After 40 nights of U2 at the Sphere, Phish's Trey Anastasio talks about taking over

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Phish has been performing for decades, but never has the band played the same show twice.

Over the 40 years since the band was formed at a Vermont college, Phish has amassed a reputation for its dedicated legion of fans and the dazzling light shows that accompany the improvisational jams. It follows, then, that the next stop for Phish is the new temple of immersive performances: the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Inaugurated with U2's 40-show residency, the $2.3 billion arena will offer Phish fans something they've definitely never seen — or felt — before.

Mind-blowing visuals run up, down and across the floor-to-ceiling screen, designed to be manipulated in real-time during the band’s long jams. A sound system features more than 1,600 speakers, allowing for a Trey Anastasio guitar line in one spot and a line from Page McConnell’s keys in another. Seats make you feel like you’re inside every drum kick from Jon Fishman or bass bomb from Mike Gordon.

Starting Thursday, Phish will play four shows, with new visuals each night — and no repeated songs, of course. Anastasio, the band's frontman, says fans will be able to discern a theme across the shows … and find lots of Easter eggs. The shows will be the first to be livestreamed from the Sphere as well on LivePhish.com.

“I love getting up in the morning and creatively thinking of another cool thing to blow people’s minds,” Anastasio says.

Anastasio talked to The Associated Press this week about the teamwork that goes into these shows, how their “giant rolling family” of fans keeps them going and whether there will ever be another Gamehendge.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

ANASTASIO: It’s extremely unique to any venue that we’ve played before. One of the things that we’ve tried to do is sculpt our show so that we can be the band that we always are and play to our strengths while simultaneously using the technology to kind of expand the elements of the show — like the adventure and the breaking free of boundaries.

ANASTASIO: Constantly. Daily. Yesterday. We dropped some things yesterday. It’s a constant process of waking up in the morning and looking for areas that we can improve. Everyone on the team is incredible, but the level of communication and proactive teamwork is hard to describe. And that’s what it takes to get something like this mounted. But yeah, there were ideas on what the thematic narrative that was going to run through the four nights that went on for a month. Then we landed on one. Then it was what songs we’re going to play, what the (visual) content was going to be, how literal we wanted to make it. The answer to that is not very literal. Our fans are really smart and really involved, and we wanted to take a night or so for people to figure out what we were doing, plant a lot of Easter eggs and things like that. But it’s a never-ending daily improvement.

ANASTASIO: We’re a very different band. We’ve never repeated a set and we didn’t want to start now. So we created four unique Sphere shows, top to bottom. There was a moment where we were discussing adding shows, because the tickets blew out pretty hard. And we decided as a team that they would be good, but not necessarily astounding — which is the level that we wanted to operate at — unless we just repeated the exact same show over again. The other thing is that Phish is such a wacky community that it kind of set up this scenario where a lot of people would probably want to come back. It’s just the way our fans are. It’s kind of like a big, giant rolling family or community or something like that.

ANASTASIO: Always. Always. I just love the feeling of being part of a group, working on something creative, especially when it’s firing on all cylinders and people communicate well. It’s been one of the great joys of my life. That’s what a band is. A good band is a family. It’s a team. It’s communication and listening and it’s hard to describe what a joy it is when you spend almost a year working on — like what we did last year (with a New Year’s Eve performance of the band’s epic set of “Gamehendge” songs, complete with stage actors and puppets). It’s like you feel like you’re alive. And the Sphere has been like that, too.

ANASTASIO: Huge. It’s everything. The fans and the community are everything. We have intelligent, focused fans and we have to honor that. You know, they’re not casual fans and that’s really cool. It’s an honor and it’s a massive responsibility. I feel like the longer this goes, the more we owe. The fans have supported us for 40 years — it’s our responsibility to keep raising the bar. Which is a great challenge. And it’s very unique. If you really look at the series of events that we continue to put on, that’s the thinking that goes behind it. You know, the fact that there were people in the audience last New Year’s Eve who have seen Phish 300 times, who were crying according to what I heard — and I was too, by the way — meant so much to all of us. It’s everything that we want. Which is to honor and respect the people that have been coming to see us for years. We feel like they’re family and they deserve our care and attention about every detail.

ANASTASIO: I don’t know, I actually don’t know. ... OK, first of all, I wanted to improve it. As soon as it was over I was like, “Oh, I know what I could have (changed).” So then I thought, “Oh, we should save all these props that are really — they’re really expensive.” But then it was kind of like, if there is, it’s going to be better, or it’s going to be built upon. Sort of the way this one was built upon. The previous one, even though it was 30 years ago. I hope it’s not 30 years. I’d like to do it. In the Phish world, it’s like the second it’s over … the next morning you wake up like I start working on the Sphere. Go meet (co-creative director Abigail Rosen Holmes) downtown at a coffee shop with a laptop and start riffing. I mean, I’m here in Vegas, and yesterday morning I was on a call (about this summer’s Mondegreen festival) with the coolest, smartest people who are working on that. Oh my God.

Page McConnell, keyboardist for the band Phish, poses for a photograph during an interview on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Abigail Rosen Holmes, show director and co-creative director for the band Phish's upcoming show at the Sphere, poses for a photograph during an interview on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Trey Anastasio, guitarist and singer-songwriter of the band Phish, gestures during an interview on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Trey Anastasio, guitarist and singer-songwriter of the band Phish, gestures during an interview on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Trey Anastasio, guitarist and singer-songwriter of the band Phish, poses for a photograph during an interview on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Trey Anastasio, guitarist and singer-songwriter of the band Phish, poses for a photograph during an interview on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of protesters took over a building at Columbia University in New York early Tuesday, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war that have spread to college campuses nationwide.

Video footage showed protesters on Columbia's Manhattan campus locking arms in front of Hamilton Hall early Tuesday and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building, one of several that was occupied during a 1968 civil rights and anti-Vietnam War protest on the campus. Posts on an Instagram page for protest organizers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment and join them at Hamilton Hall. A “Free Palestine” banner hung from a window.

“An autonomous group reclaimed Hind’s Hall, previously known as ”Hamilton Hall,” in honor of Hind Rajab, a martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old,” CU Apartheid Divest posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, early Tuesday.

The student radio station, WKCR-FM, broadcast a play-by-play of the hall’s takeover – which occurred nearly 12 hours after Monday’s 2 p.m. deadline for the protesters to leave an encampment of around 120 tents or face suspension. Representatives for the university did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment early Tuesday but the Public Safety department said in a statement that access to the Morningside campus has been limited to students living in the residential buildings and employees who provide essential services, such as dining, public safety and maintenance staff. There was just one access point into and out of campus.

“The safety of every single member of this community is paramount,” the advisory said.

In the X post, protesters said they planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the CUAD's three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.

Universities across the U.S. are grappling with how to clear out encampments as commencement ceremonies approach, with some continuing negotiations and others turning to force and ultimatums that have resulted in clashes with police. Dozens of people were arrested Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah, Virginia and New Jersey, while Columbia said hours before the takeover of Hamilton Hall that it had started suspending students.

The nationwide campus protests began as a response by some students to Israel’s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry.

Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests as antisemitic, while critics of Israel say it uses such allegations to silence opponents. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.

At the University of Texas at Austin, an attorney said at least 40 demonstrators were arrested Monday. The confrontation was an escalation on the 53,000-student campus in the state's capital, where more than 50 protesters were arrested last week.

Later Monday, dozens of officers in riot gear at the University of Utah sought to break up an encampment outside the university president’s office that went up in the afternoon. Police dragged students off by their hands and feet, snapping the poles holding up tents and zip-tying those who refused to disperse. Seventeen people were arrested. The university says it’s against code to camp overnight on school property and that the students were given several warnings to disperse before police were called in.

At Princeton University, 13 people were arrested Monday night including 11 students, after briefly occupying a building that houses its graduate school. They received summons for trespassing and have been barred from campus, President Christopher Eisgruber said in a statement.

The plight of students who have been arrested has become a central part of protests, with the students and a growing number of faculty demanding amnesty for protesters. At issue is whether the suspensions and legal records will follow students through their adult lives.

The Texas protest and others — including in Canada and Europe — grew out of Columbia's early demonstrations that have continued. On Monday, student activists defied the 2 p.m. deadline to leave the encampment. Instead, hundreds of protesters remained. A handful of counter-demonstrators waved Israeli flags, and one held a sign reading, “Where are the anti-Hamas chants?”

While the university didn’t call police to roust the demonstrators, school spokesperson Ben Chang said suspensions had started but could provide few details. Protest organizers said they were not aware of any suspensions as of Monday evening.

In a rare case, Northwestern University said it reached an agreement with students and faculty who represent the majority of protesters on its campus near Chicago. It allows peaceful demonstrations through the June 1 end of spring classes and in exchange, requires removal of all tents except one for aid, and restricts the demonstration area to allow only students, faculty and staff unless the university approves otherwise.

At the University of Southern California, organizers of a large encampment sat down with university President Carol Folt for about 90 minutes on Monday. Folt declined to discuss details but said she heard the concerns of protesters and talks would continue Tuesday.

USC sparked a controversy April 15 when officials refused to allow the valedictorian, who has publicly supported Palestinians, to make a commencement speech, citing nonspecific security concerns for their rare decision. Administrators then scrapped the keynote speech by filmmaker Jon M. Chu, who is an alumnus, and declined to award any honorary degrees.

The backlash, as well as Columbia's demonstrations, inspired the encampment and protests on campus last week week where 90 people were arrested by police in riot gear. The university has canceled its main graduation event.

Administrators elsewhere tried to salvage their commencements and several have ordered the clearing of encampments in recent days. When those efforts have failed, officials threatened discipline, including suspension, and possible arrest.

But students dug in their heels at other high-profile universities, with standoffs continuing at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale and others. Police in riot gear at Virginia Commonwealth University sought to break up an encampment there late Monday and clashed with protesters.

Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas, and Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Hannah Schoenbaum, Sarah Brumfield, Stefanie Dazio, Christopher Weber, Carolyn Thompson, David Collins, Makiya Seminera and Corey Williams.

Students with the Gaza solidarity encampment block the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University after taking over it on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in New York. Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine called for mobilization close to midnight. (Marco Postigo Storel via AP)

Student protesters with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment place a keffiyeh on Columbia University's Alma Mater on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in New York. Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine called for mobilization close to midnight, then took over Hamilton Hall building. (Marco Postigo Storel via AP)

Students with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment take over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University naming it Hind's Hall, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in New York. Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine called for mobilization close to midnight. Protesters named it Hind's Hall as an homage to Hind Rajab, who was found dead 12 days after she called for help in Gaza. Students have been occupying part of campus calling for the university to divest from institutions that have ties to Israel. (Marco Postigo Storel via AP)

Students with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment block the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University after taking over it on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in New York. Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine called for mobilization close to midnight. Students have been occupying part of campus since April 17, calling for the university to divest from institutions that have ties to Israel. (Marco Postigo Storel via AP)

FILE - Part of some estimated 300 students at Columbia University are shown milling around Hamilton Hall on the campus in New York, April 24, 1968. The students are protesting the construction of a gymnasium in a public park and the university's participation in a defense-related program. A couple of students stand on pedestal of the statue of Alexander Hamilton while others hang a poster of Stokely Carmichael from the balcony of the building along with a Viet Cong flag. (AP Photo/Jacob Harris, File)

Police arrive at a pro-Palestinian rally at Virginia Commonwealth University, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Richmond, Va. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

Demonstrators and law enforcement officers clash during a pro-Palestinian rally at Virginia Commonwealth University, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Richmond, Va. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

Law enforcement officers hold shields during a pro-Palestinian rally at Virginia Commonwealth University, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Richmond, Va. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

Demonstrators stand behind a sign in preparation for police to arrive during a pro-Palestinian rally at Virginia Commonwealth University, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Richmond, Va. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

University of Oregon students set up a tent encampment at the university to protest the Israel-Hamas war on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A University of Oregon student carves a design into a stamp to be used on cloth at a tent encampment at the university that was set up to protest the Israel-Hamas war, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A student at the University of Oregon sets up a sign that reads "Divest from death" as students set up a tent encampment at the university to protest the Israel-Hamas war on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A student at the University of Oregon looks into a tent with other students at an encampment at the university that was set up to protest the Israel-Hamas war on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Pro-Palestinian protesters continued to occupy the grounds at University of California, Los Angeles in front of Royce Hall on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Los Angeles. Security has surrounded the encampment after a skirmish broke out Sunday between the Pro-Palestianian protesters and Israel supporters. (David Crane/The Orange County Register via AP)

Speakers take turns addressing a rally on Francis Quadrangle at the University of Missouri campus Monday, April 29, 2024, in Columbia, Mo. Students staged a walkout and demonstration calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. The group made up of about 300 peopl, met at Lowry Mall and walked to the Quad and back. (Brian W. Kratzer/Missourian via AP)

A person who declined to give their name maneuvers among tents at an encampment by students protesting against the Israel-Hamas war at George Washington University on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Barricades torn down by demonstrators are piled in the center of an encampment by students protesting against the Israel-Hamas war at George Washington University on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Israel supporters look on at a pro-Palestinian encampment in front of Royce Hall at UCLA, Monday, April 29, 2024. Pro-Palestinian supporters joined in a march from their encampment in front of Royce Hall to areas around the campus. (David Crane/The Orange County Register via AP)

Pro-Palestinian protesters stand with linked arms surrounded by Texas state troopers and police at an encampment at University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

State troopers arrest a person at a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

A protester is taken away by University of Texas at Austin police at an encampment on the campus Monday, April 29, 2024. (Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

Student protesters march round their encampment on the Columbia University campus, Monday, April 29, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

A sign is shown written over to read "University of Palestine" at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Washington campus Monday, April 29, 2024, in Seattle. The group is demanding that the university divest from Israel and cut ties with Boeing, which manufactures products used by Israel Defense Forces. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A state trooper pepper sprays protesters at a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

State troopers arrest a pro-Palestinian protester at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

University of South Florida police officers take pro-Palestinian protesters into custody during a march on the campus Monday, April 29, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

People gather on the grass at a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Washington campus Monday, April 29, 2024, in Seattle. The group is demanding that the university divest from Israel and cut ties with Boeing, which manufactures products used by Israel Defense Forces. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A pro-Palestinian protester is grabbed by University of South Florida police as they begin to clash on campus Monday, April 29, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Police arrest a pro-Palestinian protester at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Monday April 29, 2024. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

A pro-Palestinian protester yells "Free Palestine" as she is handcuffed by University of Texas at Austin police on the campus Monday, April 29, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

A Palestinian flag flutters in the wind as University of Oregon students set up a tent encampment at the university to protest the Israel-Hamas war on Monday, April 29, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Police pepper spray pro-Palestinian protesters blocking police vehicles from leaving the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Monday, April 29, 2024. (Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

A student at the University of Oregon is silhouetted in front of a Palestinian flag inside a tent encampment at the university that was set up to protest the Israel-Hamas war, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A pro-Palestinian protester yells as state troopers stand during a protest at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Monday April, 29, 2024. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)