Phish headed back to Las Vegas
They’ve paid tribute to Ziggy Stardust and Disney soundtrack albums in the past.
Which “musical costume” will jam band mainstays Phish don when they bring their Halloween show back to Las Vegas?
Fans — or “phans” — can find out when the group hits town Oct. 28-31 at the MGM Grand Garden.
This will be the fifth time Phish has performed in Vegas during Halloween, the most recent being at the same venue in 2018.
Per tradition, the band covers an album in its entirety during their concert on Halloween night.
Phish played their first Vegas Halloween show at the Thomas & Mack Center in 1998, where they tackled the Velvet Underground’s “Loaded.”
In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Mike Weatherford before that show, Phish bassist Mike Gordon explained the origin of the band’s celebrated Halloween performances.
“We had the idea to make a musical costume rather than a clothing costume,” Gordon said. “One of our fans was challenging us to play some album. We said, ‘We’ll play whatever album you want’ ” and it was eventually put to fans for a vote.
Nowadays, the band chooses the record in question.
The show involves “taking days off on the road to rent out a place and practice,” Gordon said. “We get in the head of the people who made the album. Each time we really learn a lot about different approaches to writing music.”
An abbreviated ticket request period for the newly announced shows is currently underway at tickets.phish.com and will continue through Monday, May 17 at 7 a.m. Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning May 21 at 7 a.m.
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter and @jbracelin76 on Instagram