The popular jam band Phish has announced its summer 2025 tour dates, which include a break from recent Colorado tradition.
The band will play three shows at Folsom Field in Boulder over the Fourth of July weekend. For more than a decade, they had played Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City over Labor Day weekend.
Phish hail from Vermont, but hold a special place in the hearts of many Coloradans. The state was the first outside of New England that the band ventured to back in the 80s, according to the Colorado Music Experience.
The news evoked mixed reactions from Phish fans across Colorado.
Leah Berger started listening to the band at a young age and called the shows at Dick's Sporting Goods Park a tradition.
"I think a lot of fans are going to be a little disappointed that their tradition is broken, but I think once they’re [at Folsom Field] enjoying the backgrounds of the mountains and enjoying the music, it’ll be fine," Berger told Denver7 on Tuesday. "However, I will say I know we are all very excited to get back to Dick’s."
Paul Sullivan turned his Phish fandom into his job. He now owns a Phish-inspired pub called Esters.
"I've been to a lot of shows, over 100 shows, and every show is different and every one's my favorite," he said.
The lifelong Phish fan said as long as the band is making a stop in Colorado, he's okay with starting a new tradition in Boulder.
"We're just so grateful they're coming to Colorado again," said Sullivan.
Meanwhile, neighbors who live near Dick's Sporting Goods Park said they're glad to see the tradition move on to a new location.
"One year, we went up to Glenwood Springs because it was just three or four days of havoc," said Alexander Hammes, who lives near the venue.
With the move to Folsom Field, CU Boulder said it's anticipating hotels to be sold out and bars to be packed over the three-day weekend. The university's athletic department told Denver7 in a statement, "We're certain Phish's three shows here will be nothing short of transcendent."
Dick's Sporting Goods Park didn't reveal the reasoning behind the venue switch, although the band called it a "break".
According to our partners at The Denver Post, Dick’s has a capacity of about 24,000 for concerts, giving its four-day Labor Day run a potential 96,000 tickets to sell. Folsom, on the other hand, can host 120,000 over three days.
Tickets go on sale on Feb. 28. Travel packages for the Boulder shows go on sale this Wednesday, Feb. 19, according to the University of Colorado Athletics Department.
The band, a first-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee this year, kicks off its tour in New Hampshire on June 20 and makes stops in Pennsylvania and Texas before coming to Boulder. Phish goes on a solo acoustic tour in March and plays eight West Coast shows in April.
Go here for the full list of tour dates.
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