49 Fun Facts About Phish

Phish formed in 1983 in which city?

Phish formed in Burlington, Vermont, in late 1983 when the founders met at the University of Vermont; the city remained the band's home base.

Which founding member left Phish in 1986?

Jeff Holdsworth, a founding guitarist, left in 1986 after graduating and becoming a born-again Christian, leaving the quartet that then stayed intact for decades.

In what year did keyboardist Page McConnell officially become a full-time member?

Page McConnell became a full-time member in 1985 after booking the band for a spring show at his college that year; Anastasio and the drummer soon transferred there too.

Which member of Phish plays the drums?

Jon Fishman is Phish's drummer, a founding member from 1983 who also takes occasional lead vocals from behind the kit.

Which Burlington bar became Phish's regular venue from late 1984?

Nectar's on Main Street hosted Phish regularly from December 1984; the 1992 album A Picture of Nectar honours its owner, Nectar Rorris.

Who co-writes most of Phish's songs with Trey Anastasio?

Tom Marshall, Anastasio's friend from their school days in Princeton, New Jersey, wrote the lyrics to most Phish songs, from 'Wilson' to 'Farmhouse'.

The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday began as Trey Anastasio's senior project at which school?

Anastasio submitted The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday as his senior study at Goddard College in Plainfield in 1988, creating the Gamehendge saga.

Through 2023, on how many occasions had the band performed the full Gamehendge suite?

Six full performances: 1988, 1991, 1993, twice in 1994, and then the 2023 New Year's Eve show after a 29-year wait.

What was Phish's self-released debut studio album, sold on cassette at shows?

Junta, self-released on cassette in 1989, was the band's first studio album; its multi-part epics became concert staples for decades.

Which epic from the first album is considered the band's signature song?

'You Enjoy Myself', from the debut album, is Phish's signature song; its multi-part structure, trampoline segment and vocal jam made it a set centrepiece for decades.

Which major label signed Phish in 1991?

Elektra Records signed Phish in 1991; A Picture of Nectar (1992) was their first album for the label, which also reissued Lawn Boy.

The 1993 album Rift featured a cover painted by whom?

David Welker painted the Rift cover, a surreal dreamscape of a sleeping man whose dream holds images drawn from the album's songs.

Which song, from 1994's Hoist, was Phish's first to appear on a Billboard chart?

'Down with Disease' reached No. 33 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart in 1994, the first Phish song to chart.

Which band member directed Phish's only official music video?

Mike Gordon, the bassist, directed the band's lone 1994 video and went on to make the films Outside Out (2000) and Rising Low (2002).

Which single from Billy Breathes was the band's most successful on the Billboard rock charts?

'Free' reached No. 11 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and No. 24 on Modern Rock Tracks in 1996, the band's best rock-radio showing.

Which company from the band's home state launched the ice cream flavour Phish Food?

Ben & Jerry's launched Phish Food in 1997: chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and caramel swirls and fudge fish, named for the band from its home state.

Proceeds from Phish Food go to which band charity?

Phish's own charity, the WaterWheel Foundation, founded in 1997, receives the band's Phish Food royalties and makes grants in the communities the tour visits; the Mockingbird Foundation is a separate fan-run charity.

Phish's first festival, The Clifford Ball in 1996, was held at a decommissioned what?

The Clifford Ball took over the decommissioned Plattsburgh Air Force Base in upstate New York in August 1996, complete with a surprise set played from a flatbed truck rolling through the campground.

The Clifford Ball drew how many people, making it the largest single concert in the US in 1996?

About 70,000 fans attended the Clifford Ball in August 1996, the largest crowd at any single US concert that year and the biggest Phish had drawn.

Phish's millennium festival was held on which reservation in Florida?

Big Cypress, the Seminole Tribe's reservation in the Everglades, hosted about 75,000 fans on December 30-31, 1999 for the band's millennium festival.

The New Year's Eve 1999 set that fans call 'The Show' started at 11:35 p.m. and ran roughly how long?

The set ran nearly eight hours, from 11:35 p.m. until about 7:15 a.m., as the band played straight through to sunrise on 1 January 2000.

Which 2000 Phish single crossed over to mainstream pop radio?

'Heavy Things', the lead single from Farmhouse (May 2000), crossed over to mainstream pop radio, a rarity for a jam band, and became a live staple.

Where did Anastasio announce the band's first hiatus to fans, during a September 2000 concert?

Anastasio told the crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on September 30, 2000 that the band was taking an 'extended time-out'; it lasted until New Year's Eve 2002.

Which muddy August 2004 festival was billed as Phish's farewell?

Coventry, held on August 14-15, 2004 in the band's home state, was billed as the final shows; rain turned the site to mud and thousands abandoned their cars to walk in.

Phish's 2009 reunion shows were held at which venue?

Hampton Coliseum in Virginia, nicknamed 'the Mothership' by fans, hosted the three reunion shows on March 6-8, 2009.

What was the first song Phish played at the 2009 reunion?

'Fluffhead', an epic from the band's earliest years that fans had chanted for during the 2003-04 shows, opened the first reunion show on March 6, 2009.

Phish's summer 2017 residency at Madison Square Garden ran for how many nights?

Thirteen nights, from July 21 to August 6, 2017, billed as the Baker's Dozen; each show had a donut theme and no song was repeated across the run.

How many different songs did Phish play across the Baker's Dozen without a single repeat?

Phish played 237 different songs across the Baker's Dozen without repeating one, cementing its reputation for never playing the same show twice.

For Halloween 1994, Phish's first 'musical costume' was which record, chosen by a mail-in fan poll?

Fans voted by mail for The Beatles' White Album, which Phish played in full as the second of three sets at the Glens Falls Civic Center on October 31, 1994.

For Halloween 1995 the band hired a full horn section to perform which rock opera?

Quadrophenia, The Who's 1973 double album, was the second annual musical costume, played at the Rosemont Horizon near Chicago with a hired horn section.

Kasvot Växt, whose album í rokk Phish performed on Halloween 2018, was what?

Kasvot Växt was a fictional band the group invented: the set was all-new original material dressed up as a lost 1980s Scandinavian prog album, complete with a fake band history.

The drummer's trademark onstage 'instrument' during cover songs is what?

The drummer's baby-blue Electrolux vacuum, played like a horn by blowing into its hose, entered the repertoire around 1989.

The drummer performs in a blue muumuu printed with what pattern?

The dress bears red annuli (rings) on blue; the band's 2015 application to trademark the donut-like pattern was initially refused by the patent office.

In 2017 the drummer was elected a selectman of which coastal town?

Lincolnville, on Penobscot Bay, elected him to its select board in June 2017; born in Philadelphia, he grew up in Syracuse.

Trey Anastasio was born in which Texas city before moving to Princeton, New Jersey, at age three?

Ernest Joseph 'Trey' Anastasio III was born in Fort Worth on September 30, 1964; the family moved to Princeton when he was three.

Anastasio's Broadway musical Hands on a Hardbody earned him a 2013 Tony nomination in which category?

Anastasio and lyricist Amanda Green were nominated for Best Original Score at the 2013 Tonys for Hands on a Hardbody, a musical about a Texas truck-endurance contest that closed within a month of opening.

Anastasio's custom hollow-body electric guitars are built by which maker?

Paul Languedoc, the band's former sound engineer, builds Anastasio's hollow-body guitars, with set maple necks and 24-fret ebony fretboards.

Which acoustic guitar pioneer made the albums Clone and Noon with Phish's bassist?

Leo Kottke and the bassist released Clone (2002), Sixty Six Steps (2005) and Noon (2020), pairing Kottke's 12-string fingerstyle with the bassist's quirky songwriting.

Page McConnell's father, Dr. Jack McConnell, helped develop which painkiller?

Dr. Jack McConnell worked at McNeil Laboratories on the development of Tylenol and later helped develop the MRI; his son is nicknamed 'The Chairman of the Boards'.

Page McConnell founded which electronic jazz-fusion side project in 2001?

Vida Blue, a trio with Oteil Burbridge and Russell Batiste, was named after the Oakland A's pitcher Vida Blue; its debut album came in 2002.

Phish's 2001 Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Rock Performance was for which Farmhouse track?

'First Tube', the Farmhouse instrumental written with Tony Markellis and Russ Lawton, earned the Best Rock Instrumental Performance nomination at the 2001 Grammys.

In April 2024 Phish became the second act, after which band, to perform at Sphere in Las Vegas?

U2 opened Sphere with a residency that began in September 2023; Phish followed on April 18-21, 2024 with four nights of all-new visuals, the first act after U2 to play the venue.

Evolve, released in July 2024, was Phish's how-manyeth studio album?

Evolve was the sixteenth studio album, counting The Siket Disc; its predecessor, Sigma Oasis, arrived in April 2020 during lockdown.

Phish's first concert on December 2, 1983 was held in what kind of campus venue?

The first show was in the Harris Millis Cafeteria at the University of Vermont on December 2, 1983, a set of classic rock covers.

The 1992 album A Picture of Nectar shows bar owner Nectar Rorris's face superimposed on what?

The album honoured the owner of the Burlington bar where Phish played dozens of residency shows from 1984 to 1989.

In 1989, what did Phish do when Boston's Paradise Rock Club refused to book them?

The show sold out thanks to the caravan of fans who travelled to see them.

Limestone, site of the Great Went, Lemonwheel and It festivals, is in which state?

The three festivals took place at the decommissioned Loring base in Limestone, Maine, near the Canadian border; It in 2003 was the last held there.

Which 2018 Phish festival was cancelled by health officials one day before it was due to begin?

Curveball at Watkins Glen, New York was called off on August 16, 2018 after flooding compromised the site's water supply, the day before gates were due to open.

Which actor, name-checked in the song 'Wombat', joined Phish onstage in a wombat costume in 2013?

Abe Vigoda, the Barney Miller actor the lyrics name-check, shuffled onstage in a wombat suit at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Halloween 2013, during the set of new songs.