The band goes into the studio in late February and begins recording a self-produced Blob of music. At the end of March they take a month off and appear at JazzFest in New Orleans on April 26th. They then return to the studio and can the Blob (except for two minutes); Steve Lillywhite joins them in the studio to produce the album. The band plays an unannounced club show near Bearsville billed as ThirdBall, performing to a sold-out crowd of 350 and debuting many of the songs that would be on the new album. The official Phish web site is launched on July 1st. At the beginning of July the band heads to Europe, playing some shows with Santana and others on their own, and in August they return to the US for 11 shows (including four in a row at Red Rocks Amphitheater) culminating with the Clifford Ball, a festival dedicated to the legendary aviator. The album Billy Breathes is released on October 15th and the band begins a 35 show US tour beginning in the east and including a stop at The Omni in Atlanta for the traditional Halloween concert. This year's "musical costume" is the band's choice: The Talking Heads' "Remain in Light". The band welcomes special guest percussionist Karl Perazzo for four shows, and the fall tour wraps up at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas with yodelers and multiple Elvi. The band ushers in the new year at Boston's FleetCenter amidst a sea of falling balloons.