Phish Memorabilia

Founded at the University of Vermont in Burlington in 1983, Phish enjoys a loyal following among rock and jam-band fans, whose numbers rival those of the Grateful Dead and Pearl Jam. Its founding members are drummer Jon Fishman, bassist Mike Gordon, and guitarists Trey Anastasio and Jeff Holdsworth, who left the band in 1986. By then, keyboard player Page McConnell had been with the group for about six months, and that four-person lineup of Anastasio, McConnell, Gordon, and Fishman has held steady, despite a two-year hiatus from 2000 to 2004 and another from 2004 to 2008. Like many Deadheads used to do, a significant number of Phish Phans finance their trips following their favorite band from town to town by buying, selling, and trading goods and services in the parking lots before and after Phish concerts. Some sell food, others hawk handmade tie-dye T-shirts, and there is an endless variety of items mimicking the doughnut pattern on the dress worn at every show by drummer Fishman. Among the biggest sellers in the parking lot, which is sometimes called Shakedown Street (taken from the title of a Grateful Dead tune), are concert posters designed and printed in small editions by entrepreneurial fans. Although the designs are often tailored to each show, incorporating, for example, the show's date and city name, fan art is generally careful not to feature the band's name, which is strictly copyrighted. Naturally, Phish also sells its own official merchandise, from concert T-shirts to vinyl records to water bottles. At concert merch booths on the night of a show, Phish will often debut its own official silkscreened concert posters, designed by artists as varied as Drew Millward, Tyler Stout, Jim Pollock (Page McConnell's former college roommate), David Welker, Ward Sutton, Nate Duval, Marq Spusta, Ken Taylor, Luke Martin, and Landland. For some shows, the band even mints its own coins, such as the Phish "subway tokens" for concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City.