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Watch Phish Perform David Bowie's Entire 'Ziggy Stardust' Album In Vegas November 2, 2016 00:09

Photo by Rene Huemer

Monday night marked another highly historic milestone for veteran jam band Phish, as the band performed David Bowie's The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars in its entirety at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.  This would be Phish's first true musical costume since 2010, when the band took on Little Feat's Waiting For Columbus at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  This set would also feature a nine-piece backing band, which included Trey Anastasio Band's Jennifer Hartswick as one of three backup singers, as well as a six-piece string arrangement.  

Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, and Mike Gordon each took on his fair share of lead vocals, and drummer Jon Fishman even jumped in the mix for a verse on the opening track "Five Years."  The tribute was one of serious nostalgia, as Gordon handled vocals on "Starman," McConnell took center stage for "Ziggy Stardust," and Anastasio revealed his true, inner frontman for "It Ain't Easy" and "Rock & Roll Suicide."  We could go on and on about this set, but fortunately, video footage as surfaced via YouTube user Tom Rowles for your viewing pleasure.

Watch Phish perform David Bowie's entire "Ziggy Stardust" album in Las Vegas here:

According to Anastasio and McConnell, the decision to pay tribute to Bowie in 2016 was a challenging, yet easy decision:

“It was a conversation we had pretty quickly,” said Anastasio. “‘Oh, Halloween is coming up. Let’s do Ziggy Stardust.'”
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“You can’t point to anyone else in rock who was so relevant for so long,” added keyboardist Page McConnell. “It’s hard to know how to honor them all, [but Ziggy on Halloween] felt right. And there are no weak links – no fluff, no filler. Every sonic detail is intentional, more than on any other album we’ve covered.”


Phish will take some much deserved time off over the next two months in preparation for another four night New Year's run at Madison Square Garden in New York City (December 28th - January 1st).