Honoring the highest musical highs of the previous calendar year, the Jammys always brought together a who’s who of the top talent in the jam-band scene to pay tribute to the best artists, best sets, and best moments of improv of the year. Back in 2008, the Jammy Awards were still alive and well in New York City, and that year, the award ceremony honored Phish with a special tribute set. Phish was broken up at the time, and the Jammy awards paid tribute to the winner of six previous Jammy awards with a Lifetime Achievement award. The award was certainly an honor—so much so that it brought the members of Phish together for the first time since their 2004 break up, as they stood together on stage to accept the award.
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While Phish wouldn’t take the stage together that night (as many had hoped), event organizer Peter Shapiro had an excellent trick up his sleeve. He organized a group of musicians from several other beloved jam bands to play a set in tribute to Phish. Dubbed “The Headcount All-Stars”, the band was made up of Marc “Brownie” Brownstein and Jon “The Barber” Gutwillig from The Disco Biscuits, Jake Cinninger from Umphrey’s McGee, Kyle Hollingsworth from String Cheese Incident, and Joe Russo of the Benevento/Russo Duo. The performance was truly electric, as they covered classic songs from Phish’s live repertoire like “Run Like An Antelope”, “Maze”, “2001”, and “Wilson” to the blown-away audience.
“Wilson”
[Video: SpottedStripers]
“Run Like An Antelope”
[Video: tdbvideos]
“2001”
[Video: tdbvideos]