Phish Won’t Return to Watkins Glen in 2012

Phish front man Trey Anastasio threw fans for a loop earlier this year, when he told Rolling Stone that 2012 would be, “a less busy touring year” for the group. What 2012 will hold for Phish hasn’t become any clearer since the publication of that article in June, but we do now know of one event that won’t take place – a return to Watkins Glen International race track. Track official Ryan Lake told local paper The Leader that, “we are a motor racing facility and have decided to focus on our racing events, as well as the wine festival, in 2012.” [Scans of Article via @Pete716 – Pt. 1, Pt. 2]

[Photo via Andrew Hill]

Held over the Fourth of July Weekend, Phish’s Super Ball IX drew approximately 30,000 fans to the famed upstate New York race track for a three-day festival. By most accounts, area residents raved about the fans (and the economic impact) and fans felt similarly about the venue and surrounding areas. Outside of Mike Gordon’s planned performances at Jam In The Dam, neither Phish nor the individual band members have any gigs scheduled in 2012 as of press time. Since Trey spoke with Rolling Stone in June and mentioned the possibility that Phish would enter the studio in 2012, there’s been no further word on if and when the recording of a follow-up to 2009’s Joy would commence.

[Hat Tip – @Pete716]

Related Content

21 Responses

  1. Heavy rumors of a Phish festival at the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida just got a huge boost. “Buy your tickets now” is what i was told by the promoters almost a year ago.

  2. Less meaning no fall tour or winter tour but I have heard from many reliable sources that there will be a 17 to 20 date summer tour. Dont forget trey is doing the play and it opens it 2012. This is to be expected there will be a summer tour so relaz

  3. Lol @ the “buy your tickets now” comment.

    A.) It’s November…there are no tix to be bought.

    B.) Spirit of Suwannee can hold 20k max…good luck getting a Phish festy there.

    C.) You are a moron. Stop spreading rumors.

    1. I TOTALLY agree w/ you. But if you ask me the days of Phish Festivals may be over if they have poor turnouts like SuperBall IX. Only 30,000 were in attendance unlike the days of the Limestone ME festivals that drew upwards of 60,000 fans. I wanna see it happens as much as the next Hit me up and only missed festivals 1,2 and 8 but realize it has to be worth while (profitable) for the Phish Organization not to mention anticipation of a poor turnout may subsequently force Phish Org. to increase the ticket price even more, and none of us want that. Anyway, that’s my opinion 🙂

  4. “Spirit of Suwannee can hold 20k max…good luck getting a Phish festy there.”

    There were barely more than 20k at SBIX… This is not the days of Great Went, etc., of 80k plus, kiddies… A 20k capacity festy sounds just about right these pathetic Phish days…

  5. I’ve been to Spirit of Suwannee with more than 20k. Wanee last year had 30k on Saturday, and there’s plenty of room.

  6. This cant be 100% legit..the WGI website posted an official press release a few days ago stating they’re gladly reviewing proposals for similar events next season, and are looking forward to “getting upstate NY rocking again.” that said, it may be true that phish won’t make a return, but that doesnt mean that there wont be some sort of festy at WGI next summer.

  7. this moron was told jokingly by the promoters of both the hangout fest and wannee fest to “buy my tickets now, it’s gonna be huge.” hey, jackass, i know there are no tickets on sale now, idiot. we’ll see who’s laughing when this becomes a reality. Heard it direct from the mouths of three very prominent music promoters here in north florida. people in south florida have been hearing the same thing for up to half a year now. Both Mike and Trey have played in live Oak over the past few years. Look at the attendance of both Fest 8 and Superball, they were both small scale festivals for phish. Wannee Fest 2011 sold upwards of 25+ thousand tickets and they just chopped down more wooded areas to make rom for more camping. I realize that since PT came into existence, it is now the norm for phish fans to talk down to other phish fans. like i said, i wouldn’t just be shouting my mouth off if i haden’t heard this from 3 major promoters here in North Florida. We’ll see who the real jackasses are come next spring.

  8. oh, and i don’t hide behind a fake screen name. go back to PT and ask your mommies if you can come to Florida next year.

  9. As a fellow Floridian I would love to see that happen but I’m jumping on the highly unlikely bus as well.

    Not that I know everything but haven’t even heard an inkling of this rumor.

  10. @scott

    the news page on the Watkins glen website from 11/22/2011 seems to contradict the quote in your article “sucessful superball iX may mean more live music @ the glen”

  11. Who really cares about how many fans there are. You guys act like you’re real phish fans. It’s all about the music being played, i for one like trey less drugged out than the earlier days. If you go to phish for the drugs and fans, you might as well just not come at all. It’s about the music.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter