The Festival Buzz
Watkins Glen, New York
The Watkins Glen rumor mill got some strong spins this weekend from two conflicting sources. On Saturday, BandsThatJam.com, a blog based out of New York state, poured gasoline on an already-burning fire by claiming that Phish had signed contracts in place for an 8 set, 3 day Phish-only festival. This report came as a tremendous relief for Phish fans, many who had feared, based on last-week’s speculation, that the band’s festival might be encroached upon by the unwanted scene of The Dave Matthews Band. But as soon as Phish fans began celebrating and discussing summer plans, there came a retort.
Yesterday, Watkins Glen Racetrack President, Michael Printup, publicly denied these reports in the Elmira Gazette saying:
We don’t know who is putting that out. There are a bunch of erroneous sites out there. We’ve been working with a concert promoter. But we don’t even have a contract. It’s all wishful thinking. We haven’t even signed a contract with a promoter. You do that first. Then it’s up to him to see what band he gets…Watkins Glen International is looking at some kind of summer concert, but it’s too early to even start talking about bands.
But when Hidden Track.com‘s Scotty B reached out to Peter Stergion of BandsThatJam for clarification of their report, Stergion was quick to stand by his story. Stergion explained:
The WGI President has to deny the story. They can’t publicly confirm until all the loose ends have been tied up. Our source has given us credible, specific information. Our source is not a Phish fan so they wouldn’t even have the ability to make up the information which is very consistent with what Phish has done in the past.
While not getting any more specific on their, allegedly, rock solid source, Stergion went on to defended his report to Hidden Track:
We publish stories based on good information from good sources. We take a look at the circumstances of the information and decide whether or not it’s credible. In this case we believe this will happen so we published it…We never heard DMB mentioned by anyone in person or any sources from within Watkins Glen. We’re confident that Watkins Glen will be a Phish-only festival.
10.31.09 (G.Lucas)
Well, we’ve heard both sides of this hot topic, and while I am leaning towards believing the report of a Phish-only festival, who can know for sure? The Phish at Watkins Glen rumors have circulated for quite some time now, but a true scare came last week when The Dave Matthews Band, who shares a management company, announced 4 multi-day, multi-band festivals around the country this summer. The feared crossover of the Phish and Dave Matthews scenes seemed imminent, and plenty of people were quick to voice plenty of reasons why that was not a good idea. But let’s not even go there. Hopefully, that disaster has been averted. If such an atrocity ever materialized, be sure I’ll weigh with my two cents.
But for now we will wait…and wait. Phish announced their entire 2010 Summer Tour in March last year, but in 2009, they dropped their first set of dates in January and their second set in March. In short, we could hear any day between now an April. With both Trey and Mike about to kick off their own tours, one might guess that Phish wait until they are done to tell us their summer plans. But then again, who knows? Surrounding hotels (of which there are few) and RVs have already been booked around the Watkins Glen area based on buzz alone. And if I had to guess, 8 sets over 3 days sounds just right to end a tour. One can hope…
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Jam of the Day:
“Ghost” 7.23.97 II SBD
A seminal Summer ’97 version.
[audio:http://phishthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/7.23.97-Ghost-DSDB.mp3]
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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
7.23.1997 Lakewood Amphitheatre, Atlanta, Georgia
FLAC Torrent (via etree), Mp3 Torrent, Megaupload < Links
The third show US Summer ‘97 capped a comic-book opening to US Summer ’97. Following Virginia Beach and Raleigh, Phish moved down to Atlanta and funked hard in their second visit to the venue. With, perhaps, the hottest “Ghost” of the summer and a smoking “YEM” the band left some legitmate jams in Atlanta, and they were off to Texas at the beginning of a revolutionary summer season. This show goes out via Twitter request to @LacobbieWan! (If you’re on Twitter, follow me @mrminer)
I: Julius, Dirt, NICU, Dogs Stole Things, Ginseng Sullivan, Water in the Sky, Limb By Limb, Split Open and Melt, Billy Breathes, Possum
II: Punch You in the Eye, Ghost > Sample in a Jar, You Enjoy Myself > Rocky Mountain Way* > Chalk Dust Torture
E: Frankenstein
Notes: *Debut, Joe Walsh cover
Source: Schoeps CMC641 > Sonasax > SBM-1 > DA-P1
Tags: 2011, Festivals, Rumors, Summer 2011
“need to check out Christiana.”
Of all the people in all the world, you need to hear that tune. Seriously, if I need to stick an old school CD in the mail, give me the addy.
You surviving the blizzard?
“don’t drink the friedman koolaide!”
Listen to this man.
but judging from all your cool guy liberal blah blah blah smart guy bullshit
I can def see you occasionally drink another writers kool aide so thanks for looking out
does he have a religion
it’s just a fucking book. written a long time ago. I found on our bookshelf
damn this cat pissed off all the smart people some how
Yes Palmer. Thanks for the heads up.
he’s a good writer, i’ll give him that
and he has a few good arguments, he tends to get things right on green energy & its links to foreign policy
but don’t worry rt, i’m not worried about you slurping him in the future. shit you pimp around here either has to be phish or no whitey style, right? 😉
NYT douche bag fits pretty well
whoa, just chatting. nothing serious about freidman.
Night fellas, it was nice to stop in for an hour once in a while.
I’m out just wanted to pimp that RMCH GHost
have fun kids
laterz
guess i hit a nerve there, my bad
got the rcmh Ghost and then 12.2.95 ( thanks sumo) queued up. Missed 5.23.00 live, went the night before. The lesser of the 2 shows unfortunately. Those were some tough tickets, man.
Is Friedman the NYT guy w/ the beard. Kind of squirrelly type of fellow?
click my name to dl apple loslessrcmh ghost, sbd
***
enter the void is a f*cked up psychedelic mindbender of a flick
highly recommended tho it is too long. dark n twisted!
hmm. now i’m confused. I know i went to 1 of the RCMH shows. Pretty sure i went the first night, so i guess i did see the ghost. Burnt, i am. call me toast from now on.
i’m an idiot. I went to 5.21, not 5.22. No Ghost for me. Was looking at Roseland like it was night 2 of Radio City. Thanks all for indulging my stupidity.
I think you’re thinking Krugman, @ Mr. P.
Friedman is the guy that looks like a fucking douchebag.
I’m down with RCMH Ghost. Love that version. I vividly remember hearing it for the first time on the Close-By PA while selling Sunkist out of the cooler on the “campground shakedown” at DC 2000. Good times.
i got the Dirt and the Twist nite at RCMH….no Ghost. wtf. (and no roseland!)
‘Friedman is the guy that looks like a fucking douchebag.’
llfa
Is RCMH on sbd, or should I try to find an aud of that?
your right @ selector.
T3 needs to buy me a friggin gyrowheel to get these stalkers away from my interwebz.
um… what now?
just taught my sons how to use the turntable and amp. +1 for dad.
just spun some kiss alive II and zep 1 with them. + 2 for dad.
jeffiem- kp has it. Its the sbd project.
http://www.phishauds.com/
GD, I think that’s at least +5
The only piece of my parents property that has been claimed between my sister and me is Dad’s turn table + Record Collection.
Oh, thanks Palmer.
Too many goodies in there.
“Radio City Ghost is special, but it’s no Christiana Ghost”
interesting proposal. i dont know if i’ve ever decided between these… its been a while since i treaded the holy waters of the rcmh ghost though, i just spun christiana recently.
might be that time to bust out rcmh.
i think ive always leaned towards RC though. ive never heard a better definition of “the pocket” than they what they hit at a certain point in that jam.
time to get back into class
too bad my dad’s record collection consisted of peter paul and mary and the smothers brothers…
7.6.98 is a great ghost from that era as well. More of a Trey led, rock star shredfest. The youtube of that one is a favorite of mine ( as well as many others)
Kiss Alive II is worth 3 pts on its own there @ Gdad.