HT faves Phish will set out on a 18-date tour starting with a three-night run at Bethel Woods in Bethel, NY over Memorial Day Weekend and concluding three weeks later at the nTelos Pavilion in Portsmouth, VA on June 19. This marks Phish’s first tour of 2011 after ending 2010 and starting 2011 at Madison Square Garden.
Phish Summer Tour 2011 takes the group back to a number of familiar venues from the past two summers including the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA; the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ; the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatres in Charlotte, NC and Alpharetta, GA as well as the Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion in Raleigh, NC.
A pre-order lottery for tickets to every show on the band’s docket has started via Music Today and you can put your entry in through March 4. Summer Tour 2011 marks the first time Phish has offered different prices for pavilion seats and for lawn seats at these summer sheds. While face for lawns is $45, pavilion seats will go for $60. The public onsales are set to take place on March 11 and 12.
Here’s a look at the full itinerary…
May 27 – 29 = Bethel Woods, Bethel NY
May 31 & June 1 = PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel NJ
June 3 = DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston MI
June 4 = Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls OH
June 5 = Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati OH
June 7 = Comcast Center, Mansfield MA
June 8 = Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, Darien NY
June 10 = Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden NJ
June 11 and 12 = Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia MD
June 14 and 15 = Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Alpharetta GA
June 17 = Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Charlotte NC
June 18 = Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion, Raleigh NC
June 19 = nTelos Pavilion, Portsmouth VA
UPDATE: Phish’s Vimeo video page has been updated to read, “Additional summer announcements will be coming. Following the summer, the band has no touring plans for the remainder of the year.”
READ ON for a more in-depth look at each venue…
Phish Summer Tour 2010 came to a close last night at Jones Beach on Long Island and now it’s time to start analyzing the 11-show second leg of the group’s excursion. Back in July we asked our readers to grade the first leg of the tour and a resounding 90% gave the quartet a B+ or above. How will they do this time? We’d like to find out with your help.
[Photo by John Schulze]
READ ON to give the band a grade for Leg Two of the tour…
Back in early June, I centered my Phish Summer Tour Preview around a symbolic fork in the road, which is where I saw the band prior to their 19-date first leg. It wasn’t my most accurate column as I mistakenly called the cavernous Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville small and was probably a little harsh in criticizing their playing in Hampton. But at the end of the column I laid out three options that I thought were available to the band for this summer, which was really my main point of the whole article.
[All photos by Adam Kaufman]
We all saw what went down in June and early July with Phish tearing it up on a nightly basis and surprising the hell out of fans with bust outs and new covers galore. This is what I referred to in the column as “Option A.” Every song the band had ever played was fair game. Among the most outstanding choices: Fuck Your Face was played in Charlotte after being on the shelf for over 23 years (or 1,413 shows). The Friday night Camden show opened with the first Alumni Blues in 222 shows sandwiched around the first Letter to Jimmy Page in 587 shows. Tela, which had previously appeared only five times since 1997, was played twice. In Raleigh, the show opened with the now-rare Llama and always-rare Roses are Free with Have Mercy and a scorching Light Up or Leave Me Alone in the second set.
The new covers included The Band’s Look Out, Cleveland and John Lennon’s Instant Karma! in Cuyuhoga Falls, Tom Waits’ Cold Water in Portsmouth, VA, Jumping Jack Flash in Merriweather and a heartfelt take on Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, a gutsy choice considering the high regard in which that song is held. And in Alpharetta, on July 4, the band whipped fans into a frenzy with a Harpua featuring a cover of Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name Of. That of course after already playing Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird in the first set. So far the covers have all been one-offs. Will that continue in the second leg or will we see more polished versions of some of these? I’m hoping for the latter.
READ ON for more of our Phish Summer Tour Leg 2 Preview…
In keeping with our big wrap-up week of Phish’s fun-filled first leg of their summer tour, today we bring you an A to Z rundown of the highlights, songs, venues, jams and surprises which added to an overwhelmingly positive reception to the 18 show extravaganza.
[Photo by Adam Kaufman]
A is for Alpharetta – To one of my new favorite summer venues, thanks for a great time. Nice lot scene, easy-in easy-out traffic management, decent bathroom set ups, a nice lawn with trees for shade, and oh baby, that Pit! With a pretty well-functioning wristband system to keep it from getting too crowded from folks getting stubbed down, yet a remarkably easy pavilion, the Pit feels like the Hampton of summer. Even the hotels kind of have that Hampton feeling (and the Marriott is the crown jewel).
B is for the Best Shows – The whole second half of the first leg really knocked it out of the park: the second night of SPAC kicked things in to high gear, Camden dropped the hammer, and the rest of the shows took it home. If forced to make a top three list, it’d all about the Sunday shows. In first place, the 4th of July show took home top honors as it hit both the surprises and improvisations for a perfect combination of fun, energy, and rarities. In second place, the second night of Merriweather proved to be the hottest show of the tour in terms of actual temperature, but second best in terms of playing, and then finally, SPAC II takes third.
READ ON for more on Phish Tour: From A to Z…
The first leg of Phish Summer Tour 2010 came to a close on Sunday night at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, GA. We’ll have plenty of recaps of all sorts over the next week, but for now we wanted to present “just the facts.” We’ve put together a list of every setlist (via Phish.net) and have detailed our favorite audio sources, videos, reviews and photo galleries from each of the 18 shows Phish has performed thus far in 2010.
06/11/2010 Toyota Park Chicago, IL
Set 1: Down with Disease, Wolfman’s Brother, Possum, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Reba[1], Jesus Just Left Chicago, The Divided Sky, Golgi Apparatus > David Bowie
Set 2: Light -> Maze, Ghost -> Limb By Limb[2] > Prince Caspian > The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Run Like an Antelope[3], Show of Life[4]
Encore: Cavern > Julius
[1] No whistling.
[2] Ending vocal jam.
[3] DEG tease by Trey in intro. Fishman drum solo. “Jon Fishman” substituted for “Marco Esquandolas.” Lyrics changed to “Been you to have any stick.”
[4] Phish debut.
Notes: After Possum, Trey congratulated the hometown Chicago Blackhawks’ victory over his beloved Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals that ended two days before this show. Reba was performed without the whistling ending. Limb by Limb included an ending vocal jam. Antelope contained a Dave’s Energy Guide tease by Trey in the intro section. Antelope subsequently contained a Fishman drum solo. “Jon Fishman” was substituted for “Marco Esquandolas” and Antelope’s lyrics were further changed with “Been you to have any stick.” This show featured the Phish debut of Show of Life. [Setlist Source]
READ ON for audio, videos & more from each tour stop…
Phish visited the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park in Alpharetta, GA this evening for the first of two sold-out shows at the 12,000-capacity amphitheatre that bring the first leg
Last year Phish set a record for most songs performed in one year from their vast repertoire with 248. It looks like the quartet is gunning for 2009’s record as
We’re nearly two weeks into Phish Summer Tour & the band has played nine shows thus far. After the first four gigs, we asked fans what they thought of the tour & at that point nearly 90% of respondees gave Phish an A or a B. We want to see if the fanbase’s thoughts on tour have changed, so we’ve set up another poll. This time we’ve added intermediate grades so if you would rather give ’em an “A-” rather than an “A” you can do so.
READ ON to give Phish a grade on the first nine shows…
With four Phish Summer Tour 2010 gigs in the books, we’ve got a decent sample size to start taking the temperature of the fanbase. Whether you’ve attended the shows or just listened to recordings, we want to know what you think of the first four shows of the first leg.
Phish – Backwards Down The Number Line [Official Vid]
After the jump, we’ve set up a poll in which you can give the band a letter grade from A – F. Pick one of the options and if you’ve got the inclination – leave a comment explaining your vote. While you’re at it, let us know what you think the quartet can improve on starting tomorrow in Hartford.
READ ON to grade the start of Phish Summer Tour 2010…
After a strong opening night in Chicago, Phish came out of the gates with purpose this evening for show number two at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, OH debuting
