The critically-acclaimed jam band will play three shows on March 6, 7 and 8 in Virgina’s Hampton Coliseum. The group’s Web site is hosting a lottery for a limited number of tickets through October 8. Public sale will launch October 18 on Ticketmaster.
The Vermont Quartet's Music Legacy
Phish mesmerized fans for two decades with its twisting, improvised brand of rock music, seasoned by Trey Anastasio’s quirky, often nonsensical lyrics. His rhythmic vocals challenged rock-music paradigms on songs like “David Bowie,” “Contact” and “My Sweet One.” The band’s onstage bravado engendered a live environment unlike any other in music history, highlighted by drummer John Fishman’s gender-bending fashion and the group’s live improvisation battles.
The culmination of Phish's impromptu wizardry, technical mastery and eccentric behavior was a brand of music that defied standard definitions. They're often classified as progressive rock, jazz fusion or neo-psychadelia, but in the end Phish is simply Phish.
A burgeoning subculture of die-hard fans followed the band around the country before the quartet parted ways in 2004. The split created a void in progressive, jazz-fusion rock that left fans imploring the Vermont-based quartet to reunite, while individual members busied themselves with side- and solo-projects. After more than four years after the breakup, that void will at last be filled.
Previus Hiatus
This is not the first time the band that gave us infectious, offbeat tunes like “Bouncing Around the Room” and “Down with Disease” will return from an extended hiatus. On October 7, after a show in Mountain View, California, Phish’s members—Anastasio, Fishman, Mike Gordon and Page McConnell—parted ways for over two years to pursue other projects.
The band members reassembled on New Year’s Eve in 2002 to perform at Madison Square Garden. The group performed regularly thereafter until frontman Anastasio announced in April, 2004, that the band planned to break up.
The Final Show?
The ostensible “final show” in Coventry, Vermont, was attended by nearly 100,000 and was broadcast live to thousands more who assembled in theaters across North America. Members of the band, dubbed the most important of the Nineties by Rolling Stone, broke down crying onstage, and many believed it would indeed be Phish’s last concert.
According to the Burlington Free Press, the group plans to announce additional shows early next year, although bandmembers have not commented further on the extent of the reunion.
Fans will continue to hold their breath, hoping the reunion will not be short lived. If the band continues to follow the footsteps of legendary jamband the Grateful Dead—who performed as long as the band’s singer and lead guitarist, the venerable Jerry Garcia, remained alive—it's a good bet that Phish will continue rocking and mystifying fans for years to come.
Given the ephemeral nature of Phish’s music—which emphasizes the live experience over studio recordings—acolytes will undoubtedly savor the remaining opportunities to witness the shaggy-haired rockers from Vermont, whether few or many.
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