That wild rumor of thirteen nights at Madison Square Garden floated along just long enough to reveal itself as fact and now we are faced with a Phish summer touring slate that is indeed a residency. 

One of the things that really threw me for a loop was why thirteen seemed to be the magic number for this run. I understand the cute “Baker’s Dozen” puns everyone can make on social media from now until July that’ll surely sell tickets and merch, but what was their real motivation for throwing away a summer of traveling across the country to spend thirteen nights in midtown Manhattan? Well, turns out there aren’t a whole lot of concrete answers aside from “they wanted to.”  

In fact, according to Phish.net, these thirteen shows will bring Phish’s MSG total to 52, jumping Nectar’s in Burlington but falling one short of tying The Front for the most played venue of all time in Phish history. The Front sits at 53 and will remain there barring something magical, with Phish not darkening those doors since 1991. The quartet spent three years at the Burlington hideout honing their chops before jetting off to greener and more prosperous pastures, notching a record that’ll eventually be broken by Madison Square Garden, just not in 2017. Or they could add a New Year’s Run at the end of the year to break their own record. Who knows? 

Watch one of those very early shows from The Front in Burlington in all of its grainy glory.