Phish played the final concert of their 2000 tour at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, and subsequently began an 815-day hiatus. They returned to live performance on New Year's Eve2002 with a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Phish held their first weekend festival, The Clifford Ball, in Plattsburgh, New York. The event marked the beginning of the band's tradition of large-scale festivals.