Thursday April 1, 2010 at 12:00AM
As the world’s greatest improvisational jam band resumes touring at Chicago’s Toyota Park on June 11th, phan’s anticipation builds for the summer that lies ahead. Making their 3.0 comeback just over a year ago at Virginia’s Hampton Coliseum, Phish has opened up to an entirely new generation of phans while carrying on the tradition for their already daunting body of dedicated followers. Known for their often nonsensical lyrics, multi-peaked jams, and genre-transcending style, Phish 2.0 is filling the void that was left by their emotional and weather plagued 2004 farewell festival in Coventry, Vermont like an overflowing bath tub. To prepare the world for their upcoming summer tour, Phish will be releasing “Phish 3D” in major theaters for one week at the end of April. The movie was filmed at the legendary “Festival 8” over this past Halloween weekend in Indio, California. The movie is sure to catalogue never before seen footage of the historic, and never before attempted full acoustic Sunday morning set (where free “8” shaped donuts and coffee were served to the masses) as well as an epic costume set on Halloween eve featuring the Rolling Stone’s album Exile on Main Street; a favorite among the band and phans alike. For those of us who did not get to experience the magic at Festival 8, the in-theaters showing of Phish 3D will give everyone a real taste of what is to come this summer. This is not the first time that phans have been able to enjoy Phish in a movie theater. In 2004, Phish played two shows at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn. The venue could not nearly accommodate the crowds it was sure to attract, so in select theaters, phans could enjoy the concert live in real time from the movie theater! A shell shocked Jay-Z even made a brief appearance performing Big Pimpin’, and 99 Problems with Phish, seeming completely fascinated by the intensity and energy of the Phish environment. The theater crowds tried to replicate the feeling of actually being at the show, tossing beach balls, burning incense (among other things), and dancing around like the stadium seating was the same as the seating in Brooklyn. The Phish 3D experience is sure to be very much the same, and is eagerly awaited by phans, and friends of phans who have not been able to muster up the courage to actually attend a show. Phish’s upcoming tour includes a whopping 7 shows in New York State between June and August, so be sure to check one or all of them out!