Monday, January 1, 2018

Phish at Madison Square Garden, Dec. 31, 2017

At some point, in the middle of the third set of last night's New Year's Eve Phish show in New York, I turned to my wife, Gloria, and declared, "No other band in the world does this. No. Other. Band."  Anyone who experienced the sea of twinkling lights in the audience and the pirate flag and sail on stage last night (or, really, any NYE Phish show) would say the same.

My 15th Phish show of 2017, my sixth New Year's Phish show and my 144th Phish show overall. After 24 years, this band continues to astound, amaze and, most of all, entertain.

New Year's Eve shows are also tough tickets to get, but thanks to John and Meredith, our good friends in both Phish and running, we obtained tickets.  Both the sound and the view from section 224 were excellent, though we did feel a bit crowded and cramped.  And hot.  Boy, did we sweat on this cold, single-digit temperature night.

How could we not? With the rock coming fast and hard, "Carini", "Suzy Greenberg", "My Friend, My Friend", "Fluffhead", a particularly raging "46 Days", a rip-roaring "Maze", and a huge climax in the set-ending "Character Zero", the party got off to a fantastic start.  A well-executed "Reba" and a less-well executed "Poor Heart" kept things fun, if not a bit retro - that set list could have easily been from 12/31/2002.

The second set started with a relatively-brief "Possum" which gave way to a mostly standard, but still rousing "Fuego" before "Gotta Jibboo" brought the first epic jam of the night. After several minutes of funk for our dancing pleasure, Trey modulated the key and sent the jam into a full-on 3.0 standard bliss jam before managing to bring it back to the original key and groove for the ending. "Golgi Apparatus" got off to a shaky start, but recovered; and "What's the Use" brought its usual beauty in those ascending notes while Chris Kuroda continued to outdo himself with the lights.  The set ended with a classic "You Enjoy Myself" - complete with trampolines, bass-and-drums segment, and vocal jam - which saw Phish doing everything Phish does at its best.

Kind of looks like a doughnut

Everyone in the arena was given wristbands at the beginning of the show.  We figured the wristbands would light up and make things look neat for the webcast, and the brief test during set break, during which everyone's wristbands flashed in multiple colors for mere seconds caused a roar from the crowd. Clues from the band's email and t-shirt and poster images seemed to point to some kind of spaceship theme.

The wristbands

But when the music started (Trey's song, "Soul Planet") and a giant sail was set up on the stage, complete with a jolly roger pirate flag (which, of course, included the Phish logo), we all realized we had the wrong kind of ship in mind.  The stage had been transformed into a giant pirate ship, complete with cannons blasting confetti, and we, the fans, were the sea, as Kuroda controlled the wristband lights in waves of blue and green.  And as crew hands on deck (some suspended from the sail's rigging) turned the giant sail, the waves of light followed.  It was a masterpiece of lighting and stage design, a thing of beauty.


Throughout the song, and the set, the entire audience became part of the light show, and after the countdown to the New Year, the band played "Auld Lang Syne" as the myriad blue and white balloons dropped from the ceiling, along with confetti and streamers. "Free" continued the set and, with its reference to how "the ship goes sliding by", it was clear this would be a nautically themed set.  Sure enough "A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing", "The Moma Dance", "Prince Caspian" and "Wading in the Velvet Sea" followed, and though the set list was predictable, it was by no means any less exciting.  "ASIHTOS" was especially powerful; dare I say, the third best version I have heard (next to 6/19/2004 and 7/30/2017).

Finishing the set with "First Tube", Trey threw everything he had into it - the energy was thick in the room as he crashed into those E-minor and A-minor breaks before bursting into the A-major jam as Chris let loose and went completely bananaballs with the lights on the stage, on the ceiling and on our wrists.  It not only looked and sounded phenomenal, but it felt amazing, too.  Only music, and the communal sharing of it, can bring that kind of elation.

The "Loving Cup" encore put a button on the night and we all left Madison Square Garden as happy campers, knowing that we rang in the new year in a way that no one else could have understood; and that we sailed our ship into 2018 with our souls filled with joy and wristbands that continued to flash right through to when we walked in the door of our apartment at around 2:30 a.m.

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