Vermont’s own Phish have announced a two-night stand at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga, N.Y. The shows, scheduled for August 25 and 26, are a benefit for flood recovery in Vermont and upstate New York, both of which experienced devastating floods in recent weeks.
The band’s charitable arm, the WaterWheel Foundation, will direct 100 percent of the proceeds from the concerts, including both ticket and merchandise sales, into a special flood recovery fund set up by the organization.
The massively successful jam band, which formed in Burlington in 1983, is currently in the midst of an extensive summer tour, including a seven-night run at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Still, the quartet was able to carve out a weekend in its packed summer schedule to hold the benefit.
Hosting the show in Vermont itself proved difficult. After Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, Phish played a benefit show at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, eventually raising $1.2 million in relief funds. With the Champlain Valley Fair already booked at the expo for the end of August, the band turned to SPAC, a venue it knows well.
“As soon as we realized the scope of the devastation, we all together said, ‘Is there anything we can do?'” Phish keyboardist and vocalist Page McConnell said in an interview with WCAX-TV on Tuesday.
Tickets go on sale to the general public this Saturday, July 29, at 10 a.m. and will range from $49.50 to $249.50. A limited number of $500 Foundation Tickets will also be available, which include a ticket to the show and access to a private duo set by McConnell and singer-guitarist Trey Anastasio, among other perks.
“Really the focus here is on the people hurting so much and it’s just another way to raise more money and more awareness,” McConnell said.
For tickets and more information, visit phish.com and waterwheelfoundation.org.
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