The improvisational band from Vermont returns to Atlantic City for a three-gig engagement at iconic Bader Field. Plus, Kirk Hammett on the upcoming Metallica Orion Music + More Festival.
Modern-day jam-band kingpin Phish returns to Atlantic City for three nights at Bader Field this Friday through Sunday, June 15-17, for the first time since performing a sold-out trio of shows in the resort in October 2010.
Single-day advanced general admission tickets are $60 and a three-day pass is $150, with children under age six admitted free. Gates open 5pm and the show starts 7pm each night. Go to baderfield2012.phish.com for ticket info, or you can charge tickets by phone at 800-594-8499.
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Legions of fans follow Phish from city to city during concert tours, much like the group that served as its greatest inspiration, the Grateful Dead.
Phish’s forte is its live shows and, as was the case with the Dead, the propensity for its fan base to share amateur recordings with the band’s blessings. By design, no two Phish shows are ever alike, and the foursome (which formed at the University of Vermont in 1983) blends multiple genres like folk, roots rock, country, blues, reggae, bluegrass, jazz and funk. It is comprised of Trey Anastasio (guitar, lead vocals), Mike Gordon (bass, vocals), Jon Fishman (drums, vocals) and Page McConnell (keyboards, vocals).
“The unpredictable is part of the appeal of this band,” Gordon told Atlantic City Weekly in 2010. “That makes it fun for the fans and those who are in the band. We do things a little differently than other bands — we’ve always liked to play many different types of music. It makes it interesting for us. We like to challenge ourselves.”
The 142-acre Bader Field is one of the rare tour stops that has Phish playing three consecutive nights, and is also unique in that the band will be opening its doors to “The Freezer” in Atlantic City — an official Phish Archive merchandise store that includes originally printed items like posters and past-concert T-shirts. The Bader Field shows will also help celebrate the 15th anniversary of the band’s WaterWheel Foundation, which donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to non-profit organizations.
Concert goers will be offered free scoops of Phish Food (a flavor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream), and have a chance to win two Vespa scooters donated and decked out by the Hippie Shop. All memorabilia sales at The Freezer will benefit the WaterWheel Foundation.
The weekend series will also feature a Beers of the World tent with more than 50 types of brews, including a fermented concoction made from cereal grains that’s a favorite among Phish fans. One of the brews at the show will be Sierra Nevada FOAM, a special pilsner brewed specifically for Phish events.
Parking at Bader Field is $20 per day, but several establishments are offering shuttle-service package deals that include rooms, tickets, transportation to and from the shows and other incentives. The Tropicana, Borgata and Sheraton are all participating. Go to baderfield2012.phish.com and click “travel packages” for more info.
The Tropicana will also serve as unofficial pre- and post-show party headquarters on Saturday night, June 16, when the New Jersey-based foursome Under New Ownership (UNO) performs originals, Phish songs and covers from other bands at Firewaters at the Trop from 2-6pm, and a second show starting around midnight. UNO is comprised of Gregg Jordan (keys, sax, lead vocals), Joe Magrino (guitar, backing vocals), Ilya Stemkovsky (drums) and John Macdonald (bass). The band has released three albums since it debuted at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park in April 2002 — Preface (2003), Across the Sky (2005) and The Good Times & Bittersweet Memories (2010) — and has a fourth album due for release this year called Tales From the Comfort Zone.
Metallica Orion Music + More Preview
"I never set out to emulate Jerry Garcia. I set out, in the 1990s, to learn about music and how it was constructed, and I was playing in bands that played original music."
"We think we have the money set aside. We've identified the funding. We believe we have a good site but we may determine that there are other sites that we need to review as well."
“We like things that are big,” Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett tells Atlantic City Weekly. “But we also like things that are interesting. As we evolve, we want to do bigger, interesting things.”
If you were thinking about avoiding Bader Field in Atlantic City the weekend of June 23-24 because you’re just not a fan of heavy metal music, you may want to reconsider your decision.
Along with a new Orion Festival news ticker added to the band's site, Metallica has added a Damage Inc. stage that will feature "lots of cool, heavy, thrash and punk bands."
This weekend's party is bringing you The Hot Tub Fringe Stage, a sick metal playlist we've compiled for your enjoyment — and some gnarly pictures of some of the greatest heavy metal hairstyles throughout the ages.
"[Atlantic City's] location was really central. You’ve got good facilities, it’s not, you know, like 39 miles on some two-lane country road — that kind of vibe, you know, so it’s just the fact that it’s practical, there’s a lot of facilities and since we’re not doing like a camping thing we thought it would be good to be close to infrastructure so the fans do have like the backbone of a place like Atlantic City at their disposal."
The second of four musical events has been revealed for Bader Field with the band Phish announcing on its web site a summer tour that includes a trip to Atlantic City for three nights of performances on Friday, June 15, Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, June 17.
There could be a link with the success of that Phish residency in Atlantic City — where the band's Trey Anastasio recorded a live album a few years back at the House of Blues at Showboat — and the three-day music festival that is expected to take place in June 2011 at Bader Field in Atlantic City.
No. 7. The Pier Shops at Caesars: Trip out to the free hourly water show with its 150 individually controlled fountain nozzles, a 19,000 gallon reflecting pool, 179 LED and intelligent lighting fixtures, and "state-of-the-art" audio technology.
Acclaimed jam band Phish has played 10 Halloween shows over the course of its career, which are known in the Phish camp as “Musical Costume” concerts, during its well-chronicled history.
I have no idea if Gov. Christie is a Phish fan. But even if he’s not, it’s time for him to go trolling for some money so that the world knows that Phish, which could have played its Halloween shows anywhere, decided to take Atlantic City’s bait.
When the band Phish first started its rise to fame, its cross-genre blend of styles and its sort of lack of widespread, mainstream appeal eventually earned it the de facto title of America’s premier jam band — a title that for years belonged to the Grateful Dead.
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