It’s been a year since I last applied a little muckraking towards the compounding rumors about Phish. It was May 2020, and word was swirling that the band would announce a streaming residency at The Barn.
But the pandemic was raging, and the various state restrictions made it pretty unlikely they’d try and pull it off. They never did — though Trey and Page got together for a couple of outdoor duets and a very memorable Coil.
Now, with the music industry reopening and a postponed Phish tour on the horizon, it feels like a good time to take a deep look at one of the originally planned 2020 stops to see what it would take for Phish Inc. to pull off three nights on Atlantic City Beach in 2021.
Read on for that.
But first, a quick housekeeping note!
I launched this newsletter nearly two years ago, a few months removed from a particularly inspiring Light during which I reexamined my priorities and decided I would, at the least, Tweet a bit more about the band I love. Up until that show, I kept my Twitter (mostly) strictly professional — breaking news, political updates, that kinda stuff — but I wanted to lean into the things I loved a little more. So I did!
I first released Jam Sandwich for free because I had no vision or idea for what it would become — just a newsletter about Phish! Since then, I’ve found there to be a little bit of demand for lighthearted and lightweight investigatory skills applied to the wild world of Phish.
This newsletter, Jam Sandwich, now has hundreds of subscribers just like you. That’s really cool.
Now, here in 2021, it seems like everyone’s firing up a newsletter and finding a way to politely ask folks to send them a little money each month to support it. So naturally, I’m wondering — should I give it a try? Would anyone pay for this?
I have no idea. But shoot your shot, you know? So that’s why, starting today, I’m enabling paid subscriptions for Jam Sandwich. Better yet, I’m doing it with a pledge to share 50% of all proceeds with The WaterWheel Foundation.
You can subscribe here (or scroll down for a special offer for previous subscribers):
Crazy, right? I really can’t promise you anything. I could say I’ll send you 3 dispatches a week, and I could talk about launching my own Discord channel and invite people in for live conversations, but I won’t. Expectations are made to be broken.
So that’s it — you can now pay me money to support Jam Sandwich, I’ll share half of it with WaterWheel and probably send the rest directly to Dry Goods or Bottleneck.
If you do become a paid subscriber, and especially if you sign up to be a Founding Chef, I’ll thank you with a shout-out and a message of your choosing in the next edition.
If you’d like to remain a free subscriber, no worries, you can remain as such and still get all the delicious Jam Sandwich content I have planned, and I’ll thank you too, right now.
THANK YOU!
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You have until the end of May to take me up on it.
Ok, back to it. Thank you for humoring me.
Beached
Phish was originally scheduled to host a three-night run on Atlantic City Beach on August 14, 15 and 16, in 2020, but they postponed that last May.
We all know why.
“We’ve been as excited as ever to play music for you all, and are so heartbroken to postpone these dates,” the band wrote in a statement on its website, announcing the shows would be moved to the following summer. “The health and well-being of Phish fans, our touring crew, and the communities in which the band plays is our top concern.”
Now booked for the same weekend later this summer, tickets to the shows remain for sale on Ticketmaster, and the band’s made no statement about the shows being postponed once again or scrapped entirely (along with the rest of their 2021 summer tour).
But the science around how COVID-19 spreads has changed quite a bit.
First, millions of Americans have gotten their vaccine. The state of New Jersey has given over 7 million first shots. More than 3 million in the state are fully vaccinated — that’s 35% of its residents.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has targeted 70% as the number he hopes to get to sometime in June. Cases, at that point, will be relatively low and likely to stay there, according to one of the New Jersey Department of Health’s predictive models.
Murphy also just boosted gathering limits to 50% capacity, green-lighting all sorts of weddings and graduation ceremonies just in time for Spring.
Once NJ gets there on vaccinations — and hopefully assuming there isn’t a wave of new, vaccine-resistant variants washing over us — hosting a large, open-air event that would economically benefit a majorly depressed industry in a city that desperately needs the funds seems like a no-brainer, from a politician’s perspective.
As for vaccinated travelers, the state is basically open.
“You no longer need to quarantine or get tested before/after domestic travel if you are fully vaccinated or have clinically recovered from COVID-19 in the past three months,” it states on NJ’s COVID website.
That “three months” window will of course need to be updated as the summer goes on, seeing as a large number of New Yorkers have either gotten their shots or are getting their second ones now. For a state that welcomes the majority of its tourists in July and August, it’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t expand it, especially with studies that show the vaccine persisting through the six-month mark.
So, assuming vaccinations continue unabated, variants don’t spring up, and the state opens its doors to larger outdoor events, the decision will fall to a mix of players, ultimately coming down to Murphy, Live Nation, Red Light Management, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), and the four members of Phish.
Live Nation
Lord knows Live Nation wants to get back to it. Revenue was down 84% in 2020, and no company would benefit more from the roaring return of live music.
“All signs point to 2021 getting back to the summer concert season we all know and love,” Bob Ruox, Live Nation’s president of U.S. concerts, told Rolling Stone in a statement last month. “With vaccines being available to everyone in May, we’re confident events can return to regular capacity soon after.”
The company previously said more than 80% of its customers have opted to hold onto their tickets instead of asking for money back, so people are ready.
Live Nation will be ready for them.
Red Light Management
The Dave Matthews Band announced last week that they would hit the road late summer for a tour. Dave Matthews Band is managed by Red Light Management, which also manages Phish.
Seems like if they can do one they might as well do the other, logistically speaking.
I’ve reached out for comment on any discussions they’ve had and whether there were any lessons gleaned from planning for the Dave Matthews Band tour that might apply to Phish.
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA)
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority is the New Jersey state agency that oversees Atlantic City tourism and redevelopment projects. It’s also the authority that funds the megaconcerts that take place on Atlantic City Beach.
In 2019, the group allocated $1.8 million for a three-year deal with Live Nation that was meant to bring concerts to Atlantic City in 2020, 2021 and 2022, according to the Rapid City Journal.
“I want to thank the CRDA board for supporting this partnership with Live Nation,” said Robert Mulcahy, chairman of the CRDA Executive Board, said at the time. “Bringing Phish back to Atlantic City will provide A-list entertainment, while at the same time stimulate economic opportunities for the city as a whole.”
I emailed the CRDA this week to get an update, and received a response on Wednesday morning.
Karen Martin, Acting Director at the CRDA’s Communications & Marketing department, told me there had been no conversations between the organizers. “There have not been any discussions with Live Nation or Red Light Management about the Phish concert scheduled for August,” she emailed.
She apologized for not having any additional information. Karen, it’s cool.
I also messaged an entertainment reporter in the city who has written about Phish in the past, and they told me the last they heard it was still on, but they cautioned things could change.
The four members of Phish
Ultimately, the decision of whether Phish will play a massive beach concert is up to Phish themselves, as it should be.
And they have every right to take their time to make the right call for their own health, their families, and their phans, who should give them the time and space to do it.
They haven’t issued any collective statements, but a couple of them have made various comments about what they’re thinking.
Trey, for instance, told a fan in Central Park earlier this month that while he couldn't wait to play again, it didn’t look like summer was happening. He seemed to be more hopeful for Fall.
"I certainly hope by September I'm playing music at concerts,” Trey apparently said, according to the fan. That of course would mean no AC but leaves a Dick’s run clearly on the table.
Last month, Mike joined a podcast, the delightfully named SATURDAY-NITE-ChitChat With Freekbass, and said that while “music business people” were growing more confident,” he gave fall a “maybe.”
“End of the year, beginning of next year it’s looking more promising,” he added.
You can see Mike’s response to Freekbass’s question on YouTube, starting at 17:09 right here.
That, like Trey, seems to give AC a no dice but gives hope for a return to MSG to finally get Trey down from that platform and fix this mess once and for all.
The members of Phish have always taken care to positively impact the community — both phans and the places they visit — so it ultimately seems a little unlikely they’d be the first ones out of the gate to bring tens of thousands of people from all across the country to one New Jersey town, with everyone crammed into casino rooms and dining indoors.
The business case has been made. The state is on track to be ready. But I’m not so sure Phish is ready to make the call themselves. What’s seemingly more likely is they’ll keep major events like this one on the books and watch the numbers as August approaches, and make the call closer to show time.
That feels like the right thing to do, even with a fanbase ready to get back to it.
Plus, Dick’s looms.
Thank you so much for reading, and sorry I’ve been dark for a while. Things got a little hectic.
Help me make this better — If you saw something I got wrong or left out, please shoot me an email or message on Twitter and I’ll correct it. Have an idea for a future Jam Sandwich? Reach out! I love to hear from you.
And again — if you liked this newsletter please think about subscribing and I’ll keep doing what I can to keep you informed and entertained!
Finally, I hope you’re staying healthy and have gotten or will get the shot. That’s the key that will unlock a summer of Phish.
I can’t wait to see you at a show, hopefully, sooner than later.
Much love,
@moneyries