Phish Summer Tour 2011: The Tour Dates and a Look at the Venues

Bethel Woods

Capacity: 15,000
Synopsis: Built on the site of the legendary Woodstock Music & Arts Festival in 2006, Bethel Woods is a gorgeous venue with an expansive, comfortable lawn. Only one road leads in and we figure venue staff will have their hands full, so be prepared for delays getting in. We’re glad to see Phish cross off another venue from our 2009 B List – 10 Venues Phish Should Play.

PNC Bank Arts Center

Capacity: 17,076
Synopsis: One of the first amphitheaters Phish ever played back in 1992, the band returned in 1994 and then again in 1999 and 2000. Located approximately 45 minutes from New York City, at the top of the Jersey Shore, the shed is located right next to State Police barracks, so be careful in the lots.

DTE Energy Music Theater

Capacity: 15,274
Synopsis: Formerly known as Pine Knob, this Detroit-area shed opened in 1972 and has hosted most of the area’s big summer rock shows over the past 40 years. This date marks Phish’s first appearance at the venue.

Blossom Music Center

Capacity: 19,263
Synopsis: Phish returned to this Cleveland-area shed last summer for the first time in nearly a decade and threw down a barn-burner that included the only versions of Look Out, Cleveland and Instant Karma! to date as well as a heavenly take on Backwards Down The Number Line.

Riverbend Music Center

Capacity: 20,500
Synopsis: A huge shed in the Cincinnati area that opened in 1984, the Riverbend Music Center is a scenic venue located on the banks of the Ohio River. Phish first performed at Riverbend on September 20, 2000 and this summer’s stop marks the quartet’s first return trip.

Comcast Center

Capacity: 19,900
Synopsis: Formerly known as Great Woods and the Tweeter Center, this Mansfield, MA shed has been a regular stop on Phish summer tours since 1999, with the exception of 2003 (and the 2000 dates were officially on fall tour). Phish first performed at Great Woods on July 21, 1992 as the opening act for Santana. The Comcast Center is located approximately 30 miles south of Boston.

Darien Lake Performing Arts Center

Capacity: 21,000
Synopsis: Located between Buffalo and Rochester, this shed is located right next to an amusement park. Phish first performed at the venue shortly after it opened in the summer of 1993. The quartet returned for a pre-Great Went show in 1997 and a killer performance that got the Live Phish treatment on September 14, 2000. Phish skipped Darien last summer but played the shed on August 13, 2009.

Susquehanna Bank Center

Capacity: 25,000
Synopsis: Another venue with a number of name changes since first opening, the Susquehanna Bank Center was originally opened in 1995 as the Blockbuster-Sony Music Entertainment Center before becoming the Tweeter Center on the Waterfront and eventually winding up with its current name. Located across the Delaware from Philadelphia, Phish has hit this venue on every summer tour since 1999.

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Capacity: 19,316
Synopsis: This Frank Gehry-designed venue, located approximately half way between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., opened in 1967. While the pavilion offers nice views and good sound, the lawn is notorious for poor sound and sight lines. Phish first performed at MPP on July 17, 1992 as the opening act for Santana and have returned each summer since reforming in 2009.

Verizon Wireless Ampitheater (Alpharetta)

[Photo by Chris Lee]

Capacity: 12,000
Synopsis: This venue opened in 2008 and won raves from concert attendees immediately. Phish first played this shed last summer and the fans loved the neighborhood and GA floor. If the setlists are any indication, the band enjoyed the venue as well. At a capacity of 12,000, this is one of the smaller venues of the tour.

Verizon Wireless Ampitheater (Charlotte)

Capacity: 18,700
Synopsis: Originally opened as the Blockbuster Pavilion in 1991, Phish first visited this venue during Summer Tour 1999 at a show that featured a Derek Trucks sit-in. Phish returned in 2003 and again last summer.

Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion

Capacity: 20,000
Synopsis: Formerly known as Walnut Creek, this venue opened in 1991 and has hosted seven Phish shows since 1994. Located smack dab in the area known as the Research Triangle, the TWCMP hosts most of the region’s bigger summer concerts.

nTelos Pavilion

Capacity: 6,500
Synopsis: The smallest venue on this tour, Phish first visited the nTelos Pavilion last summer and clearly liked it enough to come back the following summer. Tickets were hard to score leading up to the 2010 show, but in ample supply the day of the concert. Many rumors had either this venue or Hampton as the home of the Memorial Day Weekend shows, displaying why you shouldn’t believe everything you hear.

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8 Responses

  1. Really Kyle? The tours last year took a similar path.

    From what I hear, the band is being more concious of not burning themselves out and leaving time for family and side projects.

  2. I have no connections to the band, and don’t know anything, but does anyone else want/feel a Hollywood Bowl->Outside Lands handful of shows? It’s just time.

  3. Just wondering: does “Following the summer, the band has no touring plans for the remainder of the year” mean no fall tour at all, or just no fall tour dates planned yet?

    Also, to all you experienced tourers: say I was going to Pine Knob, Cuyahoga Falls and Darien Lake and was to get lawn for 2 of those 3 shows — which one of those venues should I try to get pavilion seats for?

  4. I don’t smell a hiatus. I think the band just understands that they need to not plan so far ahead and let it progress naturally. Maybe they want to sit down and write or record a new album this fall instead of the usual Halloween docket. Who knows. I think everyone is taking a valuable piece of information the band’s management gave us “See a few shows this Summer, nothing planned after that” and getting scared we may be seeing the 3rd hiatus. Breathe!

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