Remember when Phish would put together a summer tour and we weren’t privy to all of the machinations that go into putting the dates together? Clearly, the band and its management are trying to break away from the typical shed to shed summer tours that the group has played in the past and as part of attempting to play unique venues they need to get approval from the towns/cities where these shows are held.

[Yesterday's Meeting - ©Merrick Chase / Telluride Photography.Net]

For instance, let’s take the proposed Phish shows that AEG Live and Telluride Bluegrass are attempting to hold in Telluride on August 9th and 10th. We first learned about the possibility of these shows through a terse tweet from the Telluride News on February 17. Later that evening, Telluride radio station KOTO broadcast a report that featured an interview with Telluride Jazz director Paul Machado and Telluride Bluegrass Festival director Craig Ferguson in which the pair laid out all of the approvals that would need to be obtained before an official offer could be made to the band. That interview gave us all a behind-the-scenes look at the hoops promoters must jump through to hold Phish concerts in atypical venues.

Over the past few weeks, these potential Phish shows have cleared a number of “hurdles” including yesterday when Telluride’s arts board put the shows on the town’s calendar. Next, the promoters need approval from the town council next Tuesday. That would leave AEG and Phish to work out a deal that would bring the band to town, a deal that may have already been agreed upon so that the band could leave the dates open on its schedule.

READ ON for more on the potential shows at Wrigley and Telluride…

Telluride isn’t the only locale debating whether to bring Phish to town. As we mentioned a few weeks back, Phish is one of the bands that potentially may play Wrigley Field in Chicago. Today, the Cubs got a go-ahead to hold concerts on September 17th and 18th which bookends the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. According to the Sun-Times, Mike Lufrano, Cubs senior vice-president of community affairs confirms that either Phish, DMB or Paul McCartney will get the gig. There’s also talk in the article that the Cubs may or may not seek approval for an additional concert in July.

We should find out in the next few weeks whether Phish will play at Wrigley and/or Telluride’s Town Park. When the band schedules dates at sheds such as Jones Beach, Camden or Alpine Valley, they are able to keep the details of the process under wraps for the most part. When dealing with these unique venues we all get to see how “the deal goes down.” We’ll have more on Phish’s potential shows in Telluride on Tuesday after the Town Council meeting.

Scott Bernstein

Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.

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