Dear Phish: Halloween 2009

Many of you regularly bathing, upstanding citizens might not be aware of the magnitude of Phish's recently announced 3-Day Halloween Festival, which is all-but-confirmed to take place in Indio, California October 30-November 1.

Beginning in 1994, Phish began one of their greatest traditions by putting on their "musical costume" and covering someone else's album in it's entirety on Halloween. In 1994 they covered The Beatles' White Album, in 1995 The Who's Quadrophenia, in 1996 the Talking Heads' Remain in Light, and in 1998 the Velvet Underground's Loaded (with a surprise rendition of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon two nights later).

As to be expected with such a dedicated (mildly obsessed) fan-base, speculation is running rampant as to what album Phish will choose for their first Halloween show in over a decade. Here's my personal wish list, along with some honorable mentions.

1. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced

All that I need to say is: "Purple Haze > Manic Depression > Hey Joe, The Wind Cries Mary > Fire > Third Stone From the Sun > Foxy Lady."

2. Led Zeppelin - II

"Heartbreaker > Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman) > Ramble On > Moby Dick." If they could swing the vocals on this one it could be incredible.

3. Grateful Dead - American Beauty

This would be so good that it will clearly never happen.

4. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Do I even need to list all of the ways this would be awesome? I'm skeptical as to whether Phish could pull this one off vocally though.

5. Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage

According to legend, Joe's Garage was initially selected for Halloween 1995, "but with insanely complex overdubs, potentially offensive lyrics, and several tunes (esp. Watermelon in Easter Hay) that Zappa had requested never be performed live again, the band (after learning a considerable amount of it) decided they just couldn't make it sound like it should and chose to instead play Quadrophenia."

While unlikely, I think the distinct possibility of Phish covering a double album over the span of two nights deserves mention:

Pink Floyd - The Wall

So what if Phish already covered Dark Side of the Moon? The Wall is one of the greatest albums ever made; "In the Flesh?" is one of my all-time favorite openers and songs like "Mother" "One of My Turns" "Comfortably Numb" and "Run Like Hell" are just begging to be played by this band.

Guns 'n' Roses - Use Your Illusion 1 & 2

While some of the songs off these albums could be outstanding, most forget that there are 30 tracks between the two albums, and, honestly, only about 10 worth covering. This would be a lot of new material to learn and I'm not sure if Phish can match off Axl Rose's vocals.

Finally, no list would be complete without mentioning Michael Jackson's Thriller. While I could see Phish pulling a fake-out and opening with "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin" - but beyond that playing the entire album might be beyond their vocal (and dancing) abilities.