PHISH EXILED IN THE CALIFORNIA DESERT FOR FIRST WEST COAST FESTIVAL

Phish perform one of the greatest albums of all time at 8, their first West Coast Festival and Trey talks about really connecting with their fans

After recently reuniting, Phish performed their annual Halloween concert for the first time since 1998 and holding true to tradition, the band once again covered one of their favorite albums from start to finish. For Phish 8, which was held in Indio, California on the same grounds Coachella, the band performed The Rolling Stones legendary album “Exile on Main Street” complete with horn section and back up singers which also included Sharon Jones of Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings. Also for the first time, Phish treated their fans to a full acoustic set which took place Sunday morning November 1st as the band gave away free donuts and coffee. With 40,000 fans in attendance Phish held their first West Coast Festival after putting on many successful festivals since 1996 on the east coast. For Phish’s multi day festivals in the past, which helped pave the way for Bonnaroo and many other American festivals, the band would be the only band performing multiple sets over consecutive days.

In a recent interview a few years back when he performed at Vegoose over Halloween, Phish’s lead guitarist Trey Anastasio talked about the band really being able to connect with their fans as the only band.

“We love all kinds of music and we want to play with other musicians but we found with Phish that we could connect with people on a more intense level if we really spent a lot of time. So Amy’s Farm was the beginning of that whole festival thing and i think, was that one day or was that a couple of days? Two days! What happens is you really get to know people.”

Besides “Exile on Main Street”, the final contenders that Phish considered playing were Radiohead’s “Kid A”, Genesis’ epic “Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”, King Crimson’s “Lark Tongues in Aspic”, “Electric Ladyland” by Jimi Hendrix, Prince’s “Purple Rain”, “Hunky Dory” by David Bowie and a nod to the kids, MGMT’s “Oracular Spectacular.” In past Halloween shows, Phish has performed The Beatles “The White Album”, The Talking Heads “Remain in Light”, the Who’s “Quadrophenia” and the Velvet Underground’s “Loaded.” Phish recently announced a fall tour in support of their latest album “Joy” with dates beginning November 18th in Detroit, Mi and extending until December 5th in Charlottesville, NC. It was also announced Phish will be performing in Miami, Fl December 29th-31st with a special New Years run of shows.