You know those trampolines Trey and Mike bounce on? They are the result of the efforts of Jim Tewksbury and a few other folks who sought to get the boys new tramps, as the old ones were destroyed at show-that-must-not-be-named. With the help of Phantasytour.com, the Ross Compressor Pedal made it’s way to Trey, and soon after, ideas starting popping up in his head.

Jim’s story:
With money left over from the Ross Fund, sixtwenty294, bailedwiththehay, who_is_she, Julie Parker, myself and a few others commenced a multi-fronted campaign to buy new tramps for the band, and we began bombarding John Langenstein, Chris Kuroda, the gals at the Phish office, everyone we could contact and think of.

We asked that they keep a lid on the GBOTT (Get Back on the Tramps) project, as to keep it a surprise for the guys.

We initially wanted to get the tramps in through a staff member and then pass them up from the stash spot on the sound/lightboard, to the band, handing them forward through the crowd, as to complete the circle from Coventry.

We tried valiantly for months. Finally, Adam Bollinger, aka bailedwiththehay got a response from Langenstein, about two weeks before Hampton. John and Adam met up on the Wednesday prior to the shows and John brought the new tramps in.

Mission accomplished.

However, we were shot down initially by Red Light Management, stating that the guys couldn’t use our tramps for liability reasons.

Well, as it turned out, according to Langenstein, the tramps Phish had purchased had a broken spring, so they used ours.

After the show, Adam emailed Langenstein:

“John,
i have tried to find you around the lots and inside so i could shake your hand and thank you for helping with the trampolines. i know you are busy but can you please tell me if those were our trampolines they used friday night?
Adam”

…he responded….

“Adam:
Good morning.
I can confirm that they indeed were YOUR trampolines.
I can confirm that the band knew they were YOUR trampolines….
Thank you very much !
See you in the lots…

Cheers:
Langenstein”

There you have it folks! The true story behind the Tramps. So when they play YEM at Indio, remember that the fans got them for the band, and the band knows it. It just doesnt happen with any other band!

Photos by Jim Tewksbury