Phish by The Boredoms, are: Meatosticku Jiuando, Meatosticku Kakushite, Meatosticku Toridashta, Jiuan, Do Do Atamaga Shock, Do Do Atamaga Shock. See also, the Montana Meatstick Cooperative!! :) Thanks to Alex and Marco Walsh for noticing the record attempt before it was announced, and also to Kristen Godard, Chris Broad, Brad @ nugs.net, Brian Keller, Dan Hobbs, Andrew Cogan, Kerry L. Bailey, Jesse Jarnow, and Tyler Buck. This page last updated February 03, 2007. All contents © 1992-2007 Ellis Godard. All rights reserved.