This past 4/20, a Phish fan posted a video of himself ripping a bong during one of the jam band’s recent concerts at the Sphere (see also: water is wet). The clip later went viral, prompting the high-tech Vegas venue to permanently ban said bong-ripper from all Madison Square Garden-owned premises as of June 6. Now, the company is walking back that ban, citing a “breakdown in process.”
“There was a breakdown in our process due to a change in personnel which resulted in the letter being sent inadvertently,” reads Saturday’s statement from a Sphere Entertainment spokesperson. “This customer is not banned from our properties, however, it is still against our policies, which are in accordance with local laws, to smoke, bring glassware into our venues, and disrupt other fans’ enjoyment of the event.”
While this guy’s real name has yet to officially surface, we know he’s the owner of a Phish phan account called @acid_farts. In a subsequent interview with Rolling Stone, he said he’s attended 187 Phish concerts in his 30-something years of life. He added that he had “no regrets” about sneaking the glassware into the Sphere, although his brief ban from the venue did impede on his plans to see Dead & Company last week.
Considering MSG’s implementation of facial recognition software, a permanent ban from the company’s venues is not something we’d try to tiptoe around. I’m glad our guy got off the hook, but personally, I advise him to stick to edibles from here on out.