Jam masters reunited and rejuvenated after hiatus February 24, 2003 - Rocky Mountain News By Mark Brown - For Phish fans, it was agonizing. The group's popularity was at a fever pitch in 2000 when leader Trey Anastasio abruptly announced that Phish was quitting - unquestionably, inarguably and indefinitely - until the members felt like playing together again. So for the hard-core fans, it kicked off a rather desperate 26 months: scrutinizing interviews, looking for clues - the musical equivalent of Kremlin-watching or reading tea leaves - wondering when Phish would get back together. Often, searching for clues only brought more frustration. Anastasio, Jonathan "Fish" Fishman, Page McConnell and Michael Gordon all pursued solo projects. According to Phish.net, an exhaustive fan Web site, the Vermont jam band's hiatus lasted 815 days: from the final Oct. 7, 2000, show at Shoreline Amphitheatre to Phish's triumphant onstage reunion at Madison Square Garden this past New Year's Eve. "Everyone knew it was gonna happen eventually," said Phish fan and taper Zachary Andersson of Denver. "A lot of us knew the band needed to take the time off. They weren't as creative in the end. We knew a good break would be able to get us our Phish back." The band began talking about taking a breather after the millennium show on Dec. 31, 1999. "We didn't want to experience Phish in any way other than peak energy," Anastasio said shortly after. "After 17 years of us being with each other 24 hours a day, ... there was some concern that if we didn't get out and live life for a while, we couldn't maintain that feeling. We could foresee that coming." Paradoxically, more Phish music was available during the two-year hiatus than ever before. They used the break to release 16 multi-disc live CDs, including classic sets of their own material and Halloween shows where they covered other bands' music - from The Beatles' "White Album" to Talking Heads' "Remain in Light." And if that's not enough, all four warm-up shows from December and January are available to buy and download online, along with all 12 of the sold-out shows on this toe-in-the-water tour, including Tuesday's Pepsi Center show. Like the Grateful Dead, fans tend to love the live Phish shows more than the studio albums. The band's comeback studio disc, "Round Room," was received with mixed reviews from fans and critics in December. Anastasio said the studio recordings are just the jumping-off point. "When I'm onstage with Phish, all we care about is connecting. Period. That's it," he said last year. "Every day of band practice was us talking as a group about what our weak points and strong points were. We found a hell of a lot of weak points in that band. We never thought we were all that good as individuals at really much of anything singing or playing. "But we had certain strengths, so we'd try to create situations and write music that would utilize those strengths, so the whole becomes more than the sum of the parts." "That being said, I wouldn't change a thing about Phish." Nor would the fans - except, maybe, for the popularity. Phish shows have sold out quickly in the past, but this time it took just minutes. Andersson and other longtime fans are somewhat nostalgic for the days of old, when Phish would play a half-dozen gigs within driving distance of Denver - or when the band did multiple nights at Red Rocks in 1996, resulting in riots and chaos in nearby Morrison, Colo. Now there are only 12 shows across the United States. During the hiatus, fans hoped the band members would become rejuvenated but not feel so liberated musically that they'd never return to the band. But it turned out exactly as planned. Besides fronting his own solo project, Anastasio formed a power trio, Oysterhead, with drummer Stewart Copeland of The Police and bassist Les Claypool of Primus. "That was the final piece of the puzzle for me," Anastasio said. "I'll say that with more conviction than ever: the fact that everyone had the sense to know it was the best thing to do, then we went and did it. It makes me even more respectful of Phish now that we've done this." Copyright © 2003 Rocky Mountain News