Breaking from their traditional Halloween show, Phish shared material off a yet-to-be-recorded album. Since 1994, the band has traditionally covered an album in its entirety in between sets of original material as a sort of "musical costume."
According to Rolling Stone, the material the band played last night was off an album slated for release next year tentatively called Wingsuit.
Although the band ended up playing original songs, the article said fans had speculated that they might cover the Allman Brother's Eat a Peach or Rock of Ages, Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, or Huey Lewis and the News' Sports.
As fans entered Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, they were handed "Phishbills," explaining why the band chose to perform the new material.
"Music is a spiritual language," it read. "Your energy is obviously embedded in everything we've ever done, but what's happening tonight is more of a tangible thing. The songs always change so much as soon as we play them together with all of you. Playing these songs tonight is a way that we can get them dirty and mess them up a little before we record them. And the live energy of a Phish audience will be directly involved in the making of our new album, as we all celebrate 30 years together."
According to the article, the music off the upcoming album offers an eclectic blend of influences throughout the history of rock and roll, including cow funk, prog rock, arena rock, roots rock, crescendo jams, bluegrass and blues.The album came about during a secretive period where the members headed to their old practice barn in Vermont to jam and see what came out of it.
The new material is set to begin recording next with producer Bob Ezrin.
