10 LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT PHISH’S ISLAND TOUR
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As Phish fans all around the globe celebrate the 15th anniversary of what’s been dubbed “The Island Tour” (due to
four spring shows taking place in Long Island & Rhode Island) – we here at JamBase wanted to throw together a Top
10 list for our readers. As we started to dig in, we were amazed at just how many significant factoids there were – we
didn’t even get to include the super-nerdy stats about how many measures long the intro was in these early versions
of Birds of a Feather. Without further ado:
#1: Rare case of teasing a song before it’s been debuted: The 4-3-1998 Mike’s Song included
teases of Mozambique which would not be debuted by Phish until 9-9-1999. (Source: Phish.net song history)
#2: Only Oh Kee Pa Ceremony> You Enjoy Myself: For such an amazing song pairing
that opened the 4-5-1998 show, this has never been repeated (Source: Phish.net song history)
#3: Phish was so motivated by their performances at the Island Tour shows that they took one
day off before heading to Dave O’s Farmouse for a five-day recording session in which they laid down tracks
that would up on Story of the Ghost. (Source: Wikipedia – The Story Of The Ghost)
#4: Phish announced the Island Tour on February 24, just 37 days before the start of the run
and a mere four days before tickets went on sale. (Source: rec.music.phish)
#5: First Phish release to be put out simultaneously as a download and in physical format.
(Source: Phish.com news item)
#6: Only unfinished version of 2001 – and what a version it is.
(Source: Phish.net song
history)
#7: Only unfinished Possum – you know they are feeling it when they don’t even finish
Possum. (Source: Phish.net song
history)
#8: Between 2-13-1997 and 4-5-1998 there were four unfinished versions of Maze. There
have
been none since and there were none prior to 2-13-1997. (Source: Phish.net song history)
#9: Despite its legendary status in regards to jamming, only one track appears on the Phish.net
“20 minute jam” chart (Roses Are Free 4-3-1998) (Source: Phish.net 20 Minute Jam Chart)
#10: The Island Tour was the first Live Phish release to include soundchecks.
(Source: Phish.com news item)
