12/30 Strikes Again: Phish Comes Up Big At Madison Square Garden

Words: Aaron “Neddy” Stein”

Past is prologue, that’s what they say. When it comes to Phish playing on December 30th, the night before New Year’s Eve, the past, the legends, may very well outshine the reality. Still, as the band took the stage Saturday night, it was tough not to think back to the first time they ever took the stage at Madison Square Garden, also on a 12/30, exactly 23 years ago. And when they opened with a surprising, classic “Mike’s Song” > “I Am Hydrogen” > “Weekapaug Groove,” you could be forgiven for wondering when was the last time they did that?

With Mike Gordon leading the charge, the opening segment seemed to instantly enter the 12/30 pantheon, harkening back 20 years to another surprising and crowd-crunching opening. When “Tweezer” (Tweezer, really!? I mean TWEEZER!?!?) followed, an all-bets-are-off shudder lapped the arena. Setlist aside, Trey Anastasio and company were in it to win it, 12/30/93-style, laying the foundation for an epic evening. The Jon Fishman goof “Ass Handed” was a brief reprieve that soon relented to the validation that it indeed was not the ’90s with a rollicking “Kill Devil Falls.” Lest anyone think the first set was getting too firstsetty, the third, yes third, big jam showcase of the yes-still-the-first set, “Bathtub Gin” put that notion to rest. December 30th has featured many what-is-happening!? moments through the years, times when you just have to turn to the people around you and smile, the unspoken words “we are lucky to be here” implied in the shrugs and the smiles. The weirdly syncopated “Brother” bustout, Gordon bopping while Page McConnell took vocal duties barely registered as the last special moment of the opening set.

When it comes to New Year’s run Phish shows, perhaps the past isn’t really prologue but merely a prism through which the present is viewed. Who could’ve imagined when “Down With Disease” debuted as a New Year’s Eve riff 24 years ago that it would become a juggernaut jammer, the night before the last night of the year here in 2017. The 12/30/17 version was a revelation of latter-day improvisation, starting feisty, then moving to Type Duuuuude!, through almost 30 minutes of jamming, each section building on the preceding one, Trey totally at ease leading from one section to the next. More recently, “Steam” was another crack-of-the-new-year featurette, soundtracking the gag as the calendar turned to 2012, six years ago. That night, dancers floated as if the song made them weightless. Here in 2017, the now-kinda-rarity took the DWD jam and oozed it flat into an ambient spacey thing, if anything, heavier than everything else played in the show.

If the most noteworthy parts of the night were already done by 11, at least they were supremely noteworthy. The set closed with a solid triplet of “Light,” “Farmhouse” and a no-one’s-complaining “Run Like an Antelope.”

When it comes to Phish, yes, the past is sometimes hard to escape, a feeling confirmed post-show when I was able to get a look at none other than Andy Gadiel’s setlist notebook, last used at the Garden exactly 19 years ago.

Checking it over, I was able to confirm that the encore started with a classic “Sleeping Monkey. ” When Trey coaxed the audience into singing along, I was immediately reminded of the crowd chanting “Wilson” at that first show, struck by a sold out room all knowing the words to a song never really officially released. Who would’ve guessed that night that the band would eventually play the room more than any other.

And if the Mt.-Rushmore-of-12/30-ness of the show was still in doubt, it closed with a “Tweezer Reprise.“ It’s been a heckuva year for Phish at Madison Square Garden, but it’s not over yet. One last chance to make history tonight.

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Pro-Shot Videos

[Mike’s > Hydrogen > Weekapaug]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRQ-CWEWvT4

[Down With Disease]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVyCwiFUDZc

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