Musings On June
After much anticipation, Phish has finally satiated us with a slate of ten shows comprising the June leg of their first summer tour in five years. As yesterday passed, things finally began to come to fruition. Hampton is now less than two months away, and Summer ’09 is only five months out. Once again, we have Phish to look forward to– and everything feels different again, different as in way better! I, for one, had a very hard time focusing and accomplishing anything non-Phish related today. From the moment the dates were posted, and in fact long before that, there was little else occupying my mind other than the question of summer tour. Now that we know where the scenes will be in June, let’s take a closer look.
photo - Adam Foley
One of the first things I noticed when looking at the dates and on-sales is that Ticketmaster has been shut out. The band is now using Live Nation to sell their tickets, hence the selection of venues. Without using Ticketmaster, Phish had to select venues that don’t have exclusive contracts with Ticketmaster, most likely why we will be heading to Jones Beach instead of Darien, SPAC, or some of their other classic haunts. I am not fully aware of what venues have contracts with each company, but I do know that while using Live Nation, they can’t play “Ticketmaster venues.” It remains to be seen if the change in corporate sellers will result in an increased availability of tickets to real fans. Interestingly enough, Ticketmaster’s scalping little brother, TicketsNow, has taken all summer tickets off of their site, leaving only the Hampton shows. Maybe we are making some progress here!
6.28.95 Jones Beach (Joe Madonna)
Now to the dates themselves. The tour kicks off with one of only two two-night stands, at Jones Beach in Wantaugh, NY. Having not played the Long Island Amphitheatre since Summer ’95, this seems like an odd beginning. Fans have already complained about the poor sound at the venue, though when the sun is setting with water behind the stage, the setting is quite serene. These should should be a fun way to rev up again. After the opening couplet, Phish will travel north to play only one night at Great Woods in Mansfield, MA. It’s pretty surprising that the classic Phish venue, first visited in 1992, opening for Santana, isn’t getting two to the dome. Having played two night stands in ’94, ’95, ’99, ’00, and ’04, I thought two shows would be a given. Yet, it seems that Phish is trying to keep it simple on the first go round, which is probably best for the long haul. There will be a classic Phishy “Cannonball Run” down I-95 after the Mansfield show, as the circus heads for Camden, the site of so many great memories. 70% of the cars on the road all night will be packed with lit up Phishies, and filled to the gills with summertime accoutrements. The one night in southern Jersey, hosted by the Philly nitrous mafia, will cap Phish’s first four-night run since coming back.
Asheville Civic Center
Everyone will have a day off to make the drive down to Asheville, NC for what is sure to be one of the hardest tickets of the tour. With the Civic Center holding only 7,654 people, this stop is virtually inexplicable. As fun as the intimate show will inevitably be, why would someone make the decision to create another ticket fiasco? It is a Tuesday, so that should soothe some of the potential crowd, but you can bet Asheville doesn’t know what it’s in for with thousands of ticket-less fans sure to flood the small mountain town. The show should be phenomenal once inside, but that is gonna’ be a challenge. Following this show are five open days, two presumably to be filled by Bonnaroo when the lineup in announced on February 3rd. The tour can be split into the pre and post-Bonnaroo sections, with five days carved out for the clusterfuck festival.
Fox Theatre, St. Louis
After Phish and their fans emerge from Manchester, TN, they will move out to another special indoor show. Returning to the Fox Theatre in St.Louis for another Tuesday night special, this time only 5,060 fans will get to witness what is sure to be one of the standout shows of the tour. Although this night will be amazing, there will be a lot of fans scratching their heads at this decision as well. To put the size in perspective, Radio City fits 6,000; but the context doesn’t necessarily compare. New York City on a weekend for the first shows after Big Cypress created one of the highest ticket demands in recent memory, with people flying in from all over the country. But The Fox on their comeback tour, albeit in St. Louis on a Tuesday, is gonna’ be a scarce stub. Lots of fingers in the air here, as the band could fill the arena with their guest list if they wanted to.
Deer Creek
Yet, instead of complaining, fans have the option of taking the week off, skipping the two smallest and the two biggest shows, and hopping back on at Star Lake in good ol’ Burgettstown, PA. It’s great to see Phish returning to a place of so many spectacular musical moments, ready to create new ones on the first night of the leg’s closing four-night run. The second show will bring us back to the cornfields and campgrounds of Noblesville, IN in a highly-anticipated one show return to Deer Creek. A venue with so much Phish history, mostly in the form of multiple night stands, will only be getting one night of action. You can bet the house, however, that it will be one of the most exciting nights of the summer! There will be no time to camp, however, as the the tour will head directly north to Alpine Valley. The classic pairing of Deer Creek and Alpine lives on! Tour will wind up at Alpine Valley for two nights of fun in the northern sun. With so many great shows having gone down at Alpine, and with multiple tours having ended at the great wooden amphitheatre, it certainly feels like a nostalgic home for the scene. With its sprawling parking lots and endless people, this will be a fun way to wrap up Summer ’09: Leg One.
So there you have it– what we have all been waiting for– Phish Tour! Ten shows confirmed; ten nights of summertime bliss, and that is only half of it. Phish is back in action and the universe is looking up. Here’s to a phenomenal 2009 with endless potential! Cheers, all.
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SUMMER ’09 RUMOR MILL: If everything with Rothbury works out, don’t rule out a headlining slot for one or two nights between July 3-5th, a little more than a week after Alpine. This announcement would obviously come later as the folks up there are still sorting things out.
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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
6.29.95 Jones Beach, NY < LINK
This is the sequel to the show up for download yesterday, and Phish’s last performance at the amphitheatre that will inaugurate Summer ’09. A monster “Free > Bowie” highlights this night, along with a juicy mid-set YEM. The first set is solid all the way through, closing with a tasty ’95 Melt.
I: Runaway Jim, Taste, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, The Divided Sky, Cavern, Rift, Simple, Split Open and Melt, Carolina
II: Free > David Bowie, Strange Design, You Enjoy Myself, Acoustic Army, A Day in the Life
E: Theme From the Bottom
Tags: Summer '09
fwiw — asheville cc is a ticketmaster venue, though this show was obviously a decision based on other factors (aka the band just wanted to play here).
Glad to see the band fighting the good fight on this one, though. Looks like a good run, can’t wait to hear about the next leg (yeah, I’m greedy)…
i for one am stoked for this tour. If ticket buying goes well, i’ll be doing Jones->Camden and Fox->Alpine. Sadly, I’ll have to pass on Hampton to do this, but I think it’s worth it. Counting on Rothbury in place of Roo. If I get tickets to the Fox, that will be a great day!
guys, where does this leave us regarding the rumors between hampton and june? are we expecting more dates to be announced in between?
Signed,
Stoked Regardless.
Fingers crossed for B-town. And then a hopeful second leg with a stop in Denver/Red Rocks. And then once again a finger crossing.
Wow….this is what i have been hoping for since Aug 2004. See ya’ll at SPAC/GRTWOODS/DEER CREEK
Got my request in for Asheville and Deer Creek. Not making the drive to alpine though this time around. I’m gonna save the money spent on those shows for a trip to CO and hopefully a few or the Red Rocks dates. All in all…I am just really excited to get down to the nitty gritty once again.
LET’S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!!!
logically I doubt they would announce a summer tour before a spring tour, and deep down I think its doubtful. Maybe they will do Letterman, that would be sweeet
Guys, don’t be naive, Live Nation is profit-seeking entity just like Ticketmaster. I think this has more to do with the fact the Phish’s manager (Coran Capshaw) is business partner with LN (as he sold most of Musictoday to them a few years ago). So I think you should actually be more worried about LN than TM if you are worried about financial interests affecting the band’s music/touring decisions.
If someone could explain why Ticketmaster is any worse than LN, I’d be happy to listen. Oh and apparently LN’s fees are worse than TM’s….
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/01/08/get-ready-to-pay-big-fees-live-nation-ticketing-service-launches/
DID ANYONE ELSE NOTICE THE OLD SPEAKERS IN TREYS SET UP IN THE NY PRACTICE PHOTOS? IS HE GOING TO BE GOING OLD SCHOOL?
haha. Only time will tell.
SPAC is 100% a LiveNation venue!!! Things don’t get going there til July, keeping fingers crossed!!!!!!!!
lie nation venue list
http://www.livenation.com/venues-a-b
I had my first extended Phish dream last night.
I was at a baseball game in a significant stadium (probably Busch in St. Louis- though the Sox were on the field) where phish was supposed to play the next night. I remember feeling upset about the large venue, but just then I heard a familiar squeal coming from the wooded area behind the stadium. I peeked over the backside of the bleachers to find the boys practicing amongst the trees. I ran down the stadium steps with about a hundred other people as Trey waved his Ross Compressor in the air as if to say “C’mon down.” The songs were unrecognizable and ambient- but sound great. The strangest part was that Jeff was playing with them.
I definitely tried to quickly fall back asleep as soon as I woke up… but they were gone. It fells great to be dreaming in Phish again.
Any other dreamers out there last night?
Reunited and it feels so goooood. Reunited and its understood!
FINALLY SHARIN IN THE GROOVE
Undecided, undefined
Undisturbed, yet undermind
Relocated, not retired
Reprimanded and rewired
Mystified and mishapen
Misinformed, but not mistaken
Reinvented, redefined
Rearranged, but not refined
Unrelenting, understroked
Undeterred, yet unprovoked
Reinvented, redefined
Rearranged, but not refined
Mystified and mishapen
Misinformed, but not mistaken
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
Undisturbed, but undermind
Relocated, not retired
Reprimanded and rewired
Mystified and mishapen
Misinformed, but not mistaken
Reinvented, redefined
Rearranged, but not refined
Unrelenting, understroked
Undeterred, yet unprovoked
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
Undisturbed, but undermind
Relocated, not retired
Reprimanded and rewired
Mystified and mishapen
Misinformed but not mistaken
Reinvented, redefined
Rearranged, but not refined
Unrelenting, understroked
Undeterred, yet unprovoked
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
Undecided, undefined
I’ve had the Phish dream a few times, although not recently. My most vivid, and fun, was about a year ago. I was in AAA in Miami during the ’03 NYE run. I could tell that for sure. The weather felt great, I was having a fucking blast, and then those like catwalk things that The Rolling Stones and others have extended from the stage, and Mike Gordon came down the aisle. He was playing a loose and funky jam, and just started making small talk with me “how’s it goin? Are you having a good time?”
I immediately downloaded the 12.28.03-12.31.03 run of shows the next morning.
the acoustics in asheville are terrible. i mean really bad. i saw oysterhead there as well as the xmas jam with mike and trey and more recently Allison Kraus and Robert Plant. i mean it when i say it is the worst acoustics of any venue ive ever been too. i will make an effort to be on the rail for this show so that i can listen to the music coming out of trey’s monitors. anywhere else you will not be able to even tell what song they are playing. it is really that bad. trust me.
on a the bright side, asheville is a super heady town and phish kids will fit right in.
In regards to TicketMaster vs. Live Nation. Seems like easy choice.
Things can only be better with Live Nation. Certainly most of us will still be disappointed.
But at least some of us will get tickets the day they go on sale.
I mean WHO really got tickets through ticketmaster the day they went on sale??? i have yet to talk to 1 person who got tickets that day. talked to a few who got them through the phish lottery. But no one got through online or on the phone.
I’m interested if anyone reading this did. i know 100 people that failed, and talked to at least 50 more at Trey show and 1 person had got tiks through the lottery.
Also anyone know if Live Nation has any underhanded side site that they slide the tickets too?? And all the ticket agents that also have their hands in the TM pool. do they have the same reach at Live Nation??
I just wish they would play Boston Garden or PNC cause i got great inside ticket help in those venues. Fenway might work too
yes summer is finally here , like baseball spring training where the pitchers and catchers first report and give us all that faint smell of summer … the schedule jogged around in my mind on the treadmill and then as i finished my Pad Thai last nite … I was gratefull for the shaping of the tour that rid Ticketmaster of any of its heft … We should all be thankfull about that, but as a resident of New Jersey I’d rather leave the State and go to the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia’s Fairmont Park, they performed there last in ’95, same as Jones Beach … I remind myself of where I’m from and I had to have one complaint, though I shouldn’t have any … Well now that I think of it two, one nite at Deer Creek … Does that seem right??? but kudos for giving St Louis fans an awesome present … I may have had 3 complaints there, sorry … on second thought, everthing is good ….
i think you can all safely assume that LiveNation will be launching a service similar to Ticketsnow. its only a matter of time. those things are an extra revenue source for the tickets companies so there is really no reason not to do it. if LN is already offering tickets with fees higher than TM, they clearly don’t care about remaining a consumer-friendly service.
and the reason that no one you know got TM tickets is because the brokers have software, people and resources to overload the system and get tickets where normal people do not. from everything i’ve read, TM dislikes the brokers just as much as you do, because they give people a bad customer experience and don’t make TM any more money than they would if tickets were purchase directly by the people actually going to the show. there’s no evidence that TM intentionally foregoes the public onlsale and sells tickets to brokers directly (at least i’ve never heard of any). in fact, they have sued software companies that make the software that overrides tm.com during onsales.
but the bottom line is that the brokers are going to figure out Live Nation before we do and people will be screaming conspiracy in a few weeks when no one they knew got tickets through Live Nation because the site froze up at the onsale. as long as phish is selling cheap tickets in only a handful of shows, this will be a problem.
trust me, i dislike TM too, but i think it the problem really lies with the brokers and there really isn’t anything you can do about getting them out of the way as middlemen (unless phish wants to do will call only or ask phish trivia questions or something else unrealistic).
ADAM FOLEY STILL OWES ME AND ALOT OF HARD WORKING NON WOOK PEEPS MONEY FROM 2000!
we will all get tosee phish this year, its only a matter of time. of coarse the band will do a west coast tour and there will more likely then not be some fall shows as well as nye. who knows, maybe they’ll even do a halloween show and finally cover thriller. i do know though that i acn’t wait for the STL. that will be the show of the tour…aside from bonaroo. i mean they’re going into that tiny theatre after bonnaroo. think about the momentum they’ll have. this summer tour is going to be redic, and i think this tour is the RIGHT tour for the band to be playing right now. We all know they rushed back into playing after the hitaus, and even though they put out some amazing jams and shows (Piper, 2/16/2003) trey it seems got burned out really fast. We’ll never know all the reasons why they broke-up. but in the year 2009, that doesnt matter. We’re not supposed be talking about a summer tour, this isn’t supposed to be happening. Maybe we’re just all have the same dream like trey talked about during harpua, 10/31/94. but their will be a tour, and i fgeel like the band is going to rage like it’s 1995 again. their an energy in the air, an anticipation that i’ve never known before.. its amazing. There will be plenty of phish to go around. i can’t wait to get sounboards from all of the new shows. It isn’t time to give up yet guys, we will get the tickets. The only rule is it begins…
Miner,
So what do you think about the announcement vid from yesterday. It’s interesting the contrasts between the Hampton vid and the summer vid, the ambient jam that built to a pennacle vs. the funk od PYITE….
Fox theatre looks sick!!!!