Phish [ tickets ], which has hosted a major multi-day music festival each of the last four years, will not attempt a similar production in 2000. The jam band is scheduled to open its fall tour on Sept. 8 in Albany, N.Y., but plans to take an extended break following the tour’s conclusion in October.

According to an announcement on the band’s official website Phish will not play additional shows in November or December, “or immediately thereafter."

Last month, Phish’s Trey Anastasio told Entertainment Weekly that the band will take an “unofficial sabbatical,” perhaps for as long as a year, at the conclusion of the fall tour. "It just feels like every 15 years or so you ought to take a break,” drummer Jon Fishman added.

Phish has hosted a multi-day festival for each of the last four years, playing several sets at each of the concert/camping events. The latest such event was at Florida's Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation over the New Year’s holiday weekend, an event that attracted a crowd of about 80,000 and grossed more than $11.6 million.

Phish began its multi-day festival tradition with The Clifford Ball in 1996. That event, held on a former Air Force base in Plattsburgh, N.Y., drew an estimated 75,000 fans. In 1997 and 1998, similar massive events--The Great Went and Lemonwheel--took place in Limestone, Maine.

The positive economic impact of the events in New York and Maine generally were applauded by neighboring businesses and residents. However, the New Year’s event drew criticism because of the traffic snarl it created. The band and its management produced all of the multi-day events with Massachusetts-based Great Northeast Productions.

Phish has become a staple act on the summer amphitheater circuit: even though the band’s ticket prices are among the lowest charged by a major act, its concerts grossed $10.5 million from just 14 shows in the summer of 1999, according to Amusement Business.