Weekend Nuggets: New Year’s Eve 1998
1998 New Year's Run Poster
DOWNLOADS OF THE WEEKEND:
After playing three out of four Holiday Run shows at The Garden in 1997, Phish decided to make it four of a kind in 1998. Staging an entire New Years’ Run in a single venue for the first time ever, the band chose the largest stage on which to do it. The peak of a incredible year of Phish, these four nights showcased the diverse jamming styles that defined the year. From groove-based improv to ambient jams, this show presented a microcosm of 1998. As a bonus re-post, I am including my favorite show from the run – 12.28 – an odyssey through darkness that included the inter-galactic warfare of “Carini > Wolfman’s.” With three MSG dates just announced, I can hardly wait to get back inside the greatest arena on earth. Here are some memories to tide you over.
12.31.98 Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY < Torrent
12.31.98 Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY < Megaupload
I: 1999* > Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Ghost > Ha Ha Ha, Cavern
II: NICU, Character Zero, Tweezer > Cities > Wading in the Velvet Sea, Run Like an Antelope, Frankenstein
III: Runaway Jim > Auld Lang Syne > Simple, Harry Hood, Tweezer Reprise, Llama
E: While My Guitar Gently Weeps
*Phish debut.
Notes: Prince’s 1999 included dancers on stage and synchronized steps from Trey and Mike, who wound up lying on the stage with the dancers surrounding them. Weekapaug and Runaway Jim subsequently featured 1999 teases. For this show, the Holiday Run dancers’ costumes included a devil, a prostitute, and a pimp. The band jammed Runaway Jim until just before the New Year. The dancers reappeared throughout the crowd and handed out thousands of glowrings to the fans just before a grand balloon drop and pyrotechnics display at midnight. The band counted the crowd into the New Year before busting into Auld Lang Syne.
Source: Schoeps CMC641 > Lunatec V2 > Apogee AD1000 > DAT
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12.28.98 Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY < Torrent
12.28.98 Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY < Megaupload
I: Axilla, Stash, Farmhouse, Taste, Sleep*, Albuquerque*, Driver*, Tube, Golgi Apparatus, Good Times Bad Times
II: Carini > Wolfman’s Brother, Birds of a Feather, When the Circus Comes, Quinn the Eskimo > David Bowie
E: Been Caught Stealin’
*Acoustic.
Notes: For the first show of the Holiday Run, the stage was decorated with flowers and sculptures. During the encore, parts of the set began to grow and sprout leaves. This stage setup was used for this show only, and disappeared for the rest of the run. Before Sleep, Fishman’s drum kit was moved to allow the crew to roll out a small mini-stage with a scaled-down drum set and a baby grand piano. Trey and Mike sat on stools and both played acoustic guitars. This acoustic set-up was used for Sleep, Albuquerque, and Driver. During the Wolfman’s jam, three people in inchworm-like costumes came on stage and danced for the rest of the set.
Source: Schoeps CMC641 > Lunatec V2 > Apogee AD1000 > DAT
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11.18.09 Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI
11.20.09 U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, OH
11.21.09 U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, OH
11.22.09 War Memorial at Oncenter , Syracuse, NY
11.24.09 Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
11.25.09 Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
11.27.09 Times Union Center, Albany, NY
11.28.09 Times Union Center, Albany, NY
11.29.09 Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME
12.02.09 Madison Square Garden , New York, NY
12.03.09 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
12.04.09 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
12.05.09 John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, VA
The ticket “lottery” is officially underway! The ticket request period will end Friday, October 16th at 5:00pm EST.
Tickets go on sale to the public beginning Friday, October 23rd, with additional dates going on sale Saturday, October 24th. For full show and ticketing information, please visit Phish.com.
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Jams of the Weekend: 12.31.98
Two of the most significant jams from a New Year’s Eve extravaganza in New York City.
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VIDEO OF THE WEEKEND:
“Mike’s Song” 12.31.95 MSG, NYC Pt. 1
“Mike’s “Pt. 2
wow, Lycan. Now I am one million percent more psyched to see blk jks next week. the funk band sounds great too. I have some blk jks live stuff in my mediafire.com/mrcompletely share if anyone wants to hear it. I bought the studio album and while I think it captures their sound ok and is well played, – and I’m glad to have given a young band the money – the album is very poorly mastered and sounds basically like ass. You can’t really hear the drummer clearly when things get loud and he’s the heart of the band.
OMG OREGON HARVEST KIND FINALLY AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
first wave was weird pseudo-bunk, very strange, looked good but did nothing. Now the real deal has arrived and everything is right with the world.
yeah the drummer was mind blowing. he was almost too loud at the show so no worries.
send me some mr c it has been sooo dry round here
Mr. C – did you hit up the Oregon Brewery Festival in Portland by chance this summer?
I was out there for that and, although it was a bit expensive, definitely a good chance for me to catch up on some WC beers.
Pet sounds just got murdered……
^ weird i just put it on
They axed Pet Sounds? I thought that would of been a cool one to cover.
@ Kenny…Thanks for the link…that was cool.
kenny
just toasted a j and watched that video with no idea what to expect, blew my mind…they need to do this after the MSG show on some random building outside. nice find
Well, I just now found out MGMT “kids” was played in the SPAC soundcheck. From what I’ve read, it sounds like it was decently rehearsed with trey on vocals………..hmmm
A few friends and I went to all 4 of these shows to cap off a spectacular 1998 of shows, and they certainly lived up to the hype of Phish on New Years (been tryin’ since 95 to get to one) The only problem was we stayed @ a friends place @ Bard College and rode the rails from there to the city the first three nights and stayed on Long Island New Years… Fuckin brutal travelin spun, but the shows made up for it big time!!!
PS- big ups to the Park and Lock accross the street, it was bumpin’, watch out fot the 6up though.
I’ve lived in or near NYC for most of my life… I’ve never been a big fan of the venue. Unless you are on the floor, and even then sometimes, the sound is usually pretty terrible. I’ve seen a lot of shows there, including a couple runs of the Dead in the early 90s… No show I’ve ever seen there has been all that great in terms of the sound.
I’m planning on going to the entire Phish run this year, but I’ve never quite gotten why people like the venue so much. When you are up in the rafters you can’t see anything and my experience with the sound has been pretty uniformly bad.