When famed jam rockers Phish staged IT last August at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, roughly 60,000 fans, as well as a cadre of journalists (including myself), flocked to the willywags of northern Maine to attend the three-day carnival of music, camping and good vibes.

Unfortunately, the presence of all those intrepid souls who made their way there is somehow missing from the new PBS documentary “IT: A Phish Concert Special.”

The program, which airs at 10 tonight on Maine Public Television, does have a lot going for it, though. With a production team that includes Grammy and Emmy award-winners, the program’s technical pedigree is indisputable. And sure enough, the sound is sharp, as is the footage of the band in action during sunlit afternoons and evenings drenched in multicolored stage lights. (Oddly enough, I vividly remember the camera crane that no doubt filmed this footage swooping over the audience and the stage during those concerts.)

Exclusive post-IT interviews with the band members provide a few respites from the stream of music, shed some light on the band’s philosophy behind the jamming dynamic, and supply some of the reasons behind the group’s desire to stage such a grand spectacle in the first place.

Still, for a band that puts such an emphasis on its “phans,” and indeed a band with such a cultlike following, it just seems a little negligent not to have them a bit more represented in Phish’s first televised event. Yes, you see them – all those mostly young, dread-headed and ball-capped heads – in a few repeated still images and some requisite wide-angle crowd shots during the band’s onstage performances. However, no substantial screen time is given to these folks who, as the band members themselves point out even during the program, are an integral part of the music.

Also, it would have been nice to include some more footage exploring the site itself, which was a vast, fantastically imagined and expertly orchestrated village of art, food and commerce.

Despite these gaps, “IT: A Phish Concert Special” holds up as a straightforward document of the band’s long and flowing live performances with better sights and sounds than can be found on your average fan bootleg.

But one has to wonder: Will the average Phish fan – or any twentysomething music fan, really – be willing to tune in to Maine Public Television at 10 p.m. on a hot August night? In a perfect world, maybe.

George Bragdon can be reached at gbragdon@bangordailynews.net.