As we prepare to turn the calendar to April, only four months stand between us and the alleged start of Phish’s second leg of Summer Tour. Trey and Mike have both completed their solo runs, June’s on-sales have come and gone, and yet still we have no dates confirmed for August. At this point, the delayed announcement, first rumored for last Tuesday and then for yesterday, has turned into a situation for more than a few puzzled fans. An older fan base who, collectively, has more life commitments than ever before needs more than a few months to plan its summer vacations, and with the lack of any definite dates for August, many people are being left in limbo.
On the very same token, there has still been no news about Watkins Glen. Except for the hacker-discovered (assumed) title of the festival—Superball 9—there has been no information announced regarding the details—or the confirmation of–the event. If, indeed, the Watkins Glen fest is to take place on July 4th weekend, that is only three months away. Though far fewer people will have to take vacation days to hit up the holiday-weekend fiesta, planning needs to be done, plane tickets purchased, RVs rented (if they haven’t been already), among other things. After posting the lyrics to “Contact” on his race track’s website, Michael Printup, better known to the Phish community as @theglenprez, has been surprisingly silent, while last week he seemed as giddy to announce the festival last week as a middle-schooler who just had felt breasts for the first time and couldn’t wait to tell his friends. To quote a question Cliff Clavin posed repetitively in his one-time stand-up routine—“What’s up with that?” At this point, one has to believe there is a reason for the delay, but what is it? You’re guess is as good as mine.
One rumor about the delayed announcement of any further Phish shows is that management wants to first see more ticket sales for June’s East Coast shows. Let me be of help here: if you want East Coast Phish shows to sell out faster, or at all, play less shows! Sure that sounds like the last thing you would ever hear me say, but from a business perspective, if that is really the problem, then why supersaturate the Northeast with concerts? Some things I will never understand.
Nonetheless, we can guess and second-guess as to why things haven’t been announced yet, but until the dates drop, that is all we can do. Sorry for the lack of real hard facts here, but there is nothing to go on at this point except rumors. And speaking of rumors, wouldn’t it be great if the one saying Phish will play three nights at UIC Pavilion in Chicago, instead of Deer Creek and Alpine, came true? It has gained steam in the past weeks, but until we hear officially, we’ll just keep guessing and making tentative plans with refundable deposits and courtesy holds all across the nation.
Throw us a bone…drop the dates already.
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Jam of the Day:
“YEM” 11.18.95 II
Fifteen years before they played the North Charleston Coliseum last fall, Phish dropped this classic “Brickhouse”-laced “YEM” in the very same room.
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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:
12.30.1992 Symphony Hall Springfield, Massahusetts
FLAC Torrent (via etree), Mp3 Torrent, Megaupload < Links
The night before New Year’s Eve—1992 style. A classic show.
I: The Landlady, Sparkle, Split Open and Melt, Esther, Chalk Dust Torture, Fluffhead, Paul and Silas, Reba -> I Walk the Line -> Reba, I Didn’t Know, David Bowie -> Timber -> David Bowie
II: Axilla, Rift, Bathtub Gin, You Enjoy Myself*, TMWSIY > Avenu Malkenu > TMWSIY, Possum, Big Ball Jam -> HYHU > Love You > HYHU, Take the ‘A’ Train, Llama
E: Ride Captain Ride, Sweet Adeline
* w/ Auld Lang Syne jam
Source: SBD > DAT > cassette
