Written by Richie Oliver
Photo by Filip Zalewski
Every year on December 31st, Phish plays their celebrated New Year’s Eve show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. With a sold-out show every year, they never fail to tear the house down.
The last song before midnight is always a treat. Every year, Phish plans a “gag,” where they turn the last song before midnight into a visual spectacle, and it changes every year.
Because of COVID-19, Phish had to inevitably cancel this year’s tour and New Year's Eve performance at The Garden. In lieu of a 2020 live show, we'll be looking at some of our favorite December 31st performances by Phish, in no particular order.
"Meatstick" is one of those Phish tracks that rarely makes an appearance. This 2011 performance of the song starts with a rocking jam on the simple two-chord progression.
During the “meatstick chant,” different groups of people representing different ethnicities and cultures of the world come out and perform it in their native language. The band then quietly leaves the stage as the song continues to play over the PA, before the performers go into a choreographed song and dance, creating this almost Broadway-like performance of the song.
All of a sudden, the band reappears, this time from the back of the venue. Riding a giant, floating hotdog, Phish showers the audience with hotdog necklaces, all while the audience is also showered with thousands of long, red balloons.
“Everyone’s together on the soul planet” starts my personal favorite on this list. With a rotating stage, Phish transformed their playing vessel into a pirate ship, adorned with swinging technicians, a massive sail, and cannons that shot disco balls.
When the song first starts, pirates pull the rigging on the sail, engulfing the presence of the stage with a massive sail. Then, all of a sudden, the stage starts to rotate, showing different Phish flags.
The great thing about the performance was that Phish gave out wristbands which turned different colors in sync, transforming the audience into an ocean, complete with waves and pulses. Near the end of the song, two massive cannons made their way on stage, firing out large disco balls.
Four small platforms with minimal gear took the stage to start last year’s New Year's Eve performance. The four members of Phish, wearing jumpsuits of solid colors, converged at center stage to sing an acapella version of Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns”, changing “clowns” to “clones”, foreshadowing the performance fans were about to see.
After finishing up the heartwarming rendition of the Sondheim classic, the four members climbed onto their platforms, which raised them up 20 feet above the empty stage, letting each member look out over the audience. As the band started their song “First Tube,” 40 dancers appeared, ten for each member of Phish.
The dancers weren’t just dancers; they were lookalikes for each member of the band. Wearing the same solid color jumpsuits, the dancers choreographed a dance that could be easily described as a Phish jam: wholly improvised but based on simplicity.
Although unplanned, Anastasio’s platform did not lower, making him remain on the platform for the rest of the show. It was up to the “rescue squad” to bring him down after the encore, which led to some fun hijinks.
What are some of your favorite Phish New Year's Eve performances? Tweet us @lgndsoftmrw!
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