Phish Leads its Tie-Dyed Following to Jones Beach

Jam rock legends Phish completed a sold out, two night stint at the Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach on Aug. 17, as the philosophically quirky and musically proficient Vermont-based quartet had the capacity crowd on its toes.

But the concert created a festive atmopshere both in and out of the 14,110 capacity outdoor music venue.

Like jam legends the Grateful Dead, wherever Phish goes, a village goes with them. "Phish heads" from all over the country follow the band religiously, congregating and setting up camp before each show, to create a  place where vendors peddle their goods and fans can wander, mingle, buy, trade, enjoy each other and the scene. However ultimately this is on the fringes. To fans, the music created by artists Trey Anastasio (guitar and vocals), Mike Gordon (bass and vocals), Paige McConnell (piano and vocals) and Jon Fishman (drums, vacuum cleaner and vocals) comes first.

"If it weren't for the band, there'd be none of this," said Josh Carpenter, 29, an artist from Raleigh, N.C "The beauty is both the simplicity – guitars, drums, bass and keyboards – but also the complexity, the intricacy of the music."

It is the spiraling, improvisational Phish sound and approach that has kept legions of fans coming back for nearly 20 years – even after the band's recent five-year hiatus.

"I never heard anything that makes you move physically, and also moves you emotionally," said Patrick Conley, 23, of Framingham, Mass. 

"It's not a case of one guy solos, then the other, then the other," saidTaylor Standish, 23, of Wilton, Conn. "All four of them seem to stretch out together and push forward together as one living, breathing organism. It's really exciting."