Festival 8   

After a month of anticipation thanks to the speculation-inducing Save the Date map, tonight Phish finally announced the details of their 2009 Halloween festival:

Phish Festival 8 in Indio, California

Per the cheekily written website, the Halloween festival will be held on October 30th, 31st and November 1st at the beautiful Empire Polo Field in Indio, California.

Here's hoping the festival location announcement will put an end to the arguments that have fueled the Phish messages boards (and comment threads) for the past month.

Tickets for the 3-day festival go on sale Monday for a pretty reasonable $200. That buys you 8 sets of Phish (complete Festival 8 Performance Schedule) including a musical costume set and an all-acoustic set — not to mention what I can only imagine will be some incredibly trippy attractions and art installations.

Read on for ticket info and camping & RV details.

Update: September 28, 2009

Phish just posted a Festival 8 musical costume teaser to reveal the cover album for Festival 8. See the complete list of Phish cover albums and find out which have already been killed-off right here on Jamtopia.

Yesterday Phish confirmed what had been circulating on the rumor train for weeks — that they'll be hosting a 3-day Halloween Festival from October 30th to November 1st, 2009.

See above for the custom announcement from Phish.com. The map is being updated every few days with a new animated clue, slowly revealing the festival location and potentially the name:

“Save the Date”

Speaking of which, all signs are pointing to the Phish Halloween Festival being held at the stunning Empire Polo Field in Indio, California, home of the annual Coachella festival and fertile spot for growing dates.

The Coachella / Empire Polo Field rumor is strong enough that nearby hotel rooms and rentals are pretty much sold out. And apparently there's already huge demand for Naked Wizard costumes.

Read on more analysis and speculation about the Phish Festival 2009.