Red Rocks 96

Phish fans confront the police
August 6, 1996 - The Denver Post
By Patricia Callahan

MORRISON - Hundreds of young fans of the rock group Phish in tie-dye clothing and grungy flannel shirts jammed city streets here last night, dancing to the beat of bongo drums and chanting at heavily armed police who termed the scene a riot.

Police, some clad in riot gear, shut down the main road into town for a time last night as they tried to move the gathering, estimated at more than 400, out of downtown. Several people were injured, including some from thrown bottles. Authorities reported 10 arrests. Shortly before midnight, the Denver Metro special weapons team poured out of vans to help disperse the crowd.

"It sucks, dude, because when cops and kids clash, it gets nasty," said John, a 20-year-old in dreadlocks from North Carolina who wouldn't give his last name.

The late-night melee was the culmination of two days of tension and apprehension that had built as thousands of itinerant fans of the band Phish flooded the town for a series of concerts at nearby Red Rocks.

Most didn't have tickets, and few had more than a car or campground to stay in. Many set up shop on the streets of Morrison. It was a generation gap in the making.

"There's just too many young people in too small a town," said Carl Boynton, mayor pro-tem of Morrison. "The kids are effectively shutting the town down."

The boiling point came about 8:30 p.m., when a man driving a truck hit a woman crossing Bear Creek Road. Witnesses said the kids surrounded the woman and one young man kicked the truck. The stories diverge there.

"The crowd started rushing the officers, and quite a few bottles were thrown," said Morrison Police Sgt. Murray Goldberg. "The crowd became ruder, and fights broke out."

Officers from several jurisdictions begin pouring in.

"The kids didn't start the riot, the police did," insisted Joey, 19, of Indiana who also wouldn't give his last name.

Police told local businesses to close down after the incident occurred. David McCleve, who was working at the Bradley Sinclair service station, said police came to the shop and said, "It was going to get bad."

By 11:30 p.m. police started letting groups of five young people through their barricade. The crowd started to disperse.

"What are we going to do, hit them with our tie-dyes?" John Zoe, a 20-year-old from Indianapolis, said sarcastically.

Fans had come by the hundreds from across the nation looking for a miracle - a free ticket to the show of their dreams.

But miracles, and tickets, were hard to come by. "There aren't any tickets," King said. Between 200 and 300 Phish fans, most in their late teens and early 20s, are camped in an empty lot close to C-470 near Bandimere Speedway, the latest stop as they follow the band's tour.

To support themselves, the campers sell everything from gooey delicacies they say are made of oats, honey, coconut and marijuana, to knitted caps.

Don Cameron is helping to oversee the fan camp, established at the request of Morrison officials irritated by the influx of band followers last year.

The Phish fans, he said, are well-behaved. "These are probably the nicest kids you could ever meet," he said. But a Denver Post photographer said fans surrounded and angrily questioned him about whether he was a government agent when he visited the camp yesterday.

Morrison business owners are somewhat unhappy with the crowded streets, saying the fans drive other customers away.

"Everybody is well-behaved (but) it just kills my business. It is an invasion, no question," said Virginia Paul, owner of the Morrison Country Store.

The only business making money is the local liquor store, said Jim Nichol, manager of Tony Rigatoni's restaurant. Indeed, several people were sipping from open beer bottles on the town's streets.

Police Chief Bob Wasko said when his officers catch people drinking in public they ask them to pour it out. He is videotaping the scene in Morrison so he can show Denver and Fey Concerts officials the chaos the Phish fans have created.