As dramatically announced via video, Phish will reunite for a series of shows this March. As of
press time, the quartet's first full performances since 2004 will take place at
Hampton, VA's Hampton Coliseum on March 6, 7 and 8, 2009. Last month, the
band played a surprise three-song set at the wedding of longtime road
manager Brad Sands. The group is expected to announce a handful of
additional dates in the near future.
The announcement arrives after a flurry of rumors hit the
group's web of message boards and fansites yesterday.
Hampton Coliseum's intimate size and general admission
seating has made the venue a fan and band favorite since the group first
headlined the room in 1995. Since that time Phish has filled the Coliseum on
eleven additional occasions, most recently on its farewell tour in 2004.
This is not the first time the group has selected the room
for a special event. After returning from hiatus in 2002, three of Phish's first
four shows took place at the spaceship shaped arena, and the group booked a last
minute Hampton, VA show after announcing its breakup in 2004. Phish's November
20 and 21, 1998 performances in the room were released as the box set
<i>Hampton Comes Alive</i>.
Rumors of a Phish reunion had reached new heights in recent
months after the four musicians accepted a lifetime achievement award at New
York's Theatre at Madison Square Garden last May. Since that time the players
have appeared onstage in a number of different configurations, most recently
when Mike Gordon sat in with Page McConnell at South Burlington, VT's Higher
Ground this past Saturday. Trey Anastasio has also tested out a number of new
possible Phish songs onstage, most notably his co-compositions (with longtime
lyricist Tom Marshall), "Alaska" and "Backwards Down the Number Line."
Anastasio announced Phish's breakup on May 25, 2004, and the
group played its final show on August 15 of that year. At the time of his
original announcement, Anastasio said, "Last Friday night, I got together with
Mike, Page and Fish to talk openly about the strong feelings I've been having
that Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on
a high note. Once we started talking, it quickly became apparent that the other
guys' feelings, while not all the same as mine, were similar in many ways --
most importantly, that we all love and respect Phish and the Phish audience far
too much to stand by and allow it to drag on beyond the point of vibrancy and
health. We don't want to become caricatures of ourselves, or worse yet, a
nostalgia act. By the end of the meeting, we realized that after almost
twenty-one years together we were faced with the opportunity to graciously step
away in unison, as a group, united in our friendship and our feelings of
gratitude."
A limited number of tickets for Phish's upcoming shows will
be available through the group's secure online ticketing system. One of the ways
the group plans to avoid the overhead that plagued its later years is by
partnering with companies like Musictoday. Anastasio will also kick off a solo
tour at New York's Roseland Ballroom on October 16.
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