The band’s 11th self-produced jaunt is set for The Woodlands in Delaware
In the wake of announcing their upcoming residency at Sphere in Las Vegas, Phish have confirmed Mondegreen, a four-day festival set for this August 15 through August 18 at The Woodlands in Dover, Delaware. The band’s 11th self-produced festival and first in nine years, Mondegreen will see Phish performing over four days and nights, alongside an array of interactive fan experiences, specially curated regional food and drink, art installations, and much more. Centrally located with easy access from all points in the northeast and mid-Atlantic, the festival site will feature an abundance of on-site camping, with many nearby hotel options also available. Travel packages go on sale this Thursday, January 18 at 11AM ET. Weekend passes and camping go on sale this Friday, January 19 at 11AM ET.
Delaware’s picturesque Woodlands is conveniently located within driving distance from major metropolitan areas on the East Coast, including Philadelphia (under two hours), Baltimore (under two hours), Washington, DC (under two hours), and New York City (under three hours). Fans can also take advantage of Amtrak service to Wilmington, DE as well as SEPTA regional rail.
Phish’s first live performance on a Delaware stage in over two decades, Mondegreen marks the latest and most ambitious gathering in an extraordinary tradition first forged by the band with 1996’s The Clifford Ball. Held on the decommissioned Plattsburgh Air Force Base in upstate NY, the groundbreaking event influenced a new generation of American rock festivals. Phish celebrated the turn of the millennium with a New Year’s Eve festival at Florida’s Big Cypress Indian Reservation, drawing a record-setting attendance of 80,000 people, playing an historic seven-hour set, culminating at dawn on New Year’s Day. Phish’s most recent festival, 2015’s Magnaball, marked the second Phish festival to be held at New York’s legendary Watkins Glen International for the third time and was widely considered among their best.
“At Magnaball, highlights weren’t guest appearances, acoustic sets, thrust stages or even big hits, but the nitty-gritty of Phish’s music,” wrote Rolling Stone’s Jesse Jarnow. “While Phish continue to be industry leaders, as with so much in their career, they remain happily on the outside.”
Back on December 31, Phish rang in the New Year with a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The group highlighted their performance with a rarity that hasn’t been played in full in three decades. Phish have now performed 83 sold-out shows at The Garden since their debut performance there in 1994, the same year they last played the epic “Gamehendge” in its entirety.
Based upon Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio’s college thesis, The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday, “Gamehendge” saga chronicles the adventures of Colonel Forbin, a retired colonel from Long Island, NY, who enters the land of Gamehendge to rescue a tome called the Helping Friendly Book from an evil dictator named Wilson. Gamehendge hasn’t been performed in its entirety since July 1994. While past renditions have featured Anastasio narrating the tale, last night’s once-in-a-lifetime production included a full cast of actors, dozens of dancers, aerialists, enormous puppets, a custom-built rhombus stage set, and a colossal flying mockingbird that flew around the arena. Gamehendge includes a number of beloved Phish favorites, including “The Lizards,” “Wilson,” “AC/DC Bag,” “The Divided Sky” and more.
This spring, Phish will be performing at Sphere in Las Vegas. The four-show residency is slated to start on April 18. The group follows rock icons U2, who are in the midst of the inaugural residency at the groundbreaking venue. Check out the full list of dates below.
“From the moment we first heard about Sphere and its potential, we’ve been dreaming up ways to bring our show to this breathtaking canvas,” said Trey Anastasio, Phish guitarist and vocalist. “We’re thrilled to present this completely unique experience to Phish fans.”
Sphere is powered by next-generation technologies, including a 160,000 square-foot LED display inside the main venue bowl that wraps up, over, and around the audience, creating a fully immersive visual environment. At 16K x 16K, it is the highest-resolution LED screen on earth. The venue also features Sphere Immersive Sound, powered by HOLOPLOT, the world’s most advanced concert-grade audio system, which delivers audio with unmatched clarity and precision to every guest.
Widely recognized among live music’s most beloved and inventive artists, Phish has played over 2,000 shows since their formation, regularly selling out multiple nights at arenas across North America including such annual traditions as sold-out Labor Day weekend runs at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park soccer stadium outside of Denver, Halloween extravaganzas, and four-night New Year’s Eve celebrations at NYC’s world-famous Madison Square Garden.
In 2017, Phish performed The Bakers’ Dozen, a 13-night concert series that saw the band play 237 unique songs, repeating none during the entire run. The 13 shows concluded with Phish being presented with a banner commemorating the unprecedented series, which hangs in The Garden’s rafters alongside ones for Billy Joel and Harry Styles.
Passes and more information on Mondegreen can be found HERE