Ryan Randazzo

This is Part 1 of a series looking at the history of Phish in Albany. Look for Parts 2 and 3 in the coming weeks before Phish's return to the Capital District and the Times Union Center. On October 16 and 17, Phish will perform their…

I think we get really restless musically, and want to explore new zones. Then we hear more different kinds of music we’ve never heard before, and it all gets mixed in.

Being as compact and congested as it is, New York rarely has the opportunity to host a major music festival within city limits. When the opportunity arises, promoters do as any genuine New Yorker would and spare no expense in ensuring they…

One thing I’ve always thought was good with our show was finding a good balance between crowd interaction and the fun, silliness on stage, but also balancing with a great show. I think we’ve been able to do that, and I think we also have a…

The festival is not designed to be an over the top production, but rather a place to bring people together and get to the heart and soul of the community- which it certainly achieved.

"Phish felt like this big inside joke at the time, and the festival was astounding in that we all looked around and acknowledged that a lot of people were in on the joke."

They eventually built the jam into an almost disturbing, alien spaceship peak with the crowd hanging on for their lives as they cannon-balled through an asteroid field of light and sound before coming together for a clean ending to the…

Irving wrote the first version of ‘God Bless America’ in an attempt to write the perfect peaceful song that would help unite the world and inspire men to live in harmony, much like notable songwriters Bob Dylan and John Lennon years later.

From there other artists began using it as a protest tool, played at rallies, folk festivals, and other demonstrations, to make it clear to the world that oppression will not be tolerated.

The album does not represent teenage angst, as so many other punk rock albums do, but rather a group of matured musicians thinking profoundly about what it’s all about.