Phish Hampton Coliseum Downloads & Recent News Articles

There has been a ton of press coverage devoted to Phish's three-night Hampton Coliseum run. Here are some of the more interesting news stories and show reviews I stumbled upon:

Washington Times -- Top 5 Ways Phish can Revive the Economy
Portland (Oregon) Examiner -- Hampton Arrests Make Phish Phans Look Ridiculous
The Raw Story -- Phish Bankrolled 200 Cops, Including Feds, for Reunion "Security"
Lumino Magazine -- Phish Ph-E-Ver is Back
Drug War Chronicle -- Law Enforcement: Cops Go Phishing for Dope at Virginia Concerts, Reel in Plenty
The Tech (MIT's newspaper) -- Phamily Reunion
Burlington Free Press -- Brent's Notebook: Mike Gordon Talks Phish
KSL.com -- Restaurants, Hotels Celebrate Phish's Return, Too
The Associated Press -- Phish Dusts Off, Returns to Stage
The Smoking Gun -- Mugshots of Phish-heads Who were Arrested in Hampton Last Weekend
MTV -- Phish Kick Off Reunion With Hit-Filled Hampton Shows (review)
Relix Magazine -- The Phish Report Night 2: More Ghost Stories (review)
JamBase -- Phish | 03.06.09 | Hampton Night One
Billboard -- Phish Demo 20 Songs For New Album
WAVY-TV -- Phish Fans Spend Much Needed Dollars in Hampton
DailyPress.com -- Poster Artist: The Coliseum "Makes for Good Design"
DailyPress.com -- Phish OKs Baseball Team's T-Shirt Sales
Chicago Tribune -- Phish Fans Bring Big Business, Big Busts
Newport News -- Phish Concert Brought in $7 Million or More to Hampton
Newport News -- Hampton Coliseum and Phish have Long, Jam-Happy History
ChicagoTribune.com -- Take the Phish in Hampton Quiz
Jambands.com -- A Fan's Take: Forwards Up The Number Line (A Phish Projection)
Richmond Times-Dispatch -- Hampton Reunion Lives Up to High Expectations
Wall Street Journal Blogs -- After Five Years, Phish is Swimming Again and Suing Bootleggers
Mr. Minor's Phish Thoughts -- Twist --> 2001 --> Moma

As for O-Phishial news released by Phish, the free MP3 soundboard recordings of each night of the band's 2009 Hampton Coliseum reunion run (March 6, 7 & 8) are no longer available for free. The shows are still available to download at LivePhish.com but they now cost $9.95 per night, or $26.95 (about a $3 discount) for ordering all three shows at once. Here are individual links to the web page for each show:

March 6
March 7
March 8

Of course, you don't have to download MP3 files. For those of you who prefer the highest quality recording available, click here. FLAC files for each show can be purchased for $12.95 per night, or for a 10 percent discount of $34.95 for purchasing all three shows at once. You can also buy CDs of each show, complete with labels and jewel cases designed by the band's camp, for $23 per show, or for a 10 percent discount when purchasing all three shows for $57.95.

So far there is no word on how many people participated in Phish's rideshare program. From Phish.com, "In an effort to help fans reduce their carbon footprint, Phish and Reverb have created a Rideshare Program to help drivers and riders connect with each other to carpool to the upcoming Hampton Coliseum shows ... Reverb is a non-profit environmental organization deeply rooted within the music and environmental communities. Reverb educates and engages musicians and their fans to promote environmental sustainability."

The Phish Rideshare Program will continue into the Summer 2009 Tour. Try to take advantage of it during Phish's 2009 Summer Tour in June. BTW, all shows are sold out except for The Bonnaroo.

It also appears that SuperFly Productions, the promotion company that stages The Bonnaroo each summer and played a primary role in the development and evolution of Phish's annual summer campout festivals, as well as Big Cypress, is looking for new investors to inject cash into the company coffers, according to this story published on Billboard's website.

And finally, with all of the focus on Phish's Hampton Coliseum reunion shows last weekend, a handful of items slipped through the cracks this week ...

First off, the Seven-DVD Box Set of The Clifford Ball is now available for $79 in stores, and through Phish Dry Goods. From Phish.com, "The box set features nine hours of concert and event footage, with six complete sets of music recorded live, August 16 & 17, 1996, and bonus features, including Phish's extended soundcheck, its late-night flatbed truck jam, and a 30-minute featurette with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage ... and more." Here's a great review of the Clifford Ball DVD Box Set.

Second, Jon Fishman will sit in with the Jazz Mandolin Project for two shows, February 19th at the recently-opened Port City Music Hall in Portland, Maine, and a hometown show on February 20th at Club Metronome in Burlington, Vermont. The JMP lineup for both shows will be Fishman, Peter Apfelbaum, Scott Ritchie and of course JMP Founder Jamie Masefield. Tickets are currently on sale with more information available here.

Third, Page McConnell will perform with Porter, Batiste, Stoltz on Saturday, May 2nd at Tipitina's Uptown in New Orleans. Tickets are being sold through Ticketweb.com (finally, no Ticketbastard involvement!!!) and are available here for $25 a pop. For this day and age, the cost of admission coupled with the performing musicians is a total steal.

Fourthly, Trey will join Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for orchestrations of classic Phish tunes, as well as the East Coast premiere of Anastasio's new composition Time Turns Elastic. Showtime is 8 p.m. Thursday, May 21st at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in downtown Baltimore.

Cinco, tracks from Mike Gordon's solo album released last summer, The Green Sparrow, has been receiving a lot of airplay on satellite radio's JAM ON channel. JAM ON is also re-playing each night of Phish's Hampton Coliseum reunion run during DJ Jonathan Schwartz's nightly Gone Phishin' segment, which airs weekdays from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST, or from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. PST. The show is also re-broadcast at 2 a.m. EST, 11 p.m. PST on weekdays. Don't have satellite radio yet? You can get a free, online trial by following this link.

And last but certainly not least, Page and Trey sat in with the Allman Bros. Band at the newly re-designed Beacon Theatre last night (Thursday, March 12th) during the Allman's annual epic, late-winter run in New York City -- this year the ABB is playing for 15 nights. Trey & Page sat in for some blistering takes on ABB classics Southbound and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, as well as the traditional, often-covered tune I Know You Rider. With Trey, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes and Buddy Guy (who also sat in for a few tunes) all on stage together for Southbound, those in attendance witnessed four of the baddist-ass guitar players in the world tearing it up onstage. Here is a review of the musical magic from the Hidden Track blog at GlideMagazine.com

Again, don't forget to check back on Monday, March 16th to read my original article covering the 250 arrests and the alleged value of drugs seized in and around the Hampton Coliseum parking lot for Phish's reunion shows, March 6th, 7th and 8th 2009.