Phish, who will spend the summer touring the eastern half of the U.S., will go west with a

fall tour announced Thursday (May 27).

The 24 new dates in September and October begin with a Sept. 9 show in Vancouver,

British Columbia, and will find the Burlington, Vt., band spending most of that month on

or near the West Coast before heading back east in October. Shows are scheduled

through an Oct. 9-10 stand in Albany, N.Y., and a band publicist said more dates may be

announced.

Phish will not play a Halloween show for undisclosed personal reasons, according to

Reyna Mastrosimone, one of their publicists. During Halloween shows in 1994, 1995,

1996 and 1998, the band covered, respectively, entire albums by the Beatles, the Who,

Talking Heads and the Velvet Underground. Those shows have become a hot topic of

discussion among Phish fans.

The band, which is known for its long, free-form shows, is scheduled to begin its summer

tour in Bonner Springs, Kan., on June 30. The summer schedule includes a two-day

festival July 17-18 at Oswego County Airport in Volney, N.Y., which will feature on-site

camping and a second stage highlighting lesser-known bands. Similar mid-summer

events the past three years attracted between 60,000 and 135,000 people to former Air

Force bases in Plattsburgh, N.Y., and Limestone, Maine.

Phish also are scheduled for three performances at the Fuji Rock Festival in Niigata,

Japan, from July 30 to Aug. 1.

The four bandmembers pride themselves on their improvisational jams, which often last

up to an hour.

Songwriter/guitarist Trey Anastasio said in November that the band's seventh studio

album, The Story of the Ghost, which features such short, groove-heavy songs as

"Ghost" (RealAudio excerpt) and

href="http://media.addict.com/atn-bin/get-music/Phish/Birds_Of_A_Feather.ram">"Birds

of a Feather" (RealAudio excerpt), was produced with that improvisation in

mind.

"We were trying to find a way to involve all four of the members at the point of origin of

the songs in a way that we hadn't before, because that's what we do live," he said. "The

majority of it is created spontaneously, and the point of origin is all four of us."

In 1998 Phish were the 17th-leading concert draw in the U.S., according to

Pollstar, a concert-industry trade magazine.

The summer and fall tour dates and ticket information are posted on Phish's official

website (www.phish.com).

Phish Tour Dates:

June 30; Bonner Springs, Kan.; Sandstone Amphitheatre

July 1; Antioch, Tenn.; First American Music Center

July 3-4; Atlanta, Ga.; Lakewood Amphitheatre

July 7; Charlotte, N.C.; Blockbuster Pavilion

July 8; Virginia Beach, Va.; Virginia Beach Amphitheatre

July 9; Columbia, Md.; Merriweather Post Pavilion

July 10; Camden, N.J.; Sony Music Entertainment Centre

July 12-13; Mansfield, Mass.; Tweeter Center

July 15-16; Holmdel, N.J.; PNC Bank Arts Center

July 17-18; Volney, N.Y.; Oswego County Airport

July 20; Toronto, Ontario; Molson Amphitheatre

July 21; Burgettstown, Pa.; Star Lake Amphitheatre

July 23; Columbus, Ohio; Polaris Amphitheatre

July 24; East Troy, Wis.; Alpine Valley

July 25-26; Noblesville, Ind.; Deer Creek

July 30-Aug. 1; Niigata, Japan; Fuji Rock Festival

Sept. 9; Vancouver, British Columbia; GM Place

Sept. 10-11; George, Wash.; The Gorge

Sept. 12; Portland, Ore.; Portland Meadows

Sept. 14; Boise, Idaho; BSU Pavilion

Sept. 16-17; Mountain View, Calif.; Shoreline Amphitheatre

Sept. 18; Chula Vista, Calif.; Coors Amphitheatre

Sept. 19; Irvine, Calif.; Irvine Meadows

Sept. 21; Tucson, Ariz.; Pima County Fairgrounds

Sept. 22; Las Cruces, N.M.; Pan American Center

Sept. 24; Austin, Texas; South Park Meadows

Sept. 25; Houston, Texas; Woodlands Pavilion

Sept. 26; New Orleans, La.; Lakefront Arena

Sept. 28; Pelham, Ala.; Oak Mountain Amphitheatre

Sept. 29; Memphis, Tenn.; Pyramid Arena

Oct. 1; Ames, Iowa; Hilton Coliseum

Oct. 2; Minneapolis, Minn.; Target Center

Oct. 3; Rosemont, Ill.; Rosemont Horizon

Oct. 4; Normal, Ill.; Redbird Arena

Oct. 7-8; Uniondale, N.Y.; Nassau Coliseum

Oct. 9-10; Albany, N.Y.; Pepsi Arena