Phish Reunion Tour 2009 At Hampton Coliseum in Hampton Va

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Phish Reunites, After 4 Long Years!

After breaking up in 2004, Phish is going to get back together in March at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia to play for three nights. From March 6-8th phish will once again take the stage for their first show together since their farewell show in Coventry, Vermont four years ago.

Not only that, if you check the legendary jam band’s web site you'll find some additional Phish tour dates from guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio, keyboardist Page McConnell, drummer Jon Fishman and bassist Mike Gordon throughout 2009.

The Hampton Coliseum is the perfect venue for the return show because of its intimate size and general admission style seating. It's been one of the band's favorites since they headlined there in 1995.

Rumors of the Phish reunion have been buzzing around in recent months after the group accepted a lifetime achievement award May of 2007 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Phish reunion speculation reached critical mass during the summer when band members made public that they been discussing working together again.

Up until that point we had only heard rumors from Phish’s guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio when he gave some pretty blatant hints during an interview with the Rolling Stones Magazine. He made a comment that he was going to go around playing “You Enjoy Myself” for the rest of his life. Now, Anastasio admits he can't believe that he said that because at this point in time he would, "give my left nut to play that song five times in a row every day until I die. I certainly thought about that while I was in jail."

Phish has historically attracted incredibly enthusiastic fans - always rabid for more. Old Phish fans will no doubt make the journey to tour with the band and there is little doubt that the Phish reunion tour 2009 will draw a huge audience. The big question now is, after taking five years off, will they be able to appeal to the ‘new youth’s’ edgier musical tastes.

-GlobalGurus

Phish Serves Up Reunion

by Josh Gorssberg
October 1, 2008

Get ready for another helping of Phish.

The legendary jam band, who called it quits in August 2004 with a blowout two-day festival in Vermont, has confirmed plans to reunite for three shows next March in Hampton, Va.

Per a time-lapse video announcement posted on the band's website, Phish will take the stage of Hampton Coliseum—the surreal, spaceshiplike venue that's hosted some of the band's most memorable gigs—on March 6, 7 and 8.

The site also says Phish will unveil additional 2009 tour dates early next year.

While pop success often eluded them during their 21 years together, the quartet of singer-guitarist Trey Anastasio, keyboardist Page McConnell, bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman was one of the top touring acts of the 1990s and early 2000s, known for high-energy, innovative and downright marathon live performances.

Since 1989 Phish has played more than 475 concerts, grossing a whopping $175 million in revenue and selling nearly 6 million tickets, according to Billboard. In doing so, Vermont's Phinest amassed a carnival-like neo-hippie following akin to the Grateful Dead.

Phish announced it was taking a year-and-a-half-long hiatus in 2000 and returned on Dec. 31, 2001, with a New Year's Eve show at Madison Square Garden, followed by three more dates at Hampton Coliseum.

But the road took its toll and Phish called it quits in 2004.

Since then the foursome has been exploring solo careers, with Anastasio being the most visible member. But his music was overshadowed of late by his legal problems stemming from substance abuse issues.

Rumors began to spawn that Phish would regroup last May, when the rockers surfaced in New York to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Jammys.

Three of the four were also spotted playing together on stage at the Rothbury festival in Michigan on the Fourth of July, and the full band reportedly played three songs at the wedding of their former road manager earlier this month.

Tickets for the March Hampton dates will go on sale to the general public Oct. 18. But Phishheads get first dibs, with a limited number of tickets available via the band's site now through Oct. 8.

Old news to Rothbury crowds, but Phish is back

by mholland
October 01, 2008

Shake the moths off the hippie poncho and toss out the soap -- Phish is back. For real this time. Groovy.

The band announced this morning it will perform as a full unit for the first time since 2004.

The band is booked for a three-night stand, March 6-8 of next year at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va., a site already well-known to Phish fans. It is unclear whether they will play separate shows or merely solo continuously throughout the entire weekend. OK, I'm joking, it's three shows, with more apparently to follow.

Phish's reunion will come as little surprise to anybody who went to Rothbury and saw three-quarters of the band on stage together, or to anybody who read about the festival, perhaps on my blog, which initially broke the story, thank you very much.

So maybe Rothbury 2009 will feature a full-on show by those masters of instrumental horseplay themselves. That's assuming Rothbury 2009 actually happens, which is a whole different ball of wax.

Phish to swim again in March concerts

By Bob Margolis
Wed Oct 1, 2008 2:48pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The hints came in various formats, but it's now official. After more than four years, Phish, the Vermont born quartet with a loyal fan following, will return to the concert stage this March in Virginia.

The band on Wednesday on its Web site, confirmed the reunion concerts this coming March 6, 7, and 8 in Hampton, Virginia, and posted a page addressing what is expected to be strong demand for tickets.

Phish built its reputation in the 1990s mostly for its live shows jamming in a free-form style of rock 'n' roll often compared to the Grateful Dead, which also enjoyed a strong cult-following over its history dating back to the 1960s.

The relationship between the two bands was once a sore subject for Phish but has warmed in recent years. Both Anastasio and Gordon have made numerous on stage appearances with Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh

Like the Dead, Phish proved that a band without a hit single or massive MTV exposure could consistently sell-out 20,000-seat indoor venues as well as 30,000- to 40,000-seat outdoor summer amphitheaters.

Phish, which has produced thirteen studio CDs, and seven live releases in addition to the 27 volume "Live Phish" series took a break from touring back in 2000, returning once for a high-profile New Years Eve show at New York's Madison Square Garden marking the transition from 2002-2003.

While Phish was at rest, the band members, guitarist Trey Anastasio drummer Jon Fishman, bassist Mike Gordon and keyboardist Page McConnell have been far from idle.

Anastasio has released numerous songs and premiered an orchestral work, "Time Turns Elastic" with Orchestra Nashville at the storied Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry.

The guitarist also was arrested in December 2006, following a traffic stop outside Albany, New York, for possessing painkillers without a prescription. He was sentenced to probation.

Fishman has performed with various groups and McConnell released a self-titled solo effort and has been touring with New Orleans jazz greats George Porter Jr., Russell Batiste Jr., and Brian Stoltz.

Gordon has been touring with his own band, released his second collaboration with guitarist Leo Kottke and just recently released "The Green Sparrow."

As much as they love Anastasio, Phish fans are likely glad the front man will have to eat his famous words, posted on the band's Web site in Spring 2004 when he stated "We're done."

Phish Fans, The Wait Is Over! Band To Reunite In ‘09

Published by MTV News on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 1:57 pm.
By Alex Shapiro

The day I have been waiting for has finally come — and I don’t mean the DVD release of “Iron Man”! Phish, by way of a video on their Web site, have confirmed the rumors that have been swirling for months: They’re back!

The announcement came in the form of a time-lapse clip showing an artist painting an abstract portrait of (arguably) Phish’s most storied venue: the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. The “Mothership,” as it is known among fans, will blast off on March 6, 7 and 8 of next year when Phish play their first concerts in more than four years.

This guy couldn’t be more psyched. It is 10:30 a.m. and I am bouncing around the office with so much energy that co-workers must think I downed all the coffee in the building. I haven’t been this excited about anything that’s flowed through the newsroom since I began working here (although the Jonas Brothers love-life updates are quite fascinating).

The band called it quits back in August 2004 in Vermont, at that pigpen of a festival known as Coventry, and I knew they couldn’t go out like that. They were too good. They were destined to play music together again, and the “brahphecy” has been fulfilled. Be prepared for a full tour announcement in the coming months and (fingers crossed) an end-of-summer festival. For a chance to get tickets, throw your name into the lottery. Tickets go on sale to the public on October 18. Phish fans: It’s time to throw on your favorite version of “Run Like an Antelope” because things are about to get out of control!

No Phish tale: Jamband announces 3 shows, more

By JOHN CURRAN – 2 hours ago

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Those reunion rumors weren't just cut bait: Four years after disbanding, the time seems right to Phish.

The Vermont-bred foursome on Wednesday announced three concert dates next March in Hampton, Va., a longtime favorite venue for the band and its fiercely loyal fans. Other 2009 dates will be announced later, according to a notice posted on the band's Web site.

Ambrosia Healy, a spokeswoman for the band, confirmed in a news release the dates of March 6, March 7 and March 8, 2009, at the Hampton Coliseum. She said band members weren't available for interviews Wednesday.

After a more than 20-year run that saw its audience build from a few people in Burlington, Vt., bars to a Grateful Dead-like cult following, Phish called it quits in 2004. Though their fans continued to pack stadiums around the country that year, it was clear that fatigue and personal problems began to subtly erode the band's intricate and demanding live sound.

But in recent months, its members began to muse about a renewed appetite for the music, causing their well-connected fans to buzz that the reunion was all but a done deal.

"Sometimes you hear bands say `We're breaking up' and a year or two later, they come back," said Jammy Awards co-founder Peter Shapiro, who brought the foursome together last May at the awards ceremony in New York. They did not perform at the appearance.

"By the time they come back, it'll be almost five years," he continued. "That's a fair amount of time for them to do what they needed to do, on an individual level. And probably it was enough time to realize they needed to get back together as a group. They got the itch."

In August 2004, the band said an emotional goodbye with a two-day festival at Newport State Airport in Coventry, Vt. But even that performance ended on a sloppy note: A freakish rainstorm caused many fans to be turned away and trapped the cars of many others in a morass of mud. Those who got in watched the band break down in tears in the middle of some songs and muddle haplessly through others.

But odds are that Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman will put that all behind them come March. The Hampton Coliseum, where Phish has played a dozen times, is the site of some of their most revered performances, including the one captured on "Hampton Comes Alive," a six-CD set, in 1998.

Phish, which got its start at the University of Vermont in 1983, is known for its amorphous blend of rock, jazz, bluegrass and other styles. Like the Grateful Dead, most songs from their vast catalog include sprawling improvisational passages — with one song often morphing into another — and no two shows are ever the same.

Also like the Grateful Dead, much of its following is steeped in the communal ideals of the 1960s, including life on the road, psychedelic art and, of course, drugs.

The group has released 11 studio albums, and announced Wednesday the Nov. 18 release of "At The Roxy," an eight-CD box set chronicling a three-night 1993 stand in Atlanta.

Since their last gig together, members have pursued solo projects — and Anastasio has endured some tribulations. The guitarist was arrested during a 2006 traffic stop in upstate New York for possessing painkillers without a prescription; he ultimately pleaded guilty, and later spent two days in jail for missing a court-mandated counseling session.

Whether his band will command the allegiance it once did remains to be seen. Word of the reunion lit up message boards a day in advance of the announcement, and hotel rooms in Hampton, Va., were said to be selling out quickly.

"The fans are much more excited than I expected they'd be," said Ellis Godard, 37, of Moorpark, Calif., who runs the fan Web site phish.net. "The fan base — the people who used to tour with them — is older. They have kids and jobs. But all the people who said they didn't care are absolutely nuts. The fan frenzy is much bigger than I expected."

An Open Letter to Phish

By staff ⋅ October 1, 2008

Editor’s note: obviously the news of Phish’s reunion announcement is burning up the internets and it’s starting to really inspire a lot of our readers and fans to send in thoughts on this momentous and epic occasion. Our buddy Andrew Justice down in Texas wrote this up and sent it my way.

With today’s great news about the Hampton shows, it’s once again an exciting time to be a Phish fan. I can hardly wait for the tour announcement, and in anticipation of renewing one of my favorite musical experiences, I have a few suggestions.

These are by no means intended to put constraints on the band (I think we all rather enjoy not knowing what’s going to happen when the lights go down), but rather observations based on eight years away from seeing a show, doing a lot of listening to all eras of shows, and my own personal opinions as a professional musician and admirer of the band’s musical communication and ensemble sound.

1. Rehearse - (and this is by no means sarcastic)
It is clear that, due to the heavy touring in the late 1990’s, band rehearsals became scarce and/or nonexistent. As expected, this eventually had an adverse effect on overall tightness and ensemble, and strikes me as contrary to one of the band’s central tenets from the beginning: to listen to each other. Since that goal was at the core of the Phish sound, it would seem vital to a successful reunion for both band and audience. Perhaps a return to (or creation of new) exercises like Including Your Own Hey or Zen Language Ball would be a good way to jump-start this. Either way, preparation cannot but make the new shows even more intense and enjoyable.

2. Consider returning to the old stage arrangement of Page-Trey-Mike-Fish
We know that 1999’s change to the lineup was an attempt to bring Fish more physically into the sound, but had the unfortunate effect of separating Trey from the rest of the band. The exchange of Mike for Trey after the hiatus seemed to solve some of those problems, yet the fact remains that the musical interaction never appeared to recover from the original change. The old lineup was not only distinctive, it also directed the sound in a fantastic way, with Page and Fish book-ending the guitars and creating a focused flow of music from the stage that I’ve never experienced anywhere else.

3. Take it [the touring] easy
We know that the band isn’t going to do something without being totally passionate about it, and that’s really fine with us. Speaking for myself, I’d rather hear a well-rested, balanced Phish than one who is touring too hard and putting pressure on themselves to deliver too much. Perhaps varying venues as well as schedules is one way to do this - after rereading The Phish Book and watching the Walnut Creek DVD recently, it’s clear the band really benefited from the Europe tours…and so did the audience. I don’t see why including smaller (or different) venues in the tour plans should create problems, especially if it has such a positive effect on the band’s sound.

I’d like to point out that these are all musician-functionality suggestions, i.e. they’re from the perspective of someone who hears something and directly relates to their own experience as a performer. I have specifically not touched on areas such as personal lives or the actual musical content (song-writing and styles), because those are the band’s own territories and the audience really has little to do with them. What’s important is the communication; what made Phish special was the way they connected, with each other and with the audience. These suggestions are directly related to that phenomenon, because it made seeing Phish an experience unlike any other, and I think there are a lot of people interested in revisiting that.

Otherwise, welcome back guys - I know it’s going to be insanely fun and totally worth the wait.

Phish Phever: Local hotels already sold out for concert dates

BY CHRIS FLORES
October 1, 2008

HAMPTON - Phish is coming to Hampton, and its phans are making plans.

All it took was for the rumor to strengthen in Phish nation for Hampton to start selling out hotel rooms before the reunion shows were even publicly announced on Wednesday. The demand for tickets will exceed the supply, and no one will know if they have their tickets until the public sale begins (and ends) on Oct. 18.

But fans will be streaming into town for the party and possibility of a scalped ticket regardless if they have a secured ticket or not, and they were not waiting for a guarantee of a ticket to put up money for a room.

As of mid-afternoon today, every hotel and bed and breakfast in Hampton was sold out except three: Arrow Inn, Clarion and Travel Lodge.

On Tuesday night, fueled by rumors but several hours before this morning's official announcement from the band, the Comfort Inn Coliseum sold out all of its rooms for March 6,7 and 8. So did the Extended Stay Hampton. And even the huge Embassy Suites.

The Ramada Inn sold out at 3 a.m. today as fans became more confident of the rumors. The Courtyard by Marriott in Hampton sold out this morning, and demand is now quickly spreading into Newport News, where Point Plaza was fielding a flood of calls today for its remaining rooms.

The supply of rooms at the large Holiday Inn Hampton Hotel and Conference Center in the Coliseum area was already taken off the market a year ago for those days, when there will be a convention that will now be surrounded by a horde of Phish fans.

UVM Alums Phish Return Less Than Five Years After Their Farewell Show at Coventry

Tracy O'Neill 10/01/2008

Okay, so we all knew it was going to happen one of these days, and today it’s been announced that perpetually popular college band Phish, which originally formed at the University of Vermont, is returning. In 2004, the band announced that they were dissolving, with a farewell show played in Coventry, Vermont, but as we all know, farewell shows tend to simply imply a longish vacation, often with members giving a go at individual projects.

Lead singer Trey Anastasio’s solo endeavors were no doubt a disappointment, though one wonders how Anastasio could have expected positive responses to his songs, when their lyrics resembled something produced by the slow track kids in a kindergarten. Take, for example, “Let Me Lie,” in which Anastasio sings, “Gonna take my bike out. Gonna take my bike. Gonna ride it slowly. Gonna ride just how I like” over and over and over again autistically. It seems best for Anastasio to stick what he does best— Phish.

According to jam band authority Relix:

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. Earlier this month the band also 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

Rumors of a Phish reunion have 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."

With their rabidly enthusiastic fans, Phish will no doubt draw great audiences this spring. The question now is whether Phish will be able to mobilize a new youth following after an almost five year sabbatical. Lucky for them, most college kids will always love getting a little wasted and listening to repetitive music.

Phish Reuniting For 2009 Shows

October 01, 2008 , 9:30 AM ET
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y. and Ray Waddell, Nashville

After splitting in 2004, Phish is regrouping next March for a three-night run at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Va. The March 6-8 shows will be the famed jam band's first since its blowout farewell gigs in Coventry, Vt., more than four years ago.

According to the band's Web site, there will be additional touring activity from guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, keyboardist Page McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman throughout 2009.

A small supply of tickets will be available directly through the band's ticketing system, with the request period ending Oct. 8. Tickets go on sale to the general public Oct. 18.

Although its music rarely intersected with the mainstream, Phish is one of the top touring acts of the past three decades. Since 1989, the act racked up a total of $175,541,923 in concert grosses, with 5,842,798 tickets sold to 475 shows reported to Billboard Boxscore.

Hampton Coliseum was a sentimental choice for the reunion shows, as it has previously played host to notable Phish moments. The band's November 1998 run there was later released as the boxed set "Hampton Comes Alive," and Phish headed to the venue for three shows following its Dec. 31, 2002, hiatus-breaking gig at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"We're very, very happy about this. It's something very special," Hampton Coliseum GM Joe Tsao tells Billboard. Asked how the shows came together, Tsao says, "It's very simple: I got a call from the band saying we want to come back and I said 'come on!'"

Tsao says Phish agent Chip Hooper at Monterey Peninsula Artists called about two weeks ago "and I had to call him back because I was breathing so hard."

Anastasio manager Coran Capshaw at Red Light Management is handling management duties for the Phish shows, and Ken MacDonald, whose independent promotion company Integrated Management Group operates out of Norfolk, Va., is the promoter of record.

Speculation about Phish reuniting reached critical mass this summer, with band members admitting they'd begun discussing working together again, even going so far as to engage onetime producer Steve Lillywhite.

Three of the four members collaborated on stage at the Rothbury festival in Michigan over 4th of July weekend, and the full band reunited for a short set earlier this month during the wedding of former road manager Brad Sands.

Phish Returns: Hampton Comes Alive In March

Written by Mike Greenhaus
Wednesday, 01 October 2008

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. Earlier this month the band also 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.

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 Hampton Comes Alive.

Rumors of a Phish reunion have 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. In addition, the group has issued the following statement regarding ticket scalping:

Phish Tickets has a zero tolerance for scalping and insists that all patrons of our service abide by our policy stated herein. Tickets made available through this site are intended only for fans who are actually planning on attending the shows requested. It is strictly prohibited to resell any tickets obtained through Phish Tickets for more than the purchase price. If you are found to be reselling, trading or brokering tickets that you purchased through our site for profit, Phish Tickets may at its discretion cancel your ticket order and all other pending orders in your name. This cancellation will result in a refund of the total price for the tickets minus a $7.00 per ticket processing fee and any shipping fees that have been incurred with respect to the order. We reserve the right to investigate all orders suspected to be in violation of this policy.

We urge you not to purchase tickets through brokers or "scalpers." These tickets may be counterfeit in which case you will not only be overcharged but will also likely be denied entry into the show.

Meanwhile, Anastasio will kick off a solo tour at New York's Roseland Ballroom on October 16.