Now that Phish has returned and not only announced an early “summer” tour (it’s really in early June, making it a late spring tour) and a late summer tour, this summer is fixing to be a good one. I already have tickets for their June 6 show at Great Woods. Last night, I put in a request for tickets for the first 3 Red Rocks shows and the August 14 show at the Meadows in Hartford. While I can’t afford all 3 shows at the Red Rocks, someone will get lucky with my third pair (assuming I get all 3) for face value. I’m not looking to make money off some phan. I want the music just as much as the next guy and, while I can use the $300 I’d be able to get for each ticket, I’m not a douchebag scalper (like the student I have mentioned before). Susan agreed to go with me to Colorado, making it a small vacation to the Denver area. She’s reluctantly agreed to go to 2 shows there (the first because Red Rocks is such a unique and beautiful venue, the second because I won’t go out there without seeing 2 shows, unless I only get tickets to one of the four). While we’re out there, we can visit some of our favorite breweries and some new ones. The Denver/Boulder/Golden areas are all loaded with great breweries.
I’m really hoping I get tickets for the first 2 nights of Red Rocks. It will be the first time Phish has played there since 1996. I had originally thought that the issues were just the crowds, but apparently, there were some problems. Here’s a news report about what went down in Morrison on the nights of the Phish shows in 1996.
It’s really sad that this happened, and I fully understand why the town would not want them back there. It reminds me of the riots that occurred several years in a row during Dave Matthews’ 3 night runs at the Meadows in Hartford, only it was different. The Phishheads were just trying to have fun, though most of them should not have been there to begin with as they did not have tickets. The band always asks that people without tickets stay home. So to any of you reading this who are thinking of going on summer tour, but do not have tickets, STAY HOME. It just causes more problems than it solves. Sure, it’s fun to hang out in the lots, but you risk the band not being invited back to a venue/town/state. That would ruin it for everyone. The riots at the Dave shows were simply because the Dave scene was (I haven’t been part of it in a long time for this reason) like a giant drunken frat party with 20,000 people.
I’m looking forward to the summer Phish shows. At the very least, I hope to get tickets for the Meadows. I have yet to see Phish there (have only seen them at the Hartford Civic Center in CT). I’m hoping they do a small tour at some point and stop in Providence. I would love to have a hometown show. I imagine they wouldn’t do this until the fall or next spring. They generally don’t play indoor venues in the summer.
To top it all off, there are rumors of a Phish festival in Texas that started because of the video announcement of the second leg of the tour (as seen below).
PHISH LATE SUMMER 2009 from Phish on Vimeo.
I have also read that there is a possibility of a festival in the northeast because of the location of the last show of the tour in Saratoga, NY.
Finally, there’s the rumor that Phish is going to start their tour at Fenway park in Boston. Dave Matthews is playing a couple nights there, and Phish is rumored to be playing the night following their shows on May 31. There are no games that day and being under the same management, there would be less cost in setup as the stage could remain assembled for another day. I would have expected that if they were doing that, they would have announced it with the late summer shows. However, with the question up in the air about a festival, perhaps they’ll announce both at the same time. Maybe they’ll do a 100% sold at the door show at Fenway (though the Boston Police would probably frown upon that after the craziness in Somerville with the “secret” U2 show).
Only the band knows what their planning, but it is safe to say, the summer is going to be an exciting one.