The Harshest Tweets About Phish's Prairie-Dog-Plague Flea Problems

Fleas on plague-infested prairie dogs force Phish to cancel camping at its Colorado concerts and bring out the worst on Twitter.

By Kyle Harris

August 21, 2019

Image: The Internet's not being kind to plague-worried Phish fans.

The Internet's not being kind to plague-worried Phish fans. Brandon Marshall

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When news that camping at the Phish show at Dick's Sporting Goods Park had been shut down over Labor Day weekend thanks to fleas on plague-infested prairie dogs, the Internet lost it.

Next to Insane Clown Posse and its acolytes, known as juggalos, few bands and fan bases have earned the ire of the public as much as these fun loving, improvising jam artists and the Grateful Dead-nostalgic hippies who follow them.

Naturally, the haters took to Twitter with burns. Here are some of the harshest:

If I were a plague-infested prairie dog I wouldn't want to listen to Phish either
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 20, 2019

Like plague-infested fleas are going to bite Phish fans.
— JosABanks (@theJoshBanks) August 21, 2019

99% sure that the Phish fans brought the plague to the prairie dogs. https://t.co/q3oF5TOlC1
— Smittie™ GED (Hons), BS (D-) (@smittie61984) August 21, 2019

The last thing we need is a bunch of hippies, tripping their faces off, contracting the plague. That's exactly how the zombie apocalypse starts.

We'll never get outta that maze...
— Ornery Angel (@ornery_angel) August 21, 2019

Phish fans are carrying waaaaay worse shit than the plague.
— Kyle Digby (@KyleDigby) August 20, 2019

See. The plague's not all bad...
— Darren Copeland (@Darren_Copeland) August 21, 2019

Phish fans often carry the plague.
— fastLEGS (@zerosafespace) August 21, 2019

And Phish is the actual horror. The plague-infested varmints are standing their ground.
— Loser Domi (@loser_domi) August 20, 2019

These wooks are literally willingly going into plague infested lands to see phish and are upset they can’t sleep outside. You gotta stan a wooks commitment, man!
— Groovy Tony, #PoppersNation (@groovy_tony) August 21, 2019

Ironically, getting the plague is the BEST thing that can happen to you at a Phish concert.
— D????mb????cr????tsS????ck (@DumbocratsSuck) August 21, 2019

While the Internet can be a cruel place, Phish fans were able to spread the word — like the plague — and make sure concert-goers knew their housing options. In the next few days, the promoters will be offering shuttling and parking possibilities, and the show, plagued or not, will go on.

In the meantime, other Phish fans responded with gratitude and kindness, some even making light of the situation.

Wrote fan J.D. Sawyer on Facebook: "Plague on."

Kyle Harris has been Westword’s Culture Editor since 2016, writing about the arts, music and film.

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