Phish at Madison Square Garden, New York, Dec 31, 2015

There is nothing in this world like a Phish show on New Year's Eve. And I can think of no better way to spend the last night of the year.

In the past, I had seen Jon Fishman become Baby New Year; I viewed a strange animation depicting an odd evolution of creatures; I watched an air boat bust open to reveal the band on their famous hot dog cruising to the stage to feed meat sticks to Father Time; and I saw the band play on top of a truck in the middle of the arena floor.

And lots and lots of balloons. What more might I witness?

The first set already showed a fiery Phish cranking it up early. "Moma Dance" got right down to funky business. The set also contained a fully danceable "Birds of a Feather", a nicely placed "Possum" for a change (second!), the kick-ass crunch of "Martian Monster", and the crowd singing the final refrain of "I Didn't Know" after Fish did some vacuum cleaner sucking (we also sang "Happy Birthday" to Fish's daughter). The precision in the middle section of "Reba" is still amazingly impressive when they nail it (and they did), but the jam's peaks were nothing compared to the huge climaxes in "Wolfman's Brother" and the set closing "Walls of the Cave", though the latter's composed section was not as well executed.

Opening a second set with "The Wedge" may seem weird, but it worked well and sure got me dancing. I've grown to thoroughly enjoy "A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing", but I'm still not on board with "Yarmouth Road". It has a weak hook and a mediocre melody.  "Wilson" and "Twist" always sound great in an arena with their audience participation bits, and the jam in the latter soared to crazy heights. But that was already after the ridiculously huge jams in "Piper" and a standout "Kill Devil Falls". If this was a standard two-set show, it would have been completely satisfying.

But this was New Year's Eve and things were about to get nuts. During setbreak, we were looking at all the balloons tied up to the ceiling and also noticed a spot in the back of the floor section with what seemed like a small stage up underneath an giant upside down cone-shaped structure hanging from the ceiling.

Sure enough, Phish appeared there and charged headlong into the funktastic new tune "No Men in No Man's Land". The jam ebbed and flowed and became something else altogether as a scrim lowered from the cone to make it an hourglass as smoke swirled inside the enclosure onto which psychedelic images and colors were being projected. At some point, the band disappeared even though the jam was still going. A few minutes later, the band re-emerged on the main stage, picked up playing from the pre-recorded sounds, and led the audience in the strains of "Auld Lang Syne" at midnight.

The multitude of balloons and confetti were still falling when the band launched into the most exploratory version of "Blaze On" to date, and even "Carini" (so-so song that usually leads to an incredible jam) was no match for the monstrous "David Bowie" that followed.

The third set wound down with the usual NYE rendition of "The Horse" and "Silent in the Morning" as well as a lyrically poignant "Backwards Down the Number Line".

A righteously funky "Tube" encore led into the big rocking closer of "Cavern". It was 1 a.m. and the crowd at Madison Square Garden would have easily stayed for more.

No one does New Year's Eve like Phish, and for the eighth time they brought the party to Madison Square Garden for yet another night to remember.

Set list:

Set I: The Moma Dance > Possum, Wolfman's Brother, Birds of a Feather, I Didn't Know, Happy Birthday to You, Martian Monster, Reba, Walls of the Cave

Set II: The Wedge, Wilson > A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Yarmouth Road, Kill Devil Falls > Piper > Twist

Set III: No Men in No Man's Land > Auld Lang Syne > Blaze On > Carini > David Bowie, The Horse > Silent in the Morning > Backwards Down the Number Line

Encore: Tube > Cavern