54. Deer Creek, Alpine Valley, Great Woods: The Great Barns of America

There’s something to be said about seeing your favorite band in a small, bijou club—the intimacy of being close to the stage, the exclusivity of being one of just a few thousand in the room, the energy of a modest group of dedicated fans…

But there’s also a case for seeing Phish in a massive, sprawling lawn or one of the great “barns” across America. Great Woods, Deer Creek, Alpine Valley…for decades, Phish has developed a storied relationship with these amphitheaters.

And frankly, I don’t care what company bought the rights to name these venues. These historic barns will forever be known as Great Woods and Alpine.

Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin, has hosted the biggest rock bands in history: The Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Metallica, and Pearl Jam, for example. Phish has performed there 17 times, including some legendary performances (see August 9, 1997, August 1, 1998, July 24, 1999, and June 26, 2004).

It is also the site where, sadly, guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and four others died in a helicopter crash after a performance on August 27, 1990.

The venue was built in 1977 and features a wooden roof (the “barn”) that covers the 7,500-seat pavilion, and the sprawling lawn of the venue accommodates an additional 29,500 concertgoers; believe me, this place is massive.

And while some fans are vehemently opposed to lawn seats at these venues (SPAC as well), there’s something to be said about seeing Phish at Alpine surrounded by tens and tens of thousands of fans and feeling the sensation of being in an open, grassy field with the vast midwestern sky above you, at once both part of something larger than yourself while feeling still quite small.

But, sadly, it seems those days are gone. Alpine Valley closed for the 2017 summer concert season, what would’ve been its 40th year. Live Nation purchased the venue in 1999, but now the amphitheater and its 198-acre property are currently for sale with an asking price of $8.4 million.

Deer Creek in Noblesville, Indiana, (once Verizon Wireless Music Center, then the Klipsch Music Center, now the Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center) is located about 30 miles northeast of Indianapolis. It opened in 1989 and holds a little more than 6,000 in the barn and 18,000 on the lawn.

Phish has played Deer Creek 23 times, many of which are notable performances (see July 24, 1999, July 11, 2000, and June 19, 2009). One such performance (August 8, 1996), featuring an incredibly unusal second-set “Mike’s Song” > “Lifeboy” > “Weekapaug Groove” -> “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” during which McConnell plays the theremin, was later released as Live Phish Vol.12.

And Phish has paired gigs at both Deer Creek and Alpine Valley at least seven times in their touring career. The drive between them, about 300 miles, is one that most Phish fans can speak to. Personally, I’ve been stuck in Chicago traffic on that ride many times and once, somewhere in Indiana, ran out of gas and just barely, luckily rolled on fumes into a gas station.

And as for Great Woods? Well, first, Great Woods is the Tweeter Center is the Comcast Center is the Xfinity Center. About an hour southeast of Boston, Great Woods offers a similar experience for the East Coast. After expansion and renovations in 1994, Great Woods would be able to accommodate 19,000 fans.

Over the years, Great Woods has hosted bands including Aerosmith, The Allman Brothers Band, The Who, James Taylor, and the Eagles, to name a few. And Phish has played there 17 times since 1992, notably once performing a complete Gamehendge saga (July 8, 1994), another time opening with “Foreplay”/”Long Time” (July 12, 1999), a 310-show bust-out, and, most recently in 2016: while performing “Wolfman’s Brother” early in the second set (July 8, 2016), the venue’s PA speaker system cut out and ultimately the band just left the stage. They returned to complete the set but the sound system was only half powered, leading to the most gentle, delicate “Slave to the Traffic Light” I’ve ever heard.

It’s moments like that (what my friend Luke would call “a once-in-a-lifetime experience”), standing just outside the shed at Great Woods with 19,000 fans collectively silent, holding their breath so we could all hear the band play solely through stage speakers, that Phish truly transcends the massive arenas and amphitheaters their fan base has grown to push them to play.