Throwback Thursday: That Time Phish Covered Walt Disney in Vegas July 16, 2015 10:20
Photo by Rene Huemer © Phish
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As we prepare for Phish's 2015 Summer Tour, which kicks off on Tuesday, July 21st at Les Schwab Amphitheatre in Bend, Oregon, we can't help but look back on one of our top musical highlights of 2014. Phish have always been known for their memorable Halloween runs, which always consist of a "musical costume." Musical costume is a term for the band's elaborate Halloween concerts that involved the band performing an entire album by another artist and including it as the second of three sets. For the 1994 and 1995 Halloween shows, Phish fans were able to vote via newsletter for their choice in which album was to be played. Fans were invited to wear Halloween costumes and take part in costume contests and were given a "Phishbill" which identify the album and the band's relationship to it.
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Seven official musical costumes have been played by Phish to-date, plus one surprise performance of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon on November 2, 1998—just two days after the band performed the music of The Velvet Underground. Four shows have been released in their entirety as Live Phish Volume 13, which included the 1994 cover of The Beatles' White Album; 14, which included the 1995 cover of The Who's Quadrophenia; 15, which included the 1996 cover of Talking Heads' Remain in Light, and 16, which included the 1998 cover of The Velvet Underground's Loaded. During their comeback year of 2009, Phish performed the Rolling Stones' album Exile on Main Street as part of Phish Festival 8 at Indio, California. In 2010, they covered Little Feat's album Waiting For Columbus in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
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After a bit of a curve ball in 2013, when the band decided to play the "Wingsuit" set (the album ultimately known as Fuego; an unrecorded collection of original songs at the time), there was much anticipation and speculation leading up to October 31st, 2014 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. No one knew exactly what to expect when receiving the Phishbill upon entrance to the show, but what went down that night was creative improvisation in it's finest form. The band would feature a cover of Walt Disney’s Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House during the second set. The album is mainly comprised of sound effects that had been collected by the Sound Effects Department of Walt Disney Studios. First released in 1964, the album contains ten stories narrated by Laura Olsher as well as a second side featuring 10 sound effects meant for others to create their own stories. To top it off, the set began with the band inside of an actual haunted house, wearing white tuxedos and white face paint.
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Rather than attempting to describe the scene that night, check out the entire Halloween set for yourself!
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