This is not a phishing scam. On a temperate, rain-soaked Tuesday night on Manhattan’s West Side, NYS Music was once again lucky enough to be invited to the cathedral of rock and roll to provide bookend coverage of Phish’s four-night mini-residency (December 28 thru 31), simply dubbed their “New Year’s Run.”
The beloved quartet with a legion of dedicated followers have been playing Madison Square Garden for 30 years, their first show dating all the way back to December 30, 1994, a little more than a decade after their seminal formation in Burlington, Vermont.
Renowned for their improvisational style and epic jams, the extremely talented group of musicians – Trey Anastasio (guitar and lead vocals), Mike Gordon (bass), Jon Fishman (drums) and Page McConnell (keyboards) – offered up another legendary performance in the annals of their storied history.
Full disclosure, this was my first ever Phish show, and after witnessing the true magic of the gig, I am now wondering what took me so long to climb aboard. Well, better late than never! And I could not have asked for a more profound, intense way to be introduced to the live version of this band than on New Year’s Eve in the Big Apple’s fishbowl with 20,000 of their most devoted fans.
In the nearly two hours I spent outside of “The World’s Most Famous Arena” walking the 7th and 8th Avenue sidewalks leading up to doors at 6:30 pm, I witnessed firsthand how close-knit of a community Phishheads really are. I engaged in amazing conversations with several fans who spewed their knowledge upon me. I not only learned about the band’s history and the fact that Phish have never played the same set list twice in more than 1,800 shows, I also discovered there would be a New Year’s “gag” unveiled at midnight (more on this later).
I was also greeted by Eric from Connecticut as he observed me waiting with my camera pointed at a massive marquee LED video display along 31st Street to mercifully change from the constant stream of advertisements to Phish’s 2024 “New Year’s Run” artwork designed by Robert Beatty of Lexington, Kentucky. As we got to talking, he enlightened me about a sober support group called the Phellowship which has had a table setup at every Phish gig since 1997.
The Phellowship, he went on to add, was inspired by the Wharf Rats of the early-1980s. They were a group of concertgoers who emerged on the scene, primarily comprised of Deadheads, who chose to live drug and alcohol-free. So, after the first set concluded at 9:30 pm, I dropped by the Phellowship table outside of Section 104 and was pleased to find a large gathering of fans engaged in a self-help style meeting, leaning on one another for support, “one show at a time.”
Before the show even started, as I entered the media check-in location at 8 Penn Plaza at 7:30 pm, who did I notice just a few people ahead of me in the security line? It was none other than legendary rock photographer Danny Clinch, whose work I have admired since I knew I wanted to shoot concerts myself. So, I knew it was going to be a special night at The Garden if Mr. Clinch was here too!
Not to entirely gloss over the show itself, admittedly, there were a lot of songs I did know. However, this did not matter one bit as each number that was performed seamlessly ‘phished me in’ (pun intended), mesmerizingly so, along with the sold-out capacity crowd. That said, I did know more than a handful of tracks played Tuesday night and well into Wednesday morning, namely the four gifted from 1992’s A Picture of Nectar – “Stash,” “Llama,” “Chalk Dust Torture,” and “Tweezer Reprise” – the time in my life when I listened to Phish for the very first time as a college sophomore.
The stage setup and lighting effects were a sensory feast for the eyes, and I ate up every bit of it. Now, going back to the aforementioned “gag,” Phish had already performed two full sets of 90 minutes each, with two half-hour intermission breaks, but there was still more to come, a lot more. The “gag” ensued when Phish reemerged for the third set in matching blue jumpsuits and drummer Fishman donning a blue donut muumuu.
As “Pillow Jets” got underway, a song taken from Phish’s most recent studio offering titled Evolve (their 16th overall), white concentric coils which had been tethered high above the crowd suddenly began their calculated descent. A giant golden mask, initially comprised of fragmented sections, transformed into one complete work-of-art right on cue as the countdown to 2025 was upon us. The momentous “Auld Land Syne” followed, symbolizing a new beginning for us all in the coming year.
Now that their 17th New Year’s show at The Garden is over, the Vermont-born jam-rockers will be taking a few weeks break before returning to Mexico for the eighth Phish: Riviera Maya, scheduled to take place January 29 through February 1.
This spring, Trey Anastasio will embark on his first extended solo acoustic tour since 2019. The 21-date tour gets underway March 8 in Springfield, MA, followed by stops at various U.S. concert halls through early April. Notable dates include the Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York on March 12, and the final two shows of the tour at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey on April 5 and 6.
Phish New Year’s Eve 12/31/24 Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
Set 1: Mike’s Song > Bouncing Around the Room > Weekapaug Groove > Stash > Evolve > Llama > Split Open and Melt > Backwards Down the Number Line > Carini > The Squirming Coil
Set 2: Sigma Oasis > My Friend, My Friend > Sand > Golden Age > What’s the Use? > Taste > Golgi Apparatus > First Tube
Set 3: Character Zero > Pillow Jets > Auld Lang Syne > What’s Going Through Your Mind > Chalk Dust Torture > Slave to the Traffic Light > Life Saving Gun > Say It to Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
Encore: Grind > Icculus > Tweezer Reprise
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