Well, Phish fans, we were all wrong.

At least the five dozen of us who ventured guesses about which musical “mask” the Vermont jam band would don for Halloween, in response to guitarist Trey Anastasio’s recent comments to Pop & Hiss about what this year’s choice might be.

Turns out, for those who don’t know already, it was Little Feat’s “Waiting for Columbus,” the  L.A.-based, Southern-rooted group’s 1978 double live album.

Pop & Hiss readers who weighed in leaned heavily toward something from Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa or Jimi Hendrix, after Anastasio told me a few weeks ago, without revealing the title, that “this year, this one’s for me."

“The one we picked, I’m going to get more out of this as a musician than I ever have before,” he said. “Three songs into it, I called everybody and told them, ‘None of the other ones -- I wouldn’t think, hopefully -- will have nearly the effect on my playing this one’s going to.' ”

In the Phishbill program distributed to those attending the band’s performance over the weeknd in Atlantic City, N.J., Anastasio took that comment a step further, telling writer David Fricke, “We may have learned more from Little Feat than any other band.”

 
The impending arrival of Halloween often contains an added bit of excitement for Phish fans. The Vermont-based jam band has periodically used the holiday to serve up a treat of its own in the form of a full album that’s a favorite of one or more of the group's members.

This year will be no exception. Phish will be in Atlantic City, N.J., wrapping up a three-night stand at Boardwalk Hall, where lead guitarist-frontman Trey Anastasio and his mates will play…

Ahh, there’s the trick.

“I don’t want to give it away,” Anastasio told me recently. “We’re already learning it, and I’m having the same experience I have every year: You hear that first song, you think you know how the song line goes and how the vocal line goes, but then you learn it exactly and you find out it’s different.”

The idea started in 1994, when the band took on “The Beatles,” the 1968 double album usually referred to as “The White Album.”

“It seemed like a novel idea -- almost a joke gone awry,” Anastasio said. “We were all sitting on the bus, and someone said, ‘We should learn a new cover,’ and somebody else said, ‘Why don’t we learn the whole ‘White Album’?”

Since that grand undertaking, Phish has taken on  Talking Heads’ “Remain in Light,” the Who’s “Quadrophenia,” Velvet Underground’s “Loaded” and, last year in Indio, the Rolling Stones’ 1972 magnum opus, “Exile on Main St.”

“It’s become kind of a tradition,” Anastasio said. “We’ve done at least six now… It’s fun to be playing in a band that has gone through the experience of really delving into the music of some of our heroes. You start to hear the influences pop up when you’re playing.”

For instance?

“ 'Remain in Light,' at the time we did it, it hadn’t gained the notoriety it’s developed since," he said. "It was fun to come out onstage and know that people were going to discover it. It’s really a jigsaw puzzle to figure that record out. But once we did it, we found ourselves layering in background vocals a little more in that style. It starts to seep into your DNA as a musician. You pick up something from each album.”

As for “Quadrophenia,” the Who’s 1973 rock opera suggested by keyboardist Page McConnell, “I had never really listened to it that much,” Anastasio said. “That was in ’96, and we had just started playing arenas. When we played it in the big room, I got it. All their songs just resonate in these big arenas. They kind of invented that: that huge rolling wall of sound, played through huge arena sound systems. And once you’ve played something like that live, it starts to affect how you write songs.”

Although Anastasio held fast against revealing which album gets the nod for Halloween 2010, he did offer a clue that might get fans chattering.

“This year,” he said, “this one’s for me. The one we picked, I’m going to get more out of this as a musician than I ever have before. Three songs into it, I called everybody and told them, ‘None of the other ones -- I wouldn’t think, hopefully -- will have nearly the effect on my playing this one’s going to.' ”

For some reason, the first thing that popped into my mind when he said that was “Layla,” Eric Clapton’s 1970 tour de force under the nom de rock Derek & the Dominos. But, then, it could be the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1967 debut “Are You Experienced” or maybe even “Led Zeppelin IV.” Or perhaps something from an entirely different direction.

Readers? Start your guesses.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Trey Anastasio during Phish's 2003 performance at the Inglewood Forum. Credit: Ken Hively

The band's three-day Halloween weekend blowout leaves its loyal legion of fans heated up and happy.

Besides the Rolling Stones, U2 and Bruce Springsteen, it's hard to think of many rock acts that could crowd the Empire Polo Club in Indio for a three-day festival featuring no supporting acts or other live entertainment.

But the legendary Vermont jam titan Phish has long operated outside the realm of normalcy, with a rabid fan base closer to addicted acolytes than casual admirers.

When long-gestating message board rumors were finally confirmed months ago, Phish fanatics instantly began making preparations to trek to the site of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where the band held its eighth festival -- the first in five years. This weekend's performances also marked the quartet's first return to the Southland since reuniting in March for a series of shows in Hampton, Va.

Naturally, the event's momentousness wasn't lost on the crowd (estimated by officials to be between 30,000 and 40,000) who hailed the band rapturously when it opened its first of eight sets with "Party Time," a lissome funk-workout portending surprises and fun to follow.

Indeed, the band's first night rarely disappointed, with the 26-year veteran delving into its back catalog to render favorites such as "Prince Caspian," "Wolfman's Brother," and "Down With Disease," with a rubbery danceability -- the Polo Field at times looking like a fluorescent wave of bobbing heads, twirling glow sticks and flailing limbs.

The following afternoon, the band ripped through cuts from its '90s songbook (typically considered its studio zenith), a thank-you of sorts to longtime fans willing to weather the vicissitudes of a storied saga filled with acrimony, addiction and sundry inconsistencies.

Yet throughout the sweltering Mojave afternoon, Phish seemed to conserve energy in preparation for Saturday night's second set, a start-to-finish rendition of the Rolling Stones' classic 1972 album, "Exile on Main Street."

It was the band's special Halloween Show, the first it's done in 11 years and only Phish's fifth such performance ever, following earlier versions of the Beatles' White Album, Talking Heads' "Remain in Light," the Who's "Quadrophenia," and the Velvet Underground's "Loaded."

Against the soft pink lights and palm trees, the band reworked the Stones' rotgut-blues opus with symphonic syncopated groove, backed by the celestial harmonies of Sharon Jones and Saundra Williams and a three-piece horns section.

It was a masterful stroke and contrasted with the band's acoustic set the previous afternoon, revealing a versatility surprising only those who haven't followed the band's career closely.

West Coast Phish fans may have been left out of the band's initial run of spring reunion dates, but the act is making a grand overture to its Pacific Time Zone-based fan base this fall. After much rumor and speculation, the band confirmed late Thursday that it would stage a three-day event in Indio, Calif., beginning Friday, Oct. 30. The jam band will take over the same Empire Polo Grounds that hosts the Coachella and Stagecoach fests for what Phish is calling "Festival 8."

Calling all Phish fans who have been spinning their wheels of late following Widespread Panic and moe.: Your leaders have returned. After a five-year hiatus from touring, Phish will take to the road after a March reunion performance in Hampton, Va.

But the bummer continues for any, ahem, "phans" residing west of the Mississippi: St. Louis, Mo., is as far west as the band is traveling this summer, and questions to the band's publicist about possible plans for a second leg were met with a curt, "The press release contains all confirmed information."

So, pack up the Subaru if you want to be on the safe side, left coasters -- it's not like the hardcore fans are averse to such road trips, anyway. And hey, you can even stop in Branson on the way back for a real hallucinogenic experience.

But there may be a nugget of hope buried among the tour dates for those who want to get the most bang for their concert dollar. There's a curious series of open dates on Phish's itinerary between June 9 and 16, coincidentally the scheduled dates for Bonnaroo 2009 (a hot, yet still unconfirmed rumor Rolling Stone reported back in December). Let the speculation "run like an antelope."

As if that weren't enough for jam-band fans, Phish's inspiration -- or at least a modified version -- is hitting the road as well this spring. The Dead, or the Grateful Dead minus Jerry Garcia, is back on the tour bus for, coincidentally, the first time since 2004. And, with a stop at the Forum they even acknowledge that a few of their fans might live in California. Shucks, we didn't get you anything.