THEN
Phish came to fruition in 1983 at the University of Vermont. After a few small lineup changes, the historical lineup of Trey Anastasio, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and Page McConnell came together in 1986. Shortly after they released a cassette entitled The White Tape which gained popularity through trading and bootlegging. In 1987, as his senior project, Trey Anastasio wrote the concept album The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday. This album contains many tracks that would go on to be live staples the band plays throughout their entire career such as “Fly Famous Mockingbird”, “Colonel Forbin’s Accent”, “The Sloth”, and “Possum”. Another live staple from The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday is the famous “Wilson” that you can see being performed in 1987 below.
NOW
Over their illustrious 20+ year career Phish has garnered a large dedicated fan base, known as Phans, Phriends, Phish-heads, or any number of ph-substituted nicknames. The loyalty and dedication of their fans has allowed for them to hold eight of their own festivals and release over numerous successful albums and concert DVDs. After breaking in 2004, all four members reunited in 2009 for their newest studio effort Joy, a full tour, and their eighth music festival which was held in Indio, CA over Halloween weekend. Below you can see them performing “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan” during their first of their two headlining sets at Bonnaroo 2009.
