I was ten years old when the boys from Vermont unleashed what we know it as today…Island Tour ’98.  Four shows spanning two states in the northeast. Long Island in New York and Providence in Rhode Island. But I’m sure many of you already know that. As Phish wrapped up a raging summer tour, everyone was already in full throttle with New Year’s rumors and possible fall tour plans. As the time got near, my mission was clear, and a 6-night run of shows was announced. A 3.0 island tour if you will.

The conference, which will take place in Oregon State’s Memorial Union, will include more than 50 presentations from researchers from more than 20 states and Canada. Presentation titles include: “Phish’s Improvisation in Light of Talmudic Scholastic Practice,” “‘This Your First Show?’: White Racism and Subcultural Capital in the Phish Community” and “The Neuroscience of the Jam: A research paradigm to study brain inactivity underlying improvisation in Phish.”

On Wednesday night, Trey Anastasio brought his newest side project, Ghosts of the Forest, to the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. Promoting the band's self-titled album that would be released two days later, Anastasio performed 21 songs, most of them written after the passing of his dear friend Chris "CCott" Cottrell, who had passed away from cancer prior to the songs being written.

Jam band juggernauts Phish are in the midst of the West Coast leg of their extensive Summer 2018 tour. Fans have been wowed by the sheer diversity of setlists, unexpected arrangements, and intriguing chemistry. After the triumphant Bakers Dozen run at Madison Square Garden last summer, the quartet demonstrated their desire to explore far-off realms and keep their repertoire both expansive and tight.

There may be no band that has been more critically analyzed song by song and show by show than Phish. Phish phans are some of the most attuned and astute musical analysts in the music scene. Since my first show in December of 1996 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia to my 197th show at the closing of this summer tour at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, I have seen and heard such vastly differing opinions about nearly every show.

The Mimi Fishman Foundation has launched their second online charity auction of 2017. This time around the Foundation offers drumsticks from 2016 and 2017 shows. The drumsticks are labeled for date/show and also signed by Phish drummer Jon Fishman. Many shows are represented including sticks from Mexico (2017), New Years (2016) and Halloween (2016).

The auction ends April 13, 2017 and can be found at http://auction.mimifishman.org

Thank you...The Mimi Fishman Foundation

In today’s age of social media and the technological prison we live in it is amazing that a band like Phish can still keep a secret, especially from their rabid fan base.  When the band announced in early September that they were finally releasing their long-awaited studio follow-up to 2014’s Fuego, message boards and dedicated fan sites immediately began churning the rumor mill regarding which songs would appear on Big Boat.  The band had, after all, written and performed many new songs over the last few tours so it wou

It is no secret that most Phish fans consider the band’s finest, or at least most grand, performances were heard over the 1999 New Year’s Eve run at Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in Florida.  Even the band members themselves have hinted that those shows may have been the pinnacle of their storied history.  Phish-heads have been clamoring for years that the organization needs to release legitimate soundboard copies of those epic NYE shows, and although those cries have so far proven fruitless the band has decided to deli

“Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer.”

 Hunter S. Thompson.

After the grand way the band has been performing the last few years, we can sometimes forget how much Phish used to dominate the 90s live music scene.  By the winter of 1995 the band was still performing slightly under the radar and these four musical wizards were summoning magic on-stage nightly.  The band is currently in the midst of an excellent fall tour, and with another winter looming has offered up an archival release from that distinguished period, this being from their December 7th 1995 show at the Niagara Falls Convention Center