With the fan community sitting on the precipice of Summer Tour – Part Deux, the rumor mill exploded over the weekend with multiple sources all but confirming Phish in Atlantic City, New Jersey for Halloween 2010. In a reversal of coasts from 2009’s Festival 8, Phish will wind up back east for this year’s three-set extravaganza. The band will supposedly play Boardwalk Hall, with a capacity of 13,800 (and rumored to be a GA show) making this a fairly intimate Halloween affair. While last year, anyone could have walked up and bought a ticket for Phish’s Halloween festival in Indio, this year things will be far more competitive to gain entry into the under-sized arena. Atlantic City will be the smallest Halloween show since 1994, when Phish donned their inaugural “musical costume” in Glens Falls, New York, among 5,800 fans. Unless things have been sorely mis-represented, we’ll be meeting up on the Jersey Shore come October 31st.
Many fans have gone ahead and booked rooms at the nearby casinos for the holiday weekend, while others have complained about the shows’ locale. While Atlantic City may not be Las Vegas, it will certainly provide ’round-the-clock entertainment unlike Albany or Providence, the other cities thrown through the rumor mill. Whether one gambles or not, the beach, boardwalk and the many casinos in which to carouse will certainly provide an entertaining backdrop for a couple of celebratory shows.
With the “confirmation” of a Halloween show, the conversation immediately turns to the album Phish will cover during the second set. By playing The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street so masterfully last year, the band set a high bar for Halloween covers this era. The early and obvious call from many has been a Bruce Springsteen album, but even though in New Jersey, and Born To Run was in the infamous gallery of 99 last year, this just seems too transparent for Phish. Let the guessing games begin as there are officially three months until the band unveils its sixth musical costume of their career.
If nothing else, this rumor confirms a Halloween show, giving us a possible ending point for a tour that likely starts on the 8th at Austin City Limits. The only other strongly-rumored dates right now are three nights in Broomfield, Colorado after Austin. Does Atlantic City cancel out Las Vegas, or will Phish visit the casinos of both coasts in one tour? Many questions linger about Fall Tour 2010, including the eternal wondering of a west coasters if a run will come their way, something that may be less likely with an eastward-flowing tour. But with a possible three weeks to play with in between the two solid dates we have, any sort of routing is possible. It seems that we won’t be finding out any answers about Fall before the end of this coming tour, as any announcement this week is highly unlikely.
So the mill will continue to spin, spitting out rumors throughout the upcoming weeks, but if one thing seems certain, Phish will keep their families close to home this October holiday, playing only hours from New York and Vermont. Keeping things in the Northeast for Halloween and New Years (at MSG), the high holy days of the Phish calendar will return to haunts of old after tropical vacations in California and Miami in 2009. While they may not provide the warm climate of last year, something tells me the shows could be a lot hotter, equalizing the meteorology of sure-to-be a stellar weekends of Phish.
Oh yeah. Three days ’til the Greek…
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Jam of the Day: Leg II Venue History Week
“Drowned > Chalk Dust Reprise > Chalk Dust” 7.22.00 I
This portion of Deer Creek’s first set laid the groundwork for a zany Phish show. The entire evening is featured below.
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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
7.11.2000 Deer Creek, Noblesville, IN < Torrent
7.11.2000 Deer Creek, Noblesville, IN < Megaupload
Some call it epic, some call it corny, but here is “The Moby Dick Show” from Deer Creek 2000.
I: Ya Mar, The Moma Dance, Uncle Pen, Drowned > Chalk Dust Torture Reprise > Chalk Dust Torture, Theme From the Bottom, Cavern
II: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Down with Disease > Moby Dick > Down with Disease, Runaway Jim > Moby Dick, Back on the Train > Moby Dick > Back on the Train, Harry Hood > Moby Dick, Hold Your Head Up > Terrapin > Hold Your Head Up > Moby Dick* > Hold Your Head Up, Character Zero
E: First Tube > Moby Dick > Chalk Dust Torture Reprise
*Trey on drums, Fish on vacuum
Source: AKG ck61/480(DIN/OTS) > Audio Magic X-Streams > Graham Patten DMIC-20@48k > Sony D-8
