After exactly one month off, Phish will return for their late-summer run at the improbable Berkeley, California locale, The Greek Theatre. One of the most beautifully set amphitheatres in the land will host Phish for a three-night party on August 5-7, kicking off the most anticipated week of the Summer 2010. On a hilltop at the University of California, the famous Bay Area icon holds only 8,500 people per night, making it the first truly tough ticket of the summer. With only these three shows on the west coast until the fall, fans will be coming from far and wide to see Phish’s return to The Greek. With a GA policy and limited floor space, you can bet on a Red-Rocks-esque scene of early arrivals rolling out tarps and staking claim on their crew’s space for the night.If two things are for sure, Berkeley will be a scene, and these shows will be something special.
After only one day off, Phish will fulfill the rumor of the winter by playing Town Park in Telluride, CO. On August 9 and 10, the Phish community will descend upon this mountain hamlet for the most anticipated shows of the summer. Returning to Telluride for the first time since 1991, these two days will have a throwback vibe, as the band plays at the base of the Rockies. Expect a festive atmosphere in town all weekend, as Phish unveils their mountain music inspired by the gorgeous environs. With tickets exclusively sold in two-day passes, only 9,000 people, total, will get in to what looks to be the most enchanted Phish experience of the summer. In the span of six days, Phish will play five shows of under 10,000 people, something that hasn’t happened since Japan 2000. Pretty…pretty…pretty…pretty cool.
Following the opening week of August, the scene will shift to the Midwest for one of the most classic combos of summer venues, Deer Creek and Alpine Valley. 2010 will make it nine consecutive summer tours, dating back to 1996, that the band will combine these two Midwestern jewels. With shows that, historically, almost never disappoint, this run is a no-brainer for standout Phish. With two shows in the cornfields and two in cheese country, the overnight route between the two venues is perhaps the most classic summer Phish drive that exists in the land. Maybe this year someone can figure out why the highways in Wisconsin are named with letters instead of numbers.
And to close the tour – for now – the band will return to the east coast for two shows at Jones Beach in Wantagh, New York. This summer, Long Island will host the end of tour as opposed to 2009′s three-night stand at the onset of June. On the original set of dates that circulated before the announcement, everything matched up exactly, but there were also two Radio City shows tacked onto the end. The absence of these dates on the official announcement either means that they fell through at the last minute, or they are still hammering out the details. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something else added the end of tour, as bringing the circus to the east coast for only two shows seems a bit odd. Time will tell.
Looking over the entirety of Phish’s 29-show summer, the clear concentration of shows lies in the northeastern corridor, garnering grumblings from the peanut gallery out west. Lest we forget, Phish, at their roots, is an east coast band, and after a five-year break, that is more true than ever. With their fans, friends, and families concentrated in the east, and a diminished desire to grow their fanbase nationally, Phish has no true incentive to come out west except to visit sublime venues. And that is exactly what they have been doing. Between Red Rocks, The Gorge, Indio, The Greek Theatre, and Telluride, you have the five most engaging runs of Phish 3.0, all, by modern standards, “out west.” Maybe we’ll see a west coast swing come fall, but somehow I wonder.
Regardless, Phish is locked and loaded for what hopes to be a ground-breaking summer. In all likelihood, the band will begin to carve a new direction for their music, and within these venues of August, the cream of the crop will rise to the top, as the Phish’s playing traditionally peaks on the back half of tours. With everything back in place, this will be the first tour we can truly take at face value, as an indication of what is to come. With the building blocks of 2009 out of the way, things couldn’t be more exciting.
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Jam of the Day:
“Bathtub Gin” 7.21.97 I
A standout piece of Summer ’97′s US opener.
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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
6.29.94 Walnut Creek Amp, Raleigh, NC < Torrent
6.29.94 Walnut Creek Amp, Raleigh, NC < Megaupload
Phish’s first of many visits to this Raleigh tour stop came amidst a smoking run of June ’94.
I: The Curtain, Sample in a Jar, Reba, Mound, Julius, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Catapult > David Bowie, I Didn’t Know, Golgi Apparatus
II: The Landlady, Poor Heart, Tweezer, It’s Ice, Lifeboy, The Divided Sky, Suzy Greenberg, Cavern
E: Ya Mar, Tweezer Reprise
Source: Unknown
