Phish Reschedules New Year’s Concerts at Madison Square Garden

The band Phish, which regularly plays New Year’s Eve concerts at Madison Square Garden, on Thursday postponed its upcoming run of shows, including a three-set performance originally planned for New Year’s Eve.

“The health and safety of Phish fans, our crew and venue staff is paramount in our minds,” the band said in a statement. “While Phish has played shows this year as the pandemic has continued, this variant’s ability for rapid transmission is unprecedented.”

The rescheduled shows will now take place April 20 to 23, with the three-set concert initially scheduled for New Year’s Eve moved to April 22.

In its statement, Phish said that it wanted to “avoid accelerating transmission of the virus” because the group is aware that many people travel for shows like these, then return back to their communities. The band also acknowledged that “even with the strictest of tour Covid protocols,” a four-night indoor run would prolong exposure to crew and staff and increase the possibility of needing to shut down the shows.

Ticket holders who can’t make the rescheduled show dates can request a refund any time in the next 30 days. Authorized ticket sellers like Ticketmaster and Phish Tickets will be contacting buyers with more information.

On Wednesday, Cirque du Soleil also canceled its performances of “’Twas the Night Before” at Madison Square Garden from Wednesday through Friday because of breakthrough Covid cases in the production. (There are no shows on Saturday, but “’Twas the Night Before” is scheduled to resume on Sunday.)

On Monday night, a Billy Joel concert at which all attendees were required to have at least one dose of a vaccine went ahead at the Garden. According to the concert’s listing on the venue’s website, masks were not required for fully vaccinated attendees.

Two upcoming New York Knicks games on Wednesday and Saturday are still scheduled to take place.