Phish Announce Fall Tour, Atlantic City Halloween Gigs

Less than a week after the conclusion of their summer tour, Phish have announced details for their fall run. The 15-date tour kicks off at the already sold-out Austin City Limits music festival on Oct. 8, but from there things get kind of kooky: most of the remaining dates are at tiny arenas in secondary markets, making the tour more interesting, no doubt, for both the band and their fans.

Phish will perform a three-night run at the sparkling new 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colo., before turning eastbound for the remainder of the tour. The band will play such unusual stops as Utica, N.Y. and Augusta, Maine, with two-night stands in N. Charleston, S.C. and Amherst, Mass leading up to a three-night tour closer at Atlantic City, N.J.'s Boardwalk Hall.

The Atlantic City shows are of particular note because they will be the backdrop for the band's annual Halloween tradition. Every year on the holiday, Phish perform a three-set show, including one set in which they don a "musical costume" and cover an album in its entirety. Last year's nominees included discs by MGMT, Michael Jackson and Led Zeppelin, with the winner being the Rolling Stones' 'Exile on Main Street.' (To watch MGMT talk to Spinner about being nominated, check out this video interview from Lollapalooza.) Other past Halloween "costumes" include Talking Heads ('Remain in Light'), Velvet Underground ('Loaded'), the Who ('Quadrophenia') and the Beatles ('White Album').

In an interesting strategic move, Phish raised ticket prices by around $10 per ticket -- to Phish's faithful, that can translate to hundreds of dollars a year -- but the increase comes with a new bonus: Phish will offer ticket-buyers a free MP3 download of the official live recording just hours after the encore. That's both good news and bad news, as Phish fans usually collect and trad live shows of every show the band plays for free. For more casual Phish fans, the band is currently offering a free sampler featuring 10 live tracks from their summer tour, 'Live Bait,' exclusively at their LivePhish web portal. Tickets go on sale Sept. 10.