Did Phish perform at Rock Lititz on New Year's Eve? – Fly Magazine
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Phish file photo.
Phish file photo.
Could Rock Lititz’s 30,000 square-foot cube-shaped studio be the “Ninth Cube” setting of Phish’s New Year’s Eve livestream concert?
A few die-hard county Phish fans seem to think so. Some said they even saw the band milling around Lititz.
After postponing their live concert series at Madison Square Garden in New York City due to a surge in COVID-19 cases related to the omicron variant, the rock band announced an audience-less livestream performance from an undisclosed location described as the “Ninth Cube.”
The New Year’s Eve event presented by SiriusXM AND Phish Radio came as part of the band’s “Dinner and a Movie” series. Though the broadcast was free, fans were asked to donate to the WaterWheel Foundation, which directs all proceeds to nonprofits close to the Phish community.
A fan website, Phish.net, posted a calendar event Dec. 31 locating the concert in Lititz. Phish played “Time Turns Elastic” for the first time since 2010 and “Baby Lemonade” was performed for the first time since 1992, according to the site.
Prior to the concert, a Reddit user speculated that the band’s mysterious livestream venue was none other than Lancaster County’s own Rock Lititz studio, citing an Instagram post featuring the venue that was seemingly shared by guitar technician, Justin Stabler. The Lititz-based production facilities have drawn all sorts of big names from Beyonce to U2.
Phish has a long-standing connection with Rock Lititz. Since 1997, Phish’s guitarist Trey Anastasio has counted on Custom Audio Electronics based out of Rock Lititz for his gear-related needs — including a major update in 2017. Tait Towers, another Rock Lititz partner, also helped to design the band’s 2016 New Year’s Eve stage set.
A few Phish-heads made their way to Rock Lititz on Rock Lititz Boulevard on Friday in hopes of seeing the band return. Fan Jeremiah Forney, of Lancaster, watched the livestream from the Rock Lititz campus in hopes of seeing the musicians in person.
Forney said in a Facebook post that he encountered three of the venue’s staff members — all of which denied the band’s presence. The third staff member asked him to leave because Forney was technically on private property.
Evelyn Schronce and her husband, Jeff, saw the Reddit thread and, noting the band’s history with the studio, decided it was a “reasonable probability” that they could spot the band this weekend. They booked a room at the Hotel Rock Lititz for New Year’s Eve.
“We recently moved to Lancaster and were looking for somewhere low key to spend the weekend, and Hotel Rock Lititz is a pretty cool place, even if the venue speculation was a bust,” she said.
After a relaxing night with dinner, drinks and shuffleboard, the couple said they saw Anastasio and fellow bandmates Page McConnell and Mike Gordon heading into the hotel following their show. Schronce said they caught another glimpse of the band in the morning.
The couple was joined by a few other fans hoping to see the show. However, Schronce said fans in the parking lot were asked to leave.
“Hotel security was keeping things tight,” she said.
Her husband has seen Phish at multiple concerts across the country. Out of respect for the band’s privacy and given that the location was undisclosed, Schronce said the couple refrained from taking any pictures.
Rock Lititz did not respond to inquiries by the LNP | LancasterOnline as to whether Phish had reserved a studio. An employee at Hotel Rock Lititz said they had not worked the night before and could not respond.
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Custom Audio Electronics builds a new rig for Phish’s Trey Anastasio.
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