Various questions linger as Phish prepares to begin a seven-night run at New York, NY’s Madison Square Garden later this week, but there’s one in particular that feels most pressing: What do we call it?
Throughout its decades-long tenure, the band has consistently bestowed names upon its special engagements. Phish’s curated festivals have always gotten pre-determined titles, from 1996’s Clifford Ball to 2015’s memorable Magnaball to 2018’s no less memorable yet considerably less fun canceled weekend, Curveball. Even the less creative festival names (looking at you, Festival 8) have had some sort of sleek moniker for fans to latch onto.
Is this MSG run a “ball?” Not by the usual standards, no, although if they had booked that last Sunday and made it an eight-night run, you can be sure that it would have picked up a NSFW “ball” name in parlance faster than you can make a joke about drugs on Phish lot.
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Phish in Mexico? Call it what you will, but it’s billed in specific fashion: Phish: Riviera Maya. Trey’s series of eight weekly livestream-only quarantine gigs at The Beacon Theatre back in the COVID-19 dark ages? Oh, you mean The Beacon Jams. Other “special” engagements like annual New Year’s runs have the structure of the holiday to lean back on—sure, they may not “name” the Halloween run, but you can just go ahead and call it “Halloween run.” Your tour buddies will know what you mean. “Fake New Years run” (“Earth Day run?“) in April of 2022 was also a fun—and easily nameable—springtime outing in New York City.
But what do you call an unusually long indoor summer residency at Madison Square Garden, the second-longest single-venue run since the Nectar’s days?
The closest thing to the seven-show run in the band’s history is The Baker’s Dozen, the 2017 summer residency during which Phish performed 13 donut-themed shows featuring no repeated songs over the course of 17 nights at MSG culminating in the raising of a “championship” banner honoring the feat to the rafters of the arena, where it still hangs today.
The Baker’s Dozen wasn’t just 13 shows in 17 nights. It was a full year of excitement, months of masterful memesmanship, a totally unique Phish experience during the summer, a victory-lap four-night New Year’s run at the Garden to complete the 17 in ’17 odyssey. Don’t forget, much like this year, there were other summer shows in 2017 ahead of The Baker’s Dozen—and a Dick’s run after—but the Dozen was a thing. The band told us so when it was announced, by way of a cinematic video of giant donuts steamrolling Manhattan. I remember that day well. It was only January, but the game was already on.
Phish Baker’s Dozen Announcement Video – 2017
But this year’s seven-night summer run at the Garden? Phish just slipped it in with its summer tour announcement: “The tour includes a seven-night run at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.” That’s a pretty innocuous introduction for an undeniably noteworthy stint by a band well known for naming its noteworthy stints.
Maybe this run won’t be anything noteworthy, then. Maybe Phish will come in and play seven regular shows at a venue that has virtually always prompted Phish-y antics and over-the-top surprise production value and never mention anything about the unusual schedule, or its connections to the Baker’s Dozen, or its “special” nature, or anything, and nobody will ever speak of them again… Yeah, I don’t buy it. Phish knows this next run of shows at MSG is notable in the group’s history. We all know it, too. Can you really see them not doing anything to tie this run together, to codify its place in Phish mythology?
If you thought this whole article was a drawn-out set-up for me actually proposing a name, I’m sorry to disappoint you: I’ve got nothing. Everything I’ve heard so far is *just okay* at best. Baker’s Half Dozen? That’s not a thing. The Seven? Feels flimsy. If anyone out there has any (good) ideas, I’m all ears.
If they’re not giving us one to work with (not yet, anyway, which could be part of the master plan), we’re just going to wait and see. Because it will have a name, whether it comes from the band directly or it arises organically by word of mouth. Phish is about to play seven summer nights at The Garden, and you can bet good money that this run will be unique and creative and singular in some clear, tangible way. We just don’t know what it is yet. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long to start finding out.
For tickets to the upcoming seven-night Phish run at Madison Square Garden—taking place on July 28th, 29th, and 30th as well as August 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th, 2023—head here.