Phish Scores in New York With Annual New Year’s Run of Shows

Phish is the top-grossing touring act on Billboard’s latest weekly tally of Hot Tours (see list below) based on $5.9 million earned at New York’s Madison Square Garden during the band’s annual run of concerts leading up to New Year’s Eve. With performances on the last four nights of 2017, the overall sold ticket count reached 76,598 with sellout crowds in attendance at all shows.

For eight of the last nine years (excluding 2014), the group has staged a multiple-show run at the Garden during December — each time topping the overall gross from the previous year. This most recent run is no exception, beating 2016’s four-night engagement by over $419,000 with 32 more tickets sold. The 2017 attendance count is not the band’s highest on record, however. Phish played for 76,973 fans at the venue during its four-night New Year’s run in 2015.

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Phish first began including the Manhattan arena on its year-end schedule in 1994, the beginning of a five-year stretch with a New York appearance in late December (except 1996 when the band played in October). After going on hiatus in 2000 there was one New Year’s appearance in New York in 2002, but the regular December runs did not resume until seven years later.

Last year Phish also made a summertime appearance at Madison Square Garden in addition to the annual year-end stint. The Baker’s Dozen shows – a slate of 13 performances from July 21 through August 6 – grossed an impressive $15 million from 227,385 sold seats to rank as the eighth highest-grossing concert engagement by a single headliner in 2017.

Upcoming touring plans include another summer run during July and August set primarily in outdoor amphitheaters. In addition to that schedule, band members Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon both have a string of solo dates booked in 2018.