Phish "Reunites"

Phish. The band behind so many memories. The band that so far has crushed me twice; one time by taking a major hiatus, and the other time by breaking up completely. Not many music bloggers (besides Justin and friends at Live Music Blog) have too much love for Phish, but this Vermont-made band is very involved in my (and Toast's) musical identity. My love for Phish opened my ears to many different jambands. Quickly, my musical discovery entered into the realm of bluegrass, hip-hop, indie-rock and everything in-between. I was not going to write anything about this brief, on-stage moment, which took place during the Jammy Awards at Madison Square Garden, but felt that I at least owed them the time it took to post this.

See what happened during the reunion, and also what's going on with Phish after the jump

Jambands.com was there to witness the "reunion":

The four members of Phish stood onstage together for the first time since Coventry last night to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 7th Jammy Awards. The surprise reunion followed an emotional speech from longtime Phish photographer (and Relix contributor) Danny Clinch, who stressed the importance of family both on and off the stage throughout the Phish community. Clinch also entertained fans with a quick slideshow, focusing on backstage shots of Phish’s rehearsals with special guests Kid Rock and Jay-Z, the latter of whom happened to be simultaneously performing upstairs in Madison Square Garden’s arena.

All four members of Phish addressed the audience from the stage, beginning with Mike Gordon, who said that he was actually sick in bed until shortly before arriving at the venue. Both Page McConnell and Jon Fishman also delivered quick acceptance speeches, before handing over the microphone to Trey Anastasio, who thanked a number of key members in the Phish organization by name and described his former bandmates as “his oldest friends.” He also talked at length about the strength and importance of the Phish community, before bowing alongside his bandmates and quietly exiting the stage. Anastasio’s appearance marked his first public showing outside upstate New York since entering a drug rehabilitation program in the spring of 2007.

People are talking all over the boards and blogs about how this is an inevitable next step in Phish performing together again. I hope it goes down, but for the right reasons. I also hope that Trey has gotten his act together with the whole pill fiasco that has kept him in New York since 2006.

Trey is scheduled to get back on stage when he plays a full solo set at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. He is also set to release a live album titled Original Boardwalk Style from 2006's New Year's run in Atlantic City. Mike Gordon has been adding sporadic tour dates including stops at Rothbury, High Sierra and All Good festivals. Page McConnell just finished playing several shows in New Orleans for Jazzfest, but is otherwise quiet right now. John Fishman has been busy lately showing his bluegrass chops with Yonder Mountain String Band.

It is good to see these guys active, and even better to see them on stage together. I hope this leads to bigger, better things, but for now I'll be happy to catch their current side projects during festival season.

Any other phans out there?

-Eggs