Vicious Mike's Song into Digital Delay Loop Jam 12/31/95

Oh yeah! The culmination of possibly Phish's best year ever, 1995 was the big show at Madison Square Garden on 12/31/95. New Years Eve had the band in fine form. The 2nd set ended with a HUGE Mike's Song. Just monstrous. Best ever? Maybe. Not really evil Phish but just intense and focused, moving smoothly from one theme to the next as if it were a pre-composed song. That little thing starting around 7:45 into the first video is just the absolute shit. Damn.
The jam went into a smooth mellow loop jam with Trey "we work in the Gamehenge Time Factory" Anastasio creating digital delay effect loops using his foot pedals to end the set in a chill psychedelic mood. Gotta love how he says "don't go away" as if someone was going to leave before the midnight set.

Phish: It's an Udder Ball: 12/31/97

Phish: It's an Udder Ball. Sure everyone's seen the footage from Bittersweet Motel of the MASSIVE balloons dropping after midnight on 12/31/97 at The World's Most Famous Arena: Madison Square Garden. But what they don't show you is even better... the scoreboard above the center of the arena was covered in a dome shaped cloth screen the whole night and images were projected onto it. These were the same images Trey was talking about the night before during Harpua- eggs, olives, etc. The images danced and gyrated to the music. Finally just before midnight all the images came together to form a giant olive loaf, which morphed into a pig into the Statue of Liberty and eventually into Baby New Years. Then the screens ripped open at midnight and the big balloons fell out. Here's some good footage (1st minute is bad though) of the NYE madness:

And of course, a Happy New Years to all the Phish Phans out there!

MSG 2002: The Return- A Montage

Can you believe it's been 5 years since Phish's grand return from hiatus? This video is a montage of clips and images from that show on 12/31/02 at Madison Square Garden. It really captures the feel of the show; from the impossible tickets outside, to the deafening roar of the crowd as Phish came back onstage for the first time in over two years, to the Hood glowstick war, to the Seven Below dancers, to the madness as New Years approached. While it certainly wasn't the best show Phish played, it was a huge relief to all the fans that Phish was back. Hopefully we will feel that way again...anyone got any good Phish reunion rumors??!