Civic Center Concert Has Fans on Phishing Expedition in City October 24, 1996 - The Hartford Courant By John Moran A sold-out show at the Hartford Civic Center? Police preventing anyone from parking around Bushnell Park? Thousands of tie-dyed fans on the downtown streets? It might seem like a flashback to the Grateful Dead concerts of years gone by. But this time around, it was Phish -- the Vermont band with the odd name, the odd sound and the oddly dedicated following. In spite of a lack of radio airplay -- or perhaps because of it -- the quartet has flourished as a performance act. Thousands of fans track the band from venue to venue with remarkable fervor. During the past four or five years, that following has mushroomed into one of the biggest in rock. Just two months ago, for example, Phish sold 140,000 tickets to the Clifford Ball, a two-day festival in Plattsburgh, N.Y., that was the year's biggest concert in North America. Wednesday's show was one of the few sell-outs by any band at the Civic Center in recent years. But Phish has not just been getting bigger -- it is also getting more mature. And that seasoning was evident during Wednesday's performance. Onstage was a more polished, yet looser version of the band that has visited Connecticut in years past, primarily at concert halls in New Haven. While Phish has always been noted for its tight playing and complex arrangements, this year's edition is simply playing with more confidence and style. In particular, lead guitarist and vocalist Trey Anastasio seems more engaged with the audience and at home on the stage than in previous tours. Phish often seems to be not so much a conventional rock band as a strategic attempt to recombine harmony, dissonance, speed and volume. Its mixture of rock, jazz, blues, bluegrass and even barbershop quartet defies description. The music is marked by long stretches of improvised jamming, interrupted occasionally by short stretches of vocals. Much of the music revolves around the soaring solo work of Anastasio, whose tireless efforts set a blistering pace. Not that the other band members are far behind by any means. Jon Fishman's syncopated drumming powers the rhythm with the support of Mike Gordon's rumbling bass lines. And Page McConnell's muscular keyboards work wonders on both harmony and melody. Comparisons with the Grateful Dead are both inevitable and inexact. Sure, the improvisation and the rabid following of fans are familiar. So too, is the tone and phrasing of a significant portion of Anastasio's guitar playing. But the music is considerably less melodic, the lyrics more obscure and the intensity frequently higher. Yet for all its fire and rhythm, Phish's music is not particularly danceable. That does not stop the Phish heads from trying, but the result is generally a herky-jerky shake. The 1996 tour is boosting the band's latest release, "Billy Breathes," although Phish is making little overt effort to promote it. Still, the concert did manage to squeeze in some of the new music, including a fine version of the flat-out rocker "Character Zero." article © 1996 The Hartford Courant