2008 has been a great year for Phish archival releases and the year was capped off by last week’s surprise announcement that the legendary show from December 30, 1997 at MSG would be next. This awe-inspiring concert has it all from bustouts to lengthy exploratory jams to random covers. To celebrate the holiday season, our friends at Phish Inc. have teamed up with Glide and Hidden Track to giveaway five copies of 12/30/97 on CD.
As part of our timeless Everybody Wins When I Plug Something And In Return They Offer Me Free Shit To Give Away program, we’ve got four copies of the 12/30/1997 and one bundle featuring the discs and a 1997 Holiday Tour t-shirt. All you have to do is tell us about your favorite Phish New Year’s Run moment in 100 words or less. Just leave a comment below with your favorite NYE run moment and you’ll be entered to win.
Let’s go over the rules for this contest…
- To enter the contest leave a comment below telling us about your favorite Phish New Year’s Run moment in 100 words or less
- Your comment must be left by 11:59 PM EST on December 24
- Don’t be greedy, only one entry per person
- HT contributors Randy Ray, DaveO, Rupert, Luke Sacks and Scott Bernstein will each pick their favorite entry to win
- One grand prize winner will receive both the 12/30/1997 CD and retro Holiday Run 1997 t-shirt bundle and four other winners will receive the 12/30/1997 CD.
For a taste of this release, head to Imeem for a video of Carini.
- Live Phish: 12/30/1997 CDs, FLACs, MP3s and MP4s
- Previously on HT: New Live Phish – 12/30/1997
134 Responses
I’ll bite. Maybe 12/31/95. two instances: first, when they start the ‘time’ story in the first set. At the beginning, Mike plays a little bass line that always makes me smile for some reason. secondly, the PYITE from that show has about the closest i’ve ever heard Phish get to the UNTZ.
While there are so many NYE memories, one that really stands out for me was at Big Cypress. Bug had just finished and Fishman started playing the hood. I looked at my buddy Shane Handler and said, “they can’t play hood again.” He laughed and right on que, Fishman kicked into 2001… a song both Shane and I had been waiting to funk out too all weekend.
12/31/93- Aude Lang Syne -> Down With Disease Jam. This is really a special moment because that jam would become one of the most recognizable part to any Phish song. It was done perfectly, and a preview to the jam vehicle DWD would become in the following years.
I can’t win, but I’m going to go with 12/30/2003
I had a really rough day leading up to this concert and really need to let off some steam with the rest of the band. Unlike other shows on this run I actually wound up in good seats with some of my favorite people to enjoy both sets. The whole night was just amazing, but all of the hugs, high-fives and looks of bliss we all exchanged as the band segued from Sand into Shafty is among my favorite moments at a Phish show EVER.
on the drive from nyc to boston on 31st of December ’95, we must have listened to Bohemian Rhapsody 25 times. sometime during the drive, we all placed bets on openers, encores, etc. when i said bohemian rhapsody, my buddy laughed so hard he vomited all over the interior of my friends car. considering it was his moms car, we had to clean it up pronto. arrived late, and almost vomited myslef when we heard it live! daniel
When the portajohn urinal @ Big Cypress turned into a serpent head and tried to bite my penis while the band played “After Midnight” outside. And I had gone in there for safety. Oh well…all’s well that ends well.
12/31/93 – Run Like an Antelope for starters – face melting – brain burning epicness. Auld Lang Syne with DWD jam incorporated – two amazing moments in one amazing night.
It would have to be 12-30-97. I got complimentary tickets from the band for this show (I made the first Chris Kuroda t-shirts) So my buddy and I sat in the family section Page side. From the opening notes of Sneakin I knew this was going to be special. The AC/DC Bag is a monster and everybody is always chasing Harpua. Then the Encore and seeing Trey with tons of glowsticks in his shirt whipping them at the audience. Breaking curfew and them paying to play for us . . . priceless. Happy NYE in deed.
Big Cypress. The fireworks, Aud Lang Syn, and 80,000 cheering fans. I had a cold, so I didn’t touch my lips to the bottle of champagne I swigged. It was freezing, and the band played all night.
On the drive home, we stopped in New Orleans, and the street musicians doing the Hokey Pokey were more entertaining and spirited than the 5 sets of Phish I had just witnessed. Fought ruthlessly with my bro all the way home.
Am I allowed to enter? Either way, I’ll tell mine.
It was my first and probably only Phish NYE run. 12/29/99 Big Cypress Soundcheck. It wasn’t necessarily about the music. More about the moment. To be in Big Cypress at that moment, up against the fence just trying to hear what the boys are soundchecking with…Curtis Leow and Quinn the Eskimo – two of my favorite songs, and I was one of the lucky few that heard it! Instead of “Play me a song curtis loew, curtis loew” it was Play me a song Phish, Phish and instead of “Come all without, come all within, You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn.” It was You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Phish. It was like they were calling us.
Did I mention I also called the “After Midnight”? Yeah, I was that cool at the young age of 19.
“Here Comes the Sun” wrapped up that momemnt in time quite nicely.
Mike’s Song – Cypress. Evil, smoke, lights – almost had to take a break.
12/30/97: not only because it was a kick ass show and I was 12th row, but because it would be the last show of 1997 I’d see….even though I had tix for NYE. Unfortunately after the 30th I consumed an undercooked burger and woke up hours later with a serious case of ass explosion. After much more “evacuation” on both ends, I was rushed to the hospital for dehydration and spent the final seconds of 1997 getting violated by a rubber gloved doctor instead of seeing my favorite band.
How about this for an exciting night: the first real notes played in 815 days, the finest venue in the world, several months of incredible anticipation since the show was announced, and the center of the world for New Year’s Eve. The 12/31/02 reunion show at MSG had everything going for it before the boys even trotted on stage; in those moments right before the start and once they started “Piper,” all was again well.
My best NYE memory actually comes from 12/30/97, the show in question. My team and I took a behind-the-scenes tour of MSG in the afternoon before the show. Winding through the arena and into the locker room area, we passed by the Betty Ford Clinic and the band’s dressing rooms. Quickly grabbing some paper and a pen, we wrote up a short little note explaining how we hadn’t heard a good Harpua in a while and slipped it under Page’s door. Lo and behold, deep in the second set that night our wish was granted. For everyone who had been chasing the dog for a while, you’re welcome!
12/29/03 had two moments that stick out to me as personal favorites. both my wife and i went and had great seats right off the floor a few rows up with a perfect view of the stage. well the lights went down and a nasty nasty Piper started up. this wasn’t your funky long Piper, this was the grab you by the balls Piper that kept peaking and peaking. i thought the roof was going to blow off the place.
and the beginning of the second set was magical: Rock and Roll > Twist* -> Boogie On Reggae Woman -> Ghost -> Free**. after that seguefest i heard the loudest ovation i have ever heard for the boys.
big cypress. 2nd set first day. after the long afternoon set break we were heading back to the stage when Wilson started. Walking in time to the intro notes, realizing we were outdoors at the end of the millennium surrounded by thousands of friends, the fruition of the band and fans’ dreams for an ultimate New Year’s Eve concert – an historic moment in every sense of the word.
I have not been fortunate (old?) enough to have a Phish NYE moment! I am looking forward to 09 for my first of many Phish moments and hopefully a New Year’s one! These CDs are the only glimpse I have in the magic that is Phish
MSG 1999, Tweezer > Cities segway. Epic.
Well, my only Phish New Year’s experience was 12/31/02. We somehow managed to acquire taper tickets even though neither my friend or I planned to tape the show. My friend and I managed to trade our seats for seats in the friends and family of the band section. Trey and Page’s parents were in the row in front of us, and David Fricke from Rolling Stone was three rows behind us. We ended up with better seats than him! Bill Walton was also in our section. The standout, for me, was the “Wilson” with Page’s brother as “Tom Hanks.” Great night for sure.
Big Cypress. Where Else.
The sun was beginning to come up after a long and epic night of long and epic songs. The sky was turning shades of lavender and peach. The band started to play Wading in the Velvet Sea, which had honestly not been one of my favorite songs. But at the time it was just perfect, fitting the atmosphere and how I was feeling exactly at that moment. It brought to a close one of the most ambitious sets of music to be played exactly as it should have. (Except for of course the Meatstick to send us on our way.)
so many to remember! I guess worcester 93, my 1st show could be the most memorable one. Took forever to get in to the show, I didn’t make it to my seat until the Reba jam. I also had no idea how good my seats were either! I just kept getting directed down to the floor, closer to the stage etc. When I finally met my friends in the 12th row I was extremely psyched! One for the ages…Listening to the show on BCN the next AM on the way to the aiport was so cool too.
Mine was not during a show, but never the less…
12/31/95. After seeing the previous 3 nights I headed into Manhattan with 3 other ticketless friends. As we were walking from Grand Central to MSG, we see a few phans running up through downtown midtown traffic. Turned out that there was a re-release, and everyone was racing to HMV records. We followed everyone there, and sure enough, we all got tickets together for face at the back of the floor, in a section with everybody else who got the same NYE miracle!
12/30/03…the night Phish healed my soul. 2001 w/ PFunk teases might have been the best first set closer I’ve ever seen. The lyrics seemed to have a whole new meaning to me throughout the entire show. Plus I was with the perfect crew and I don’t know if I’ve ever laughed harder than I did in the parking lot post show.
12/28/98 – Rolled in on the train, made my way through the madness for my first Phish show. Hippies waiting for miracles, grilled cheese on the sidewalk, some guy opened a beer bottle with his teeth… Mini-stage set was OK. All leading up to a sick “Good Times, Bad Times” with weird fairies dancing on stage. Then, “Been Caught Stealin'” Encore. Dope, just dope.
I’ve been racking my brain for that jaw dropping, face melting song or jam and it finally hit me. While I’ve enjoyed the hell out of about twenty new year’s run shows, the moment I keep coming back to is about as simple as it gets: an early morning ferris wheel ride during Bittersweet Motel at Big Cypress. Seeing the massive crowd from 100 ft in the air, watching and listening to my favorite band, being with some of my closest friends – I’m not sure I’ve ever had a clearer “everything is right in the world” moment than that ferris wheel ride.
My favorite NYE moment with Phish was in Miami. I am a huge Beatles fan and never got to see them play WMGGW. Well the busted into Contact and I just knew it was coming….Trey hit the opening chord…dun da dun. And I was through the roof!
The Real Gin
This was an easy one to answer for me…while Big Cypress was a magical experience, there really is nothing that Phish has played on a New Year’s run, or any run for that matter, that tops this moment. Minds were lost, epiphanies were realized, and souls were cleansed on this journey…
My favorite NYEve moment came on 12/31/1993. A friend and I had been screaming for a Halley’s for the 3 prior nights and though we thought we’d get it in New Haven, Mike said “No”. So here I was on NYEve in the 2nd row, still recovering from a rockin’ 1st set closer Antelope, and we got it. Now my favorite moment came next, I was abducted by aliens in front of the entire Centrum crowd right there in the 2nd row. Life has never been the same.
MSG 12/31/98
As the clock struck mightnight my buddy Greg got hit in the head with a champainge cork that must have been launch from the section above. Moments later we were drenched in champainge. Great stuff. Phish/NYE/Champainge–a great combination!!
I have two moments from shows I attended. The time machine segment from 12/31/95 certainly stands out as as a memorable moment from the amazing 2-night run at MSG that year. I also have a very fond memory from the 12/28/93 show I attended at Bender Arena on the campus of American University in Washington, DC: when walking in out of the snow, they opened with “Peaches En Regalia” in memory of Frank Zappa who had recently passed away. I knew we were in for a special show that night and the band did not disappoint.
12/31/02 – the roar as the band took the stage for the following reason:
“i like you, miss being there when the lights go down”
-t. marshall
while that was for the 2nd hiatus, it was just as appropriate back then…
giddy up for rd 3…
Big Cypress After midnight!!
I was in tears for most of the song thinking this is the most magical moment in my music seeing career. Then to have it reprise later in the night was just sickness!! The best concert EVER!
12/30/97, actually. Throughout the night the band was playing with an especially relaxed vibe: no pretense, no prescribed times, and nothing off limits. As they’d been doing, they turned off the lights during Hood to jam to the fans’ own lightshow. The glowstick wars were new at the time and a thing of beauty in unison to the music. And then Trey actually put his guitar down and joined in the glowstick war. It was one of the most real things I’ve ever seen at a show: A rock star, taking the time to be one of us.
My favorite moment from any Phish new year’s run is from 12.31.93… that DWD jam that comes right after Auld Lang Syne absolutely blows the roof off the place and to this day is one of my favorite Phish moments from any date. It peaks so hard and Trey absolutely nails it.
My favorite NYE moment would have to come from 12/31/95.
It was my second New Years spending it with Phish, and amazingly, couldn’t find any of my friends that wanted to go.
I ended up meeting people I knew on the train up to NYC from the Jersey Shore.
The moment I speak of though, is Trey up on stage, all by himself during the digital delay loop to end Mike’s Song for the second set. I’ll never forget seeing Trey up there by himself, making all that sound fill MSG, just one man under a bright light. I could have swore the rest of the band was assisting him somehow, even though I knew this was magic he was working himself.
Amazing moment, amazing show, amazing venue, amazing night, priceless memory!
I only made it to one NYE: Cypress. Several moments from that still have the capacity to give me chills. Its a four way tie between: the first few seconds after I recognized what “After Midnight” was, the Fireworks display in DWD, the reprise at the end of Crosseyed & Painless, and the false start Hood->2001.
I had seen many New Years shows/runs from many bands particularly the Grateful Dead, String Cheese and PHISH
but none of them had the built up, anticipation, energy and emotion of the night of 12-31-92. The concert was great but everything leading up to this show was unlike anything I have ever experienced. The bands hiatus made that raw adrenalin possible. You walked into the Worlds Most Famous Arena to very fitting pre-show music on the
PA including Welcome Back Kotter, Feels Like the First Time, Back in the Saddle Again, Reunited, The Boys are Back in Town, and Foreplay/Long Time which was interrupted finally by the band coming on stage to the loudest roar I have ever heard and as they began the first notes to a ripping PIPER, I stared at the frenzy and cried. That is how happy I was. Welcome back PHISH indeed!
At Big Cypress, I lose my new girlfriend during Velvet Sea at 4AM. With 100K people, NO WAY I’m finding her. Sleep deprivation is setting in, I’m hallucinating from being exhausted, and dancing for 8 hours. Searching for her, and I run into hottie EX-girlfriend from years past. She is drunk, wants to dance, we get groovin’, and I lost my pants. Time for the Meatstick, bury the meatstick, take out the meatstick….time. Oh, shocks my Brain.
I’ll never forget walking out to “Here Comes The Sun” thinking, how ironic. Best night of my life!
I picked up a New York Times on the morning of 12/30/97. There was a review of the show on the 29th that basically poo-pooed on the band for not saying one word to the crowd besides “back in 15” the whole night… like it was impersonal for them to be so quiet… So, I found it all too fitting for Trey to ramble on and on during Harpua on the 30th. Take that you snobby paper!!
My birthday is December 31st. I turned 21 in Miami in 2003. It was unforgettable to be with my 4 best friends, having a great time at that run. We were trying to pick up on all the car-clues between Sets 2 and 3. That Jungle Boogie with the bunnies, MINI-cooper, and the marching band was so much fun. Such good music that entire weekend. It really set a high bar for me, being a relative new-comer to the scene. Wow, thanks Phish!
I’d have to say that one of my favorite moments was in this exact show when Trey came out and said that they had run over their time and since they were going to be fined anyway they were going to play two New Years Shows… Well that and the Udder ball story being retold in graphics throughout 12-31-97
I never saw Phish, but if I had, no doubt the NYE ’93 DWD jam would have taken the cake. Guaranteed pants-shitting.
Big Cypress Mike’s Song, towards the end of the jam. I don’t think that song has ever reached as far as this version reaches – but I can’t WAIT to hear ’em try in March!!!
I think Big Cypress was about the most unbelievable experience I have ever had the pleasure of being in attendance at. After Midnight was so perfect for this once in a life time treat. I also agree with the fella that said sound check at Big Cypress was amazing. I just have to say that Big Cypress will never be topped. I will never forget that sunrise after the all night set. What a perfect way to close out the perfect weekend.
Thank You Phish.
12.29.94 – That second set melted the providence civic center to a smooth lather. and the end of the ride with the first “daa-daa” strokes of GTBT was like touching the light at the end of the tunnel.
a true “trey, please make me normal again,” evening.
12/31/02 New York Not being able to hear the first few minutes of Piper due to the deafening roars from the crowd in their first show post hiatus. The many months of waiting for Phish to play again had finally arrived and we welcomed them back appropriately. I can’t wait to re-live that experience in March.
I once saw Bouncin Around the Room, On a hefty bag of Shrooms.
I danced, I Swayed on New Years Eve, With a phatty up my sleeve.
The Night was fun on this New Year’s run, Bowie was played I continued to dance and sway.
I write about my fun that New Year’s run
Just to win a CD.
🙂
My personal favorite New Years experience was the 4 show run in Miami 2004. Although the playing was not as good as some other NYE shows i attended, nothing beats laying out on the beach prior to a show and not having to travel after the show.
Anyhow, I was staying at my Bubie’s (grandmother)condo with her and four of my friends. She insisted on baking us some cookies etc so as she was making the dough, I attempted to grind up some hash and mix it into the dough. I’m 6’1, 230 and not at all sly, so of course I was caught. Rather than get pissed, my gandmother (about 75 at that time) said “Hmmmmm haggie buscuits…you’ll have fun tonight.” Not only did my Bubie know what hash was, she called it HAGGIE. I was shocked…..nevertheless the ‘haggie biscuits” enhanced my concert experience, especially when the marching band came out of the mini “Jungle boogie”………
I’ll never forget the smile on Page’s face when he sang “SHOOT SOMEONE DEAD” during Light up or Leave Me Alone at Big Cypress. It’s permanently burnt into my brain. It was early in the first set, first day and you could just tell he was loving it, and so were we.
Greatest NYE adventure ever was Big Cypress. The Fire Ants, the eyepatch, the loving cup necklaces, being towed by an RV, and the music were all worth remembering.
OK Thanks!
<4life BAY BAY!
12/31/2002 favorite moment
my only new years phish show, so the moment that was truly special came earlier, when they announced they were returning from hiatus. i think i cried. but seven below at the show was pure winter joy and beauty.
12/31/2003 Miami, FL
The very first time I saw phish on new years…Flew down there with my crew, it was was actually all of our first times seeing phish on NYE. We stayed right next to the venue and had a blast all weekend seeing shows then heading down to South Beach which made for 4 crazy, wonderful, and unforgetable nights!! After that weekend i figured i would be seeing phish on nye for the rest of my life if i could!! All i hafta say is…
TUBE>LA WOMAN>BIRDS>LA WOMAN>MAKISUPA>P-FUNK MEDLEY!!!
12/31/99. How can you top that? The pre-millenium anxiety had been gripping the country (and the debate whether the millenium was starting on 2000 or 2001), all the Y2K survivalists coming out of the woodwork to sell you a portable inflatable fallout shelter, all of this going on in the world, and Phish was playing the BIGGEST concert on the BIGGEST NYE in ages…. amazing weekend all around, although a bit hazy… driving down, seeing alligators on the side of the road… and the thrill of the opening notes of music… referncing “the everglades” in water in the sky… and what an honor to be on the reservation…
After that NYE I gave up ever doing anything that night, for I would never top that weekend, nor would I ever want to.
less
12/31/98 My bud and I scored 2 tickets 15th on the floor the day of this show, When they came out and opened up with Prince’s 1999 for my first Phish NYE show, I knew it was gonna be epic. I was unprepared for the 3 sets of chaos that followed, but never happier.
I’m going to have to go with the most recent run. MIAMI 03. I got there a day late. But the way 12/29/03 started, with that fiery Piper, the energy needed for the entire run was delivered via Phish. The warm weather gave way to happy vibes. The band was all smiles, all the time. All was well in the winter of 03. One of the last great memories of the band, hopefully we’ll all have more to come.
I would have to say my ultimate NYE memory, Phish or no Phish, was Big Cypress. That was one of the only times in my life I could honestly say there was no place in the entire world I would rather be. Most memorable moment was around 2 or 3am when my friend Mac and I waltzed over to the vendors, sat down and indulged on a freshly baked pizza just as Trey began Albuquerque. It’s hard to explain, but the whole moment was surreal – splitting the greatest pizza ever to the mellowness of one of Neil Young’s greatest songs.
New Years Eve doesn’t get any better than when it’s in NYC. There is a reason Phish has played MSG so many times.. because simply put, the music is always crunchy. Whether it’s trey popping tons of ballons during tweezer or knowing your in for the time of your life..Phish at MSG in NYC is the pinnacle. Pick your show..there is NEVER a bad one.
Probably 12/30/03, sitting 10 rows directly behind Fishman, when Trey almost beat the crap out of an overzealous security guard who tried to take a kid, obviously handicapped, off the stage. I was quite proud of him. And that show had a ton of energy with a killer setlist taboot.
i know this is over 100 words- but it has to take the cake:
http://phishthoughts.com/2008/07/12/is-this-the-real-life-is-this-just-fantasy/
please read-if for nothing else, pure craziness….
in one hundred words or less
I dreamed the future before NYRun 1996. The most cosmic connection that’s ever happened to me, I drreamt it was New Years, and they were playing bohemian rhapsody, but right before the headbanging part– the sound in the arena went out-silence!
Well, needless to say I almost passed out when they dropped teh third set cover, and while walking out of the venue, remembered that the sound went dead during the previous’ night’s funky bitch…there’s more too it though– read the piece 🙂
I often refer to Big Cypress as Phish Death Camp. It was not for the weak, I did not sit once during the entire SET. One quick pee as caspian started was the only time I left “homebase”. The running joke of the night was “Is this still disease?” (and yes we still use this line today). This IMO should go down as the greatest concert of all time.
Surreal (i guess i could have just used one word)
New Years 98 at MSG was hands down my favorite run. on the 31st the glow rings being attached by the fans and climbing up the crowd was unreal. the buzz before NYE was fantastic, everyone was talking about them opening the show with Prince’s 1999, and it actually happened. the mini acoustic set on the 28th let us know the next 4 days were gonna be real special.
12/31/03, Miami FL.
My favorite, permanently impressed memory – the ball drop in Miami. We were above literally EVERY person in the place, with a bird’s eye view from the television camera staging areas above all of the seats in the highest sections. The ball drop happened as big as real life, and we had a perspective that showed us the SIZE of the event… it was awe-some.
Favorite moment — Big Cypress …running through the field, bright white lights coming from the stage, shinning through the fog, A Curtain With playing in the background. Right then the lyrics come on “thousands ran along chanting words from a song” and I look around and at least a thousand people are running through the field toward the stage. Absolutely an amazing moment!
12-30-97. MSG, in the aisle, lower level, Page’s side. Half way into what was my first Sneakin Sally, and likely most others in attendance as well, I get pushed out of the way by a kid about 17 followed by two 30ish stereotypical new yorkers. After pushing my wife and another female out of the way the 17 year old points at a guy just in front of me and his two enforcers just start punching the guy from behind! Unbelievable. Scrum ensues,we scramble for a new spot and my wife says that she “just wishes they would play Sally again,” which they do during the epic encore! SO Stupendous! Also, once we found a new spot they appropriately busted into punch.
12/29/98 Divided Sky encore. Great end to an amazing show.
Steven Wright – 12.30.96
Hmmm…EVERY ball drop at MSG is great. BUT, the flubbed Axilla is prob my favorite moment due to the mayhem that proceeded.
Scotty B cmon this is easy. Cypress, meeting up with you and Team USA on the Corner of Murat and heck I can’t remember right after the After Midnight and bringing the new Year in with the Team. Oh yeah and leaving out the back gate with the tour buses watching one bus take out a mailbox and Kuroda jump off and try to put the mail box up. Oh Cypress I wish I never left.I did leave a nice chunk of my brain there.
or Scotty B how’s about driving into Cypress. In traffic after about oh 3 or 8 hours of Sitting on Alligator Alley and not moving we dispatched a scout named Stanch or was it Dank? Upon return of his covert fact finding mission he informed of the trmendous gaps in cars due to sleeping drivers. I took the wheel and was off leap frogging over sleeping wooks (cutting hours out of the wait)and when someone finally rolled up on us and threw on his brites, got out his vehicle knocked on your window and stated” I hope you don’t think you’re staying here” you looked at me and said “What should I do?” I said “Roll the window up” Memories locked in time.
Now give me something free!
honorable mentions: Knee deep in balloons for Bohemian Rhapsody 1996
The winter celebration with snow and snow gods and seven below at ’02
The glow ring and Hood in ’99
The winner is: the way the box exploded into dancing when they went back into Chalkdust at the end of Chalkdust>Slave> Chalkdust in ’03
Along with giving the cab driver $50 outside the Miami arena and he drove in reverse for three blocks to get out of traffic and give us smooth sailing back to the Beach/Holiday Inn
First Phish show, 12/28/97, had the same exact seat I had for my fist ever rock concert, Aerosmith, on the get a grip tour, last row at the top. Wish I could find the ticket stubs to find out what seat it was again.
New years ’99, the string of glow rings, the people dressed all up in silver dancing around, sleeping in Penn Station till the Baltimore train came at 6 in the morning,watching people flip of cops and get in fights just to get in line for the escalator for their train.
The “Original” Miami Piper
actually…this show, this tour. i remember seeing the setlist pop up online soon after the songs were played on that night. i was blown away just by what was on paper – then i got the tapes. needless to say my mind was BLOWN by what was, back then, my favorite old phish cover, and here they were busting it out, and my favorite original, Harpua….
so ever since my screenname has always been SneakinS in honor of this show, 12/30/97, my favorite show of all time
New Years ’93 I scored my first pair of NYE tix and was giddy with excitement about finally seeing a year ending show. I was living in VT and had friends coming up from DE with my tix. We prearranged a rendezvous point at a random exit off the interstate somewhere en route to the show. I had a roomate who was heading to Boston for the weekend and agreed to drop me off on the way. I wanted to get some cash, so I had him take me down the mountain to the bank before we left and wound up being late to the drop off/pick up spot. No one had cell phones yet so I didn’t know where my friends were. Turns out I was a lot later than I thought and they waited about an hour for me before finally giving up and heading on to the show without me. I sat in a snowstorm at a Pizza Hut alone with no ride to the show or back home as Phish played NYE with the “aquarium” stage set-up. My friends wound up giving a lucky girl a NYE miracle as I sat crying at Pizza Hut. Best NYE memory? I don’t know, but I’ve been cursed since then and it’s something I’ll never forget.
My first time seeing Phish on NYE was 2003/04 at MSG in NYC. They had these snow angels come out during 7 below, they got on stilts, it started snowing in the garden, they angels busted out some flashlights and shined them onto the disco ball. Then all hell broke loose it was like we were in a frickin KISS concert and bam a new year!
I was only lucky enough to go the 1st reunion show @ MSG in 02-03 show. I know alot of people think may think it wasn’t the best new years show of PHiSh’s carrer but when the lights went down in that place, anyone who was there knows what I’m talking about…CHILLS TO THIS DAY WHEN I HEAR IT!!!
Big Cypress was supposed to be 4 of us. Much heartache and misfortune later, I was stuck trying to sell the other 3 tickets and had no ride, until I was able to sign onto the Smiley Bus (on 12/24 for a 12/28 departure) coming through the Midwest picking 55 total people up (thanks Brian!). Phish was my freedom in those days and I was heartbroken my 2 friends and gf wouldn’t make it. My gf of 4+ years broke up with me out of the blue and a few days later, on thanksgiving night, i had to put my cat to sleep after 16 yrs of love. Then a week or so later, that the ex was already pregnant with another man’s child! I was in serious depression. My roommates at college were hard to live with, my gf was gone, and my two best Phish buddies couldn’t make the most important show we would ever see.
I arranged to sell all 3 tickets on the smiley bus. When I got to Big Cypress, I realized I lived my whole life to see a millenium, and I didn’t have to worry about anyone but myself and I was able to do what I pleased when I pleased. And in that sea of people on that reservation, I had the greatest experience of my life.
Thank you Phish.
My favorite memory is just getting to DC from Richmond on 12/28/93. That 90 mile drive took SIX hours!!! I was a boy from Miami learning to drive a stick through a CRAZY snow storm that left several people stranded in ditches. Because we came from Miami, by the time we got to DC our washer fluid was a block of ice and I had to drive with my head out the window. We hustled to the hotel, met up with our friends, and made it just in time to hear the opening notes of Peaches en Regalia. Awesome show.
NYE is a special time in the Phish community. But there was none more special than 12/31/02 THE COMEBACK. Anticipation was at all time high leading up to this event and once inside you could cut the tension with a knife and then the lights dimmed and an eruption the likes of which Mt St Helens has not seen. It was 3 minutes into the set before anyone realized that Piper was being played and the groove took hold. I can’t wait for Hampton!!!
Oh the “Horrible Sound of Hell” & the Uber Demon. 12/29/96. That room was on fire!
My favorite NY run is an easy one. December 30 is my birthday. We went to MSG and Boston for 3 years running, and each time, before the show started, my brothers would run around the venue gathering people to sing happy birthday to me. They tried to get enough people in different sections to make it catch on throughout. 12/30/94–They gathered fully half of the venue and started singing, which caught on to eventually nearly 20,000 people singing happy birthday to me. Just as they finished singing, the lights went down and the Bass/Drum/Guitars intro. of Wilson kicked in. It’s a moment I will cherish my whole life.
LAST CARAVAN EVER! 12/29/96
My favorite new year’s moment has got to be 12/31/98 Ghost>Ha Ha Ha. The jam in Ghost is so cool, the way Trey plays on top of the melody at some point is some of the coolest improv i’ve heard Phish do, fits the ’98 sound perfectly. And the way they drop into Ha Ha Ha is awesome. What a nice little combo to drop the ball into 1999! Happy Phish ya’ll!
12/30/1998= I saw boobs on stage!
my first phish tape trade was for 12.31.93. the anticipation of getting it in the mail and listening to it for the first time in my room. what a great show to start off with.
12/31/98
My first (and only) NYE show; sat behind the stage but didn’t care one iota. The segue from Tweezer into Cities is absolutely seamless.
Also love the looped intro to Hood; I still hear it whenever I put on any version of the song.
Lights down, gray and smoky, the bowl shaped room is a valley of screams and high fives. They stroll out, 2 years had felt like a lifetime and an instant, quiet noodles, first few notes are whispers, and there it is: the red red worm. The garden is mayhem, a goblet of waving arms connecting smiles with disbelief. I’m flailing and screaming and jumping; I thought I was ready, but instantly life was different, like falling in love with your best friend or seeing the ocean for the first time. Awoke last night to the sound of the storm.
when Phish came back and it snowed inside MSG during 7 below
12/31/94 – Riding on the giant hot dog!
Too many great holiday run moments but Cypress is one of the greatest musical experiences of my life that stands alone for what it was.
my favorite phish New Years Run was,BLISS!
Being a young phish-head on new year’s 98, stone cold sober, listening to music at my friend’s house all night, watching the set list pass with excitement and sadness that we weren’t there. Now with the internet, it’s so nice to know that the next day the show is usually available instantly. What a difference 10 years makes.
My favorite Phish NYE story wasn’t associated with a run of shows, but driving home after a NYE party in ’92 with all of my friends and someone threw on a Reba from ’91. We all whistled in unison. A perfect moment.
During the Big Cypress Mike’s Song, the lights were insanity and a torrent of fog was unleashed as if it had come straight out of Hell. Due to some extracurriculars, when I focused on the video screens, which was zoomed in on a candle on the stage, I thought the stage rigging had sparked and started a fire. Then I thought the whole stage was on fire and that PHISH WAS PLAYING MIKE’S SONG THROUGH THE FIRE. Somehow, they made it through. Later, my friends had to convince me that the stage had not, in fact, been set aflame.
Strike the clocks back one year from December 30, 1997 and midway through funky bitch there was a power surge. Sound cut out. To test my sanity, I tapped buddy next me to make sure that there was nothing neurologicically wrong. The boys were still playing, but were putting on a theatrical air drum, air guitar, mime like performance. A few minutes later the sound came back on and the boys didn’t miss one beat and continued funky bitch. That second, I became a Phish devoteee.
12-31-02 the hype was incredible. the good vibes outside around MSG all day with “PHISH tonight” flashing on the boards as it always did when they were in town, but this was special, different even! Something in our lives had been missing since shoreline, an absence of phun, and it was back only hours away!
the deafening roar during piper, the faux tom hanks (i was convinced), the snow storm, shaking the balcony during hood, seeing old friends, and pheeling good again!!
My favorite New Year’s Eve experience was being at Big Cypress for the millennium show. Everything leading into that show was how chaotic Y2K was going to be. All computers were going to crash, there will be no communication, etc. I felt so completely in the moment at Big Cypress. There was no connection to anything outside of the festival, I was just there and Phish played into the morning hours. Everything could have collapsed in the world around us, and we wouldn’t have even known at that point. Big Cypress was it’s own world.
My favorite moment came from Big Cypress about during sunrise when the sky was turning red with sunlight, Phish played Velvet Sea. I promised myelf I wouldn’t sit down during the entire set and by that time my back was really starting to hurt but this moment magically made all the pain go away.
12-31-95
Auld Lang>Weekapug. It was my first show. I knew when Trey hit that note, that this band would be a pivotal force in my life forever.
My first holiday tour 1996 was a whirlwind. We got in first night Philly-OK show. We got shut-out next night, sat on the steps and listened to a killer second set: Bowie, YEM, Harpua- ouch! Drove to freezin’ Boston, got in for another mediocore show. Out of cash and ticketless on NYE, depressed until determination took over. Waited outside the VIP elevator entrance, flashed my stub from the night before, got on with the upper class, the doors re-opened, euphoria, walked, ran, hit the locked turnstile, wrenched my balls, then…Simple>HarryHood…I was IN! Sorry!
12-31-99 Cypress Millennium!!!! 15 of my closet friends have tickets, I don’t! Out of the 15 people, there were 5 different ways everyone took the 1500 miles trip. I book a last minute plane ticket to ft. meyers. take a taxi toward the reservation, get about 10 miles away then, stop. Taxi lets me out and I hitch a ride. Still no ticket I start asking around, The people I hitched with had an extra and wanted only facevalue. PERRFF! long story short. All my friends somehow meet up and had the greatest weekend ever. Amazing the way stuff goes down when touring with phish!!!
A little too young to have witnessed them live… so I hope my collection of shows can suffice. Anyways, I’d have to say I feel the phish atmosphere most during classic ’95 at MSG: Auld Lang Syne -> Weekapaug Groove. But, runner up would be the YEM at MSG, Dec.30 ’94.
…Wish I could have been there!
At Big Cypress…getting there was an incredible ordeal(that’s another story), but somewhere in Piper I was lying on the ground, staring at the stars listening to the notes swirling around. I could feel every bass note in a way I had never before. I guess I never tried lying on the ground at a Phish show. The bass vibrated my bladder to the point where I realized I needed to pee. The time it took to get up, find a bathroom and wait in line, led to the urine hitting the water at the exact time the band busted into the chorus of Free. And there I stood, in the port-o-potty, peeing to Free, and laughing hysterically.
NYE 2003 was one of the most memorable nights of my life. I left Phoenix alone, w/out a hotel room, flew into Miami, arriving around 8pm. I spoke with a “phriend” on the phone a few times who had an extra ticket. I had never met him,yet i trusted him enough to fly 2,000 miles to a sold out Phish show, take a cab to their hotel where they had left the ticket @ the front desk, hop back in a cab, run up the AA Arena steps and head towards my seat(which i never actually went to), grab a beer, and watch the boys walk out on stage to the uproar of a nye miami Phish show. Perfect.
When I was barely a teenager we drove from Baltimore in a minivan with 10 people to MSG ’95. Being in NYC and all the that was going on blew my mind. I got my first Snodgrass on the street. We snuck two bottle of champange in with us. When fishman started to get shaved we went to the very top row and found an area that was perfect for dancing the whole third set away. We stayed at some hourly rate hotel and threw water ballons from the 13th floor till sun-up. I was there every new years thereafter.
12/30/97: Tis the giving season, so I call Kevin and say “Hey buddy, let’s see Phish at MSG, on me!” I lived in Virginia so our plan was to crash at his Aunt’s apartment ‘somewhere’ in mid-town. After 2 1/2 hours of scintillating sounds i looked around and said “Where’s Kevin?” He had been drawing his masterpiece in condensation on the massive windows next to the 400 level escalators when he unilaterally decided, “i’m good, I think I need a roast beef sandwich”, so he left. I’m now on 33rd, alone, freezing, no phone, no destination. I walked amidst the crowd, head dejectedly low when by divine chance I saw friends who hadn’t gone to the show,just in NYC for kicks. I found shelter and vowed better scrutinize my miracled mates. Kev and I r good, kid needed a roast beef sandwich.
12/30/97: I vividly remember standing on that fogged up 400 level window looking right down on to 7th Ave madness as I created in my mind a masterpiece. Now mind you at the same time the band was wrapping up what I consider their greatest tour to date in the greatest city in the world. But you know what, with the faint sound of that funk in the background that made ’97 so special, at that moment there was nothing that could have made that moment any more special, except at the deli for that epic Roast Beef!
NYE 2003 (Miami) – my buddy Steve snuck a bottle of champagne into the show. But during the first set, he was dancing so hard during the Weekapaug that the bottle blew open in pants – 2 hrs befoe the countdown! And after all that work to get it inside…
12/30/97 was my greatest live phish experience. From the translucent jams of Harry Hood to the loose rock-n-roll of Chaldust Torture. This was the experience of my life.
Here’s a good one: I live upstate of MSG 12/31/97-about forty-five minutes by Train…I’m expecting a ticket from my friend when I get to MSG because he’s got better seats. A person on the train is looking for a ticket so I ‘miracle’ it to her…she’s a cute wookie chick-what could I say, my hippie hormones were raging and I was a Junior in High School-I get down to the venue-my buddy, through some ‘hazy’ miscommunication does not have a ticket for me…I have to scalp one. I scalp from some shady ‘suit’-looking guy and get to the gates…it’s a counterfeit…MY NIGHT’S RUINED! Now I can’t even see the show from my crappy seat because I gave away my ticket! Sure enough, five minutes before they go on a similar looking wookie chick from the train (but not her), miracles me a ticket…we wind up seeing a hot show (not as hot as 12/29/07, but hot, nonetheless), and making out into the New Year. If that’s not a heady holiday miracle, I don’t know what is.
It has to be anytime they play “Runaway Jim”
The Boston Community Choir’s background on Bohemian Rhapsody was a great touch; but their beautiful version of Amazing Grace was the perfect way to welcome in a New Year.
First track NYE 95 MSG! Punch you in the eye is probably one of my favorite Phish song ever next to Chalk Dust which makes an appearance as well on the NYE show!
But that PYITE was highspeed low drag like no other I have heard! It’s got just enough of that 1975 NY slick funk during the hook, and the storyline made takes one on a almost Wonka like journey into Ganehenge!
Cheers,
Rick
On the morning of 12/30/97 my lil brother and I were listening to an old phish bootleg. At the end of side 2 there was a studio version of “Sneakin Sally thru the Alley” that sounded really good and we commented that it would be unbelievable to hear them do that song. (They had not covered it since 5/28/89). Later on that evening as we were waiting for the show to start, we faintly heard the beginning notes of “Sally”.We both turned to each other and needless to say it completely blew both of our minds…
Its great that above you share the Carini video from 12/30/97 because THAT is my favorite moment. They hadnt played it yet in the USA and we had done all of that summer tour waiting for it. We were dead center just above taper mic level in MSG for this encore and as they take the stage my best friend yells “CARINI!” at the top of his lungs and 10 seconds later the boys bust it out. Everyone around us handed him a packed piece with the happiest look on thier faces. I still get chills thinking about it. Just one of those moments where it all seems to click.
My favorite New Year’s Eve run was when I won that contest for a 10 year old Phish archival release…it was so cool to post to a cool blog and win something…
12/31/94. Before the band came onstage for the big set, Fishman and Trey come on the loudspeakers, revealing to the audience some backstage bandmate banter -with Fishman requesting, almost demanding, some food before they get back on stage again. Next thing we know, the band is riding a giant Oscar Meyer.
How can one even describe just a moment of any Phish event.Phish embodies too many elements to define.At that time and valid today:When you fuse the Grateful Dead and Pat Metheny and many other things you have Phish.Keep playing Master Tune Crafters.
You’ve asked for a “moment”, not a run, not a show, but a “moment”, so here is mine: 12/30/93, a GA show, we waited out in the FREEZING cold half the day to get in and get up front. As showtime approached and the crowd amassed, we waited and waited. Someone started singing Tweezer, and we all joined in. “It’s gonna be cold cold cold cold” Anyway, the wait was well worth it, one of the best craziest shows I have ever seen. The story leading up to this moment, and the story leading out of this moment are for another time, but the moment really defined it all for me, the anticipation, the community, the journey.
Unfortunately didn’t make it to any new years shows, but just a few days ago I threw on 12-31-95 in my berkeley co-op’s kitchen speaker and did 4 hours of hardcore dishes. I was getting tired when YEM got me juiced like only phish can and I turned around to see a bunch of my house mates, unaware of phish, getting down with me. Reminded me of the power of this music!
on 12/31/95 i caught jon fishman’s old father time wig.
I was blessed with getting 2nd row orchestra center tickets through tickets by mail. it was awesome and i felt so lucky.
i was in another world that night. the music was awesome and the whole experience was mind blowing. then new years came, and the whole time machine baby new years thing happened. as fish was hanging above everybody in his new baby new year costume, he flung his beard into the crowd. it seemed to fall into a vortex heading straight for me and i caught it. the rest of the night i spent clutching it with a huge smile on my face
My only hope for the new year is Big Cypress 2010!
97, i ate 4 tabs,chalk dust came on and actually lost control of my bowels
Too late for contest, but I thought I’d post this anyways. NYE 1993, Worcester, MA. I’m sitting in my car in the parking lot with my friends. We’re starting to get really toasty, just before the show begins. We get out of our car, to go in, and my ticket is gone. I start panicking, my friends join in the panic, passerbys join in the panic. Wild thoughts are racing through my head. I’m going to be sitting in my car on NYE, bugging out to Phish tapes, while I know that I’m missing a show I had a ticket for.
Then, of course, my buddy finds my ticket. It was next to my seat on the floor of the car.
Nice one.
We then raced in to the show, masses crowd bottlenecked into one entrance. We get in, Phish is playing Guelah Papyrus. Trey pauses, and says, “is everybody in yet?”
I then have the greatest time of my life (although 12/30/93 was even greater for me). But, there is a reason that 12/31/93 is very special to me. I have my reasons.
“Here comes the Sun” at the end of Big Cypress was the prefect ending to a long hard weekend of dancing!!
The Big Cypress run caused Alligator Allie to come to a stop, as a result of the street party on the way in. The 20 hours we spent in line was worth the wealth of music, funk and love in the show.
I also remember being in the handicap area and feeling it sway to the funk as the boy raged on.
Snowing in MSG and the infamous fake Tom Hanks before Wilson.
who are the winners?
who!
I would love to win this prize.
Winners:
Luke picked Brent
Randy picks Chris Bracken
DaveO picked JR
Rupert picked Fisherman Max
I picked Jonas
12.31.94. 11:59 p.m. MSG. Middle of the ocean. Balloons. Balloons. Phish.