Halloween extravaganza reels in the Phish fans November 2, 1996 - The Atlanta Journal and Constitution By Steve Dollar Catch of the day. Phish is a phenomenon that must seem a vast puzzle to many but its dedicated, even obsessive fans. Spawned in Vermont in the early 1980s, the shaggy quartet developed its freewheeling musical approach outside the spotlight and built its audience through steady touring. Though the band now records for a major label (Elektra) and sometimes gets its genre-defying music heard on commercial radio, its creative existence is primarily documented on concert tapes made by its fans. They trade the recordings through the Internet and follow the group from tour stop to tour stop as if on a pilgrimage. Comparisons to the Grateful Dead are inevitable. Much of a Phish performance, such as Thursday's Halloween spectacular at the Omni, shifts and twists and shimmers out of recognizable song forms into the structured flow of improvised rock 'n' roll. The musicians, fronted by guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio, revel in instrumental textures that reflect their eclectic tastes: the rustic bustle of bluegrass; the arched- eyebrow pomp of 1970s progressive rock; the showy wizardry of jazz fusion; the percussive cross talk of African rhythms; bits of disco and reggae and Top 40 silliness thrown in for effect. If Phish lacks the poetry and history of the Dead, it's got a sharper random-access memory, is rarely sluggish and has yet to reach its prime. The group also has a great sense of humor. Its first set featured a straight-faced version of AC/DC's anthem to mayhem, "Highway to Hell," and closed with an a cappella reading of the national anthem. But there was more. As it has done for recent Halloween shows, Phish chose a musical "costume": a classic rock album to be performed in its entirety during the second of three hour-plus sets. The surprise was announced on a program handed out at Omni entrances: Talking Heads' "Remain in Light." Anastasio, in an interview printed in the program, calls the 1980 album "one of my all-time favorites." But while the band accorded the material a hard-core fan's reverence, it also was intent on ripping through the music's possibilities. Swirling, dense and complex, "Remain in Light" was Talking Heads' breakthrough album, a work thoroughly influenced by African rhythms and producer Brian Eno's interest in the trancelike qualities of ambient keyboard sounds. This was ideal for Phish, which added a second drummer and a two-man horn section to re-create the album's wide range of sounds. Though much of the music allowd for joyous, extended vamping between Anastasio and keyboardist Page McConnell, there was also cause for welcome, tongue-in-cheek gestures. For the album's finale, drummer Jon Fishman intoned the words to "The Overload," perhaps Heads front man David Byrne's most pretentious effort, with a vacuum cleaner hose in his hand. At the song's brooding close, roadies wheeled an assortment of power tools onstage and turned them on. The amplified chaos went on for at least 10 minutes. article © 1996 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution