Monday, April 22, 2024
Phish’s Trey Anastasio shares why playing at the Sphere in Las Vegas is unique
Fast Company: Over the 40 years since the band was formed at a Vermont college, Phish has amassed a reputation for its dedicated legion of fans and the dazzling light shows that accompany the improvisational jams. It follows, then, that the next stop for Phish is the new temple of immersive performances: the Sphere in Las Vegas.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Ostensibly, everything Phish does is unique. As pioneers of the modern music festival format and one of the top 10 selling live bands of the 21st century, over the past four decades Phish has continually improvised new and innovative ways to elevate their performances, be it the 1994 new years hot dog ride that now resides in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, or the 1996 Clifford Ball flatbed Jam truck, the band has never stagnated and continues to move forward. This is especially apparent when it comes to the sphere shows which I think highlight this facet of the band in comparison to their peers and contemporaries. While bands like U2 held long residencies at the sphere with repeating setlists and elements, Phish’s short, four-day run was able to create four entirely unique performances utilizing new elements of the performance space such as spot lights that were built into the sphere’s video screen. In addition, Phish brought in a pared-down version of their incredible lighting rig designed and operated by Chris Kuroda who had a large part to play in the overall design of Phish’s sphere run, which added his unique style of lighting expertise to the show as well. Not a single visual element was reused between Phish’s four shows, whereas bands such as Dead and Co.- a contemporary of Phish in the jam band scene- held a much longer but much more repetitive residency at the theater, with jams that were only a predetermined length. Phish, on the other hand, left room in their designs to allow their songs to breathe, so that visual elements stayed up for the right amount of time during jams without hampering the band’s improvisation. As Phish moves forward in the 21st century they show no sign of slowing down. Their 2024 Mondegreen festival in Delaware was an entirely different kind of experience from their previous festivals in the 90s and early 2000s, and I look forward to seeing where they take their music and creative drive in the future.
Post a Comment