Friday, July 24, 2009

Phish To Bring Back Halloween Cover Band Tradition To California

Phish will celebrate Halloween this year with a three-day fest called Festival 8 in Indio, California, the band has revealed on their website. The concerts will run from October 30th to November 1st, with the band’s October 31st night show reviving a Halloween tradition for the first time since 1998: As in years past, Phish will dress up in costumes and perform another band’s album in its entirety. Festival 8, named because it’s the band’s eighth festival since 1996, marks Phish’s first festival since 2004’s Coventry in Vermont, and the band’s first-ever festival anchored on the West Coast.

Tickets for Festival 8 go on sale Monday, July 27th, at 10AM PST. Tickets will cost $199, plus a $1 donation fee and a $15 parking pass for each vehicle. As Phish reiterates in their comically written FAQ section of their Festival 8 website, there are no one-day tickets available for the event.

“We are pleased to support this event,” said Glenn Southard, Indio City Manager. “It will bring thousands of visitors to the City of Indio and to the Coachella Valley and will provide a much-needed boost to our local economy. We look forward to a great event!”

Phish will play eight sets over the course of the three days, including the Halloween costume set featuring another band’s album. Past Phish trick-or-treat sessions have featured the Vermont foursome playing the Who’s Quadrophenia, the Beatles’ White Album, Talking Heads’ Remain In Light and the Velvet Underground’s Loaded, which the band covered at their last traditional Halloween in 1998.

Before hitting the road for their reunion tour earlier this year, Phish and producer Steve Lillywhite gathered in a New York City studio to record their new album, Joy. In an announcement on their official website obscured by the Festival 8 news, Phish revealed Joy will be released on September 8th and unveiled the album’s cover art.

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