Phish Mondegreen Festival in Dover is 'redeeming' for fans who went to Curveball

Several Phish fans were seen sporting doughnut dresses Thursday at opening day of the Mondegreen Festival in The Woodlands of Dover Motor Speedway — including Miles the Monster .

Towering at 46 feet tall, Delaware's favorite rock Monster is seen greeting the estimated 45,000-plus festivalgoers at Victory Plaza in his new green doughnut-print dress, which is a nod to Phish's Jon Fishman, the Vermont band's doughnut-dress-wearing drummer who also inspired the jam band's name.

Jessica Thelen of Newark has seen Phish over 50 times, including the band's Magnaball festival, and she said it's surreal the band is throwing a festival in her state. She gets to enjoy the experience with her boyfriend Nick Morgenweck of Pittsburgh.

"I never expected a Phish festival to be in the state where I was living," Thelen said in The Woodlands on Thursday. "It's pretty awesome."

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It's not rare for some fans to see over 50 Phish shows. Morgenweck said he's seen the group more than 100 times including their festivals Super Ball (2011) and Magnaball (2015).

It's common for outsiders to not understand why Phish lovers like them are so addicted to the band's live experience.

"One thing that people usually ask me is like, well, how do you see so many shows by one band? Don't you get sick of it?" Thelen explained.

But part of the reason fans keep coming back to Phish's concerts and festivals is because the band never plays the same set twice. She also said Mondegreen is great because she gets to meet friends from across the country that she sees only at Phish concerts.

"Someone I follow on Twitter, I'm not like friends with them [offline], but I follow them. They're here all the way from Japan," Thelen said.

Firefly is out as Phish Mondegreen Festival hits Woodlands Dover

Giving Miles a fashion makeover isn't the only way Phish is leaving their mark on The Woodlands, a location that hasn't hosted a major festival since Firefly Music Festival took a break in 2022.

Phish hung giant pairs of eyeballs on trees on the festival grounds, across from the food court near the main entrance, where Firefly fans used to chill on hammocks while watching concerts.

There are also swings for fans; The Heliograph, a giant geometric platform for DJ sets that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie; and an enormous art installation made entirely of cardboard and tape re-creates City Hall in Baltimore.

Volunteers helped to erect the cardboard art under the direction of renowned French artist Olivier Grossetete . The final version of this City Hall installation is said to reach about 82 feet tall, according to festival organizers.

Phish fans move on from failed Curveball to Mondegreen Festival

For a group of four Philly natives, Mondegreen is a chance for them to enjoy trippy music and decompress together in tiny Delaware. Two members from the crew, Rory O'Conner and Steve Barris, see Mondegreen as a chance at redemption after Phish's Curveball festival got canceled in 2018, due to concerns over clean water.

Mondegreen is now recognized as Phish's 11th self-produced festival because the band doesn't count Curveball, which was supposed to be their 11th fest.

"It was a big disappointment. We were very sad about it. That's basically all you can say," explained O'Conner, who came to Mondegreen with his brother, Dale, and friend Phillip Welsh.

"I was crying on the way home, literally," Barris said about their failed Curveball experience.

Looking forward to enjoying Phish sets at Mondegreen with his "best boys" is all O'Conner cares about now. He was all smiles on Thursday.

"It feels redeeming. You know, it feels great," O'Conner said. "I'm avenging, after what happened to Curveball."

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Are tickets still available for Phish Mondegreen Festival?

Mondegreen's general admission starts at $150 per day; $450 covers access for all four days. If you're bringing a vehicle, you also must buy a camping or parking vehicle pass (one per car or RV). Single-day parking passes start at $20.

When does Phish play Mondegreen Festival in Dover?

The concert venue opens 90 minutes before the first scheduled set time each day. At the moment, this means the concert venue opens at 5 p.m. (as Phish plays each night at 6:30) from Thursday, Aug.15, to Sunday, Aug. 18. DJ sets in The Heliograph will begin each night after Phish's set.

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Where is the Phish Mondegreen Festival?

Mondegreen is located in The Woodlands of Dover Motor Speedway (1131 N. Dupont Highway, Dover) from Thursday, Aug. 15, to Sunday, Aug. 18. For more info, visit mondegreen.phish.com .   '

If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com . Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters .

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Phish Mondegreen Festival in Dover is 'redeeming' for fans who went to Curveball