Come October, jam icons Phish will be hitting the road to perform in eight cities across the Midwest and east coast with half of the itinerary entailing two to three stops per city.

The tour will kick off on October 8 with a show in Austin, TX followed by the first of a series of multiple-nighters for the band when they hit Broomfield, CO from October 10-12.  Other multiple-nighters in the tour include shows in South Carolina (North Charleston), Massachusetts (Amherst) and to wrap the tour up, a three-night Halloween performance in Atlantic City, NJ from October 29 to 31.

The Atlantic City show will be the first for Phish and is also among the several remarkable Halloween performances that the band has staged almost every year.  As a glimpse of what to expect in a Phish Halloween show, on its second night, the band spins an entire album from another artist throughout the entire performance, and last year the band covered “Exile on Main St.” from the Rolling Stones.

The band also announced that only a handful of tickets will be available for presale opportunities happening until September 3.   General on sale tickets can be availed on September 10 and 11 and each ticket buyer will have access to free copies of each of the band’s performances in MP3 format which they can download at livephish.com.

Fans who won’t be able to score tickets for the tour will still receive a special perk from the band, a free copy of “Live Bait”, a 10-track sampler release featuring live cuts recorded during the early phase of the band’s tour this year.  The track “Show of Life” is also included in the album which was first heard live this summer.

2010 Phish Concert Tour
October 2010
8 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Festival
10-12 – Broomfield, CO – 1stBank Center
15-16 – North Charleston, SC – North Charleston Coliseum
19 – Augusta, ME – Augusta Civic Center
20 – Utica, NY – Utica Memorial Auditorium
22 – Providence, RI – Dunkin Donuts Center
23-24 – Amherst, MA – Mullins Center
26 – Manchester, NH – Verizon Wireless Arena
29-31 – Atlantic City, NJ – Boardwalk Hall

The Austin City Limits Music Festival, over the last eight years, has evolved into one of the biggest and best music festivals in the US. Its all-star lineup rivals other well known festivals such as Lollapallooza, Bonnaroo and Coachella. From October 8-10, Austin City Limits Music Festival will be held in Austin at Zilker Park for its ninth annual festival.

Festival organizers announced the 2010 billing on May 18, which is quite eclectic this year. On October 8, The Strokes and Phish will be the headliners. On October 9, the headliner will be Muse. The weekend will be wrapping up with headliners The Flaming Lips and the Eagles on October 10.

Currently, single day tickets are on sale at a price of $85 each. The three day pass allotment for the festival has sold out already for all time ranges and available prices, including Early Bird passes at $145, Advance Passes at $165, and Regular Passes at $185. According to a Billboard report, the three day passes all sold out after they went on sale on April 21 in 14 hours.

ACL this year is offering at-home free ticket printing as well as all-in pricing on ticket face values. These printing and pricing options have been made in an attempt to simplify ticketing processes and save festival attendees on charges and fees normally added in the late stages of ticket orders.

An ACL statement read that their charge-free service pricing means that there will be no additional service fees added to published ticket prices. We want to simplify the process of ticket buying by making things simple and clear, with no additional surprises when checking out.

The gigantic lineup includes artists having some of the more highly anticipated new releases, including Norah Jones ( November 2009 release “The Fall”); Vampire Weekend (January 12 release “Contra”); Spoon (January 19 release “Transference”); and LCD Soundsystem (May 18 release “This is Happening”).

The final schedule for the festival is still forthcoming. However a majority of the acts have been booked already for specific dates. Scheduling details and performances dates will be updates on ACL’s official website.

Vermont based band Phish will be finding new life after their 2009 tour as they book dates for a concert run this summer. The 29-city trek will start June 11 in Chicago, Illinois and close with a two-night stand at Wantaugh, New York’s Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach on August 17 & 18. A full schedule of Phish tour dates can be found below, and tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster on April 2 and presale tickets will be offered via Phish’s official website beginning March 26.

Phish is currently supporting their latest release “Joy” which was produced by Steve Lillywhite (Dave Matthews Band, U2) who produced the band’s 1996 effort “Billy Breathes.” The album topped out at the 13 spot on the Billboard Album Charts. The album represented the band’s first work since 2004s “Undermind” which saw the band take a five-year hiatus from recording or touring.

2010 Phish Concert Tour
June 2010
11 – Chicago, IL – Toyota Park
12 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center
13 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium
15 – Portsmouth, VA – nTelos Pavilion at Harbor Center
17, 18 – Hartford, CT – Comcast Theatre
19, 20 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
22, Mansfield, MA – Comcast Center
24, 25 – Camden, NJ – Susquehanna Bank Center
26, 27 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
29 – Canandaigua, NY – CMAC

July 2010
1- Raleigh, NC – Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion
2 – Charlotte, NC – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
3, 4 – Alpharetta, GA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre @ Encore Park

August 2010
5-7 – Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre
9, 10 – Telluride, CO – Telluride Town Park
12, 13 – Noblesville, IN – Verizon Wireless Music Center
14, 15 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Valley Music Theatre
17, 18 – Wantagh, NY – Nikon Theater at Jones Beach

Well it’s official. 2009 is days away from coming to a close so it’s time to pull out all of those best of the decade lists. They are exhaustive, tedious and largely subjective, but this one is interesting. Pollstar has released a list of the most successful touring artists over the past decade judged by box office receipts. The touring machine that is Dave Matthews Band took top honors pulling in $529.1 million on 11.6 million tickets sold. Celine Dion, Kenny Chesney, Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones round out the top 5 with James Taylor sliding into the number 50 slot. $116.3 million still isn’t a bad haul for a man long past his prime. There aren’t too many surprises snuck in here. Most of your arena bands are represented. Who will be the topping the charts when we look back in 2019? Only time will tell.

1. Dave Matthews Band; $529.1 million; 11.6 million.
2. Celine Dion; $522.2; 4.
3. Kenny Chesney; $455.6; 8.6.
4. Bruce Springsteen; $444.3; 5.7.
5. The Rolling Stones; $426.9; 3.2.
6. U2; $391; 4.4.
7. Madonna; $325.3; 2.1.
8. Eagles; $313.4; 2.8.
9. Elton John; $286.4; 2.5.
10. Jimmy Buffett; $285.8; 4.5.
11. Toby Keith; $273.8; 6.4.
12. Cher; $263.5; 3.5.
13. Elton John/Billy Joel; $261.6; 2.3.
14. Bon Jovi; $241.4; 3.2.
15. Metallica; $225.5; 3.6.
16. Rascal Flatts; $222.4; 4.5.
17. Paul McCartney; $221.4; 1.4.
18. NSYNC; 196.4; 3.8.
19. Britney Spears; $195.7; 3.5.
20. Trans-Siberian Orchestra; $194.9; 4.7.
21. Aerosmith; $193.2; 3.2.
22. Tim McGraw/Faith Hill; $189.9; 2.7.
23. George Strait; $184.7; 3.1
24. The Police; $181.2; 1.7.
25. Neil Diamond; $179.4; 2.7.
26. Barry Manilow; $173.9; 1.7.
27. Bob Dylan; $161.1; 3.4.
28. “American Idols Live”; $156.8; 3.
29. “Ozzfest”; $154.9; 3.4.
30. Rod Stewart; $153.9; 2.1.
31. “Vans Warped Tour”; $152.9; 5.1.
32. Van Halen; $147.8; 1.6.
33. Fleetwood Mac; $146.2; 1.7.
34. Brooks & Dunn; $144.4; 3.8.
35. AC/DC; $144.3; 2.1.
36. Coldplay; $142.9; 2.6.
37. Eric Clapton; $139.3; 1.9.
38. Luis Miguel; $137; 2.1.
39. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers; $136; 3.
40. Nickelback; $135.8; 3.3.
41. Dixie Chicks; $134.9; 2.6.
42. Tim McGraw; $133.7; 2.7.
43. Backstreet Boys; $132.4; 2.6.
44. Brad Paisley; $129.7; 3.3.
45. Tina Turner; $127.9; 1.7.
46. Bette Midler; $126; 1.1.
47. Billy Joel; $123.4; 1.4.
48. Barbra Streisand; $119.5; 0.4.
49. Phish; $116.7; 2.6.
50. James Taylor; $116.3; 2.6.

Phish has a series of fall dates lined up for the Northeast which will follow up on the three day band’s Festival 8 set to take place over the Halloween weekend in Southern California’s low desert region.

The trek will kick off in Detroit on November 18 and include a three night stand at Madison Square Garden in New York City on December 2-4, and shows on back to back nights in Cincinnati, Philadelphia as well as Albany, NY. Tickets went on sale for the shows to the general public on October 23-24.

Festival 8, the first festival on the West Coast for Phish, featured eight sets performed over three days (October 30 and 31 and November 1) in Indio, CA. It included their first full length acoustic set ever played lived, along with the band’s traditional Halloween performance that involved Phish donning what is described as “musical costume” in a press release issued by the band and covering an entire album from another band.

A gallery of albums that Phish may or may not play can be viewed by fans at the band’s website. The band counted to Halloween by eliminating a contender one day at a time. Phish has covered previously “The White Album” by the Beatles, “Quadrophenia,” by the Who, “Remain in Light,” by Talking Heads, and “Loaded” by Velvet Underground among other albums.

Out on the road, Phish will support “Joy,” their latest studio album, as well as their first since “Undermind” in 2004. The album reunited the band with the producer Steve Lillywhite (Dave Matthews Band, U2) who also headed “Billy Breathes,” Phish’s 1996 release.

There is also a deluxe box set album version available. It includes the entire album, a second album “Party Time,” a booklet that is hard bound, limited edition individual posters for each of the songs on their original album, as well as a DVD that features live performances from Phish’s 2009 summer tour.

Phish is comprised of Trey Anastasio, singer/guitarist, Jon Fishman, drummer, Mike Gordon, bassist, and Page McConnell, keyboardist. The band returned from their performing and recording hiatus of five years earlier in the year. It was Phish’s second long break in their career. The first one took place 2000-2002.

2009 Phish Tour Dates
October 2009
30, 31 – Indio, CA – Festival 8

November 2009
1 – Indio, CA – Festival 8
18 – Detroit, MI – Cobo Arena
20, 21 – Cincinnati, OH – US Bank Arena
22 – Syracuse, NY – War Memorial at Onecenter
24, 25 – Philadelphia, PA – Wachovia Center
27, 28 – Albany, NY – Times Union Center
29 – Portland, ME – Cumberland County Civic Center

December 2009
2-4 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
5 – Charlottesville, VA – John Paul Jones Arena