With yesterday’s official announcement of Magnaball, jam band Phish will reach double-digits on their self-hosted festival count. Their fan base is just that loyal/obsessive, depending on how you care to look at it.

Starting with The Clifford Ball in 1996, Phish festivals have taken on a mythology all of their own. Check out a brief history of Phish festivals, #1-9.

1. The Clifford Ball – August 16-17, 1996 – Plattsburgh, NY

Named after aviator event planner Clifford Ball, the very first Phish festival, The Clifford Ball, was held at a former Air Force base about an hour outside of Phish’s hometown, Burlington, VT. With overhead aerial activity with on-the-ground carnival attractions, and seven sets of Phish music, the concert brought a whopping 70,000 people and millions of dollars to the local economy.

Phish brought in lots of musicians, including a classical violin quartet, a blues quartet, a choral quintet, guitar soloists, and the Clifford Ball Orchestra, who played some of Trey Anastasio’s favorite classical tunes. Phish played seven sets in total, including a 3:30 AM set on a flatbed truck in the middle of the parking lot.

2. The Great Went – August 16-17, 1997 – Limestone, ME

Just one year later, Phish launched the sequel to The Clifford Ball, The Great Went. Over two days, Phish took over Loring Air Base in Limestone, ME, playing over 500 minutes of music between six sets and two encores.

Some of the highlights of the festival: the world’s largest fire truck hosing down the audience, over 1,100 people posing nude for a photographer touring the country, another orchestra, and the infamous disco set, where all four members of the band played keyboards/synthesizers for roughly an hour straight, beginning at 2 AM.

3. The LemonWheel – August 15-16, 1998 – Limestone, ME

Returning to the Loring Air Base in Maine, Phish brought back their festival for a third consecutive year. The jam band brought some theatrics this time, orchestrating a long fuse set up that zig zagged across the stage, leading along the perimeter fence until it reached a large elephant (reportedly) named Lee. Meanwhile, the band played “Baby Elephant Walk,” with Fishman on the trombone and Trey on the drums. The elephant hung around the festival grounds until at least 3 in the morning.

The band also played an ambient instrumental set by candlelight in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Phish improvising for nearly an hour… listen below:

4. Camp Oswego – July 17-18, 1999 – Volney, NY

Phish continued their summer festival tradition for the fourth summer in a row, bringing Del McCoury Band, The Slip, and Ozomatli out to the Oswego County Airport in upstate New York for Camp Oswego. Aside from playing five sets throughout the two days, Phish attempted to break a world record by coordinating a “Meatstick” dance with the ~65,000 in attendance. However, the Guinness Book of World Records (who were on hand) said that Phish did not break it.

Check out this mini-documentary about the festival:

5. Big Cypress –  December 30-31, 1999 – Big Cypress Indian Reservation, FL

To end the millennium, Phish rang in the New Year by hosting the largest millennium music performance in the world (more than: Sting, Barbra Streisand, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, The Eagles, Eminem, Jimmy Buffett, Kiss, Metallica, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Elton John), with 85,000 in attendance.

Perhaps the most notable achievement from the performance is the full seven-and-a-half hour set of music from Phish, starting at midnight and lasting until sunrise on New Years Day. They even brought security guards to line the side of the stage, only taking breaks to use port-o-potties that were on stage.

Watch the magic:

6. It – August 2-3, 2003 – Limestone, ME

The first festival in the ‘2.0’ era returned to the summertime, and to the Loring Air Force Base (the site of The Great Went and The LemonWheel) for the band’s sixth music festival. The band was the only one at the festival, playing seven sets over the two days. They even played a 2:30 AM improv set at the top of an air traffic control tower!

7. Coventry – August 13-15, 2004 – Coventry, VT

Coventry was the infamous 2004 festival that marked what was, at the time, the end of Phish. The band brought between 65 and 68,000 fans for their final six sets of music, though the festival was plagued with disaster. Heavy rain for the past week left the festival grounds muddy and unmanageable, and fans had to park along the highway. Some hiked over 30 miles to get to the festival.

As a side note, the Phish organization paid for the entirety of the cleanup process, as fans inevitably trashed the local roads surrounding Coventry.

The actual performances were remarkably sad, as the band handed out their trampolines during “You Enjoy Myself” and broke down crying during several songs, including Page McConnell breaking up during “Wading In The Velvet Sea.” Warning, this video is emotional.

8. Festival 8 – October 30 – November 1, 2009 – Indio, CA

Fortunately for all of us, the Phish story has a happy ending, as the band reunited five years later in 2009, and have been growing stronger and more innovative ever since. In their first year back, Phish announced a “save-the-date” for a mystery event, with states being removed individually from an interactive online map. Eventually, the location of California remained, and Festival 8 was held at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio.

As the festival surrounded Halloween, Phish played their second-to-last true musical costume, The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street, calling on members of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings for the performance.

9. Superball IX – July 1-3, 2011 – Watkins Glen, NY

Back in the swing of things, Phish held another “3.0” festival at the Watkins Glen International, a racetrack near the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. It was the first musical event at the racetrack since Summer Jam at Watkins Glen in 1973, which featured The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, and The Band.

The festival contained an ambient jam session (similar to others in the past), as well as seven full sets throughout the three days, including one hidden set in a self-storage building designed as part of an art installation. Check out this great montage from the event:

10. Magnaball – August 21-23, 2015

WHO KNOWS?!? We can’t wait.