Phish-heads welcome band back February 28, 2003 - Fayetteville Observer By Jim Washington Phish has resurfaced. Up from the dreary depths of the Hiatus Sea, the world's greatest jam band has returned to the touring stage after two years off. Phish plays its only North Carolina date on this tour Saturday, March 1 at the Greensboro Coliseum. The show is sold out. After a concert on Oct. 7, 2000 Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, Jon Fishman and Mike Gordon walked off the stage at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain Valley, California. That was the band's last show until New Year's Eve 2002. Band members, especially Anastasio, said they were turned off by the pressures of constant touring and the way Phish had turned into a business instead of a band. They were wary of a Grateful Dead-style physical and emotional breakdown. "...We were caught up in the bigness of the gig and worrying about, oh, I don't know what - but not playing music,'' Gordon told Rolling Stone magazine. During the hiatus unhappy fans soaked up side projects such as Oysterhead (Anastasio, Primus bassist Les Claypool and Police drummer Stewart Copeland), the Jazz Mandolin Project and Pork Tornado, plus Anastasio's solo album and tour, while waiting for news. Now the band is back. That's them mugging on the cover of the most recent Rolling Stone, dressed in frilly costumes and wearing ice skates. The new album "Round Room,'' dashed off after a few rehearsals, debuted at No. 46 on the Billboard charts. And they're back on tour. Fans have rushed to welcome back their heroes, selling out every show so far. Instead of the months-long journeys of the past, Phish is keeping the jaunts shorter this time around. Where once fans looked forward to the Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter tours, now they must scramble for tickets to the February tour. The band followed up New Year's Eve at Madison Square Garden with three nights at one of its' favorite stops, the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia. The current trip has taken the band from California and Los Vegas across the country to New Jersey, Philadelphia and, finally, North Carolina. Greensboro is the last show on this tour. Setlists (available on websites such as www.phish.net and www.phish.com) show the band picking up pretty much where it left off, dipping into its' huge catalog for favorites such as "Maze,'' "You Enjoy Myself,'' "Runaway Jim,'' "David Bowie,'' "Down With Disease,'' "Harry Hood,'' "Chalk Dust Torture'' and "Sample In A Jar.'' The band hasn't lost its sense of humor, either, as seen by the version of Dr. Hooks' "Cover of the Rollling Stone'' played on Feb. 14 to commemorate their first appearance on the magazine's cover. Then they added the tunes "My Sweet One'' and "Loving Cup'' in honor of Valentine's Day. Drummer Fishman, the kinetic life of the Phish party, has broken out his favorite touring house dress and performed a couple of vacuum cleaner solos. Just like the good old days. "We're back, simple as that,'' McConnell says in the band's press release. "We went away and came back recharged, which was the goal.'' Copyright © 2003 Fayetteville Observer