Phish will launch its first summer tour in five years with a two-night stand at the Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach in Wantagh, NY on June 4th and 5th. Yesterday the band resumed rehearsals, which began in November, in preparation for the upcoming shows.

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An online ticket request period is currently underway at http://www.phish.tickets.musictoday.com. Tickets will go on sale to the general public the weekend of January 30th and 31st, 2009. For information on where to purchase tickets, visit http://www.phish.com/tourdates.

Phish's summer tour will be preceded by a trio of concerts (March 6th, 7th and 8th) at Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. The shows at the 13,800-capacity venue sold out just seconds after tickets went on sale last fall. They will mark the group's first concerts since its August 2004 performance at the Coventry festival in Vermont.

On March 3rd, Phish will release The Clifford Ball on JEMP Records/Rhino. This major archival release features the band's entire performance at the 1996 festival, which was the largest concert in North America that year and the first of many two-day festivals staged by the group. Over 70,000 fans turned out for the event, which was held at a decommissioned Air Force base in Plattsburgh, NY. The seven-DVD box set will contain more than nine hours of music, including a bonus disc with Phish's extended soundcheck, its late night flatbed truck jam and a 30-minute featurette with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage. The original multi-track recordings have been remixed for stereo and 5.1 audio. Fans can pre-order The Clifford Ball at http://drygoods.phish.com.

Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983, Phish quickly became renowned for its live performances. "Phish offers something rare in pop: a long, complex, and completely different show every night," said the Village Voice. The GRAMMY®-nominated band became one of the top touring groups in the U.S. and, by 1998, Rolling Stone had proclaimed Phish the most important band of the decade.

Phish - comprising guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio, drummer Jon Fishman, bassist Mike Gordon and keyboardist Page McConnell - has released 11 studio albums, five concert videos and a series of 44 complete live concert CDs, including 13 on its own JEMP Records. In addition, the band offers a selection of 88 full concert downloads at livephish.com. LivePhish.com is Phish's digital download store and has been widely hailed as one of the first band sites to offer high-quality, unedited soundboard recordings of full concerts.

Phish June 2009 US Tour Dates:

(Dates and information subject to change.)

6/4 Wantagh, NY - Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach
6/5 Wantagh, NY - Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach
6/6 Mansfield, MA - Comcast Center
6/7 Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center
6/9 Asheville, NC - Asheville Civic Center
6/16 St. Louis, MO - Fox Theatre
6/18 Burgettstown, PA - Post Gazette Pavilion
6/19 Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Music Center
6/20 East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley
6/21 East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley

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