New York News Day
MSG NYE 2013
This week, Phish dropped two noteworthy pieces of news centered around the state of New York. First and foremost, the band announced that they will return to Madison Square Garden for the fourth consecutive year for their Holiday Run. Though this comes as no surprise, it’s always nice to see more Phish shows on the docket. Phish also announced their next remastered release—a straight heater from Niagara Falls, New York on December 7, 1995. In my opinion, this is one of the very best shows from—arguably—the very best month in Phish history. A shrewd selection from Kevin Shapiro, this drop highlights the band at their absolute career peak (up until that point) as they worked their way to MSG at the end of the month. United in their Empire State of mind, each of these pieces of news deserve a tad more inspection.
12/7/95 Cover
Madison Square Garden, Phish, and New Years Run have become a 3.0 tradition. Starting in 2010, the band has returned to the hallowed round room each and every year for their Holiday bash, and each time we’ve witnessed a subsequent phase of renovation that has decreased the fun and all-out free for all that once existed in the late ‘90s. Now, the venue is extremely segmented, causing fans to scurry for GA West tickets only to discover the section packed like sardines and being forced to go small on the dance floor. Let’s face it, MSG ain’t what she once was and it’s time for a change. Hopefully the band will switch things up sooner than later, but for now it looks like we are heading back to the Big Apple to brave the cold weather for the holidays. With the band peaking again and returning to one of their favorite rooms, however, these shows carry a boat load of potential. Good luck in the ticket lottery!
Niagara Falls is the best release by Phish in quite some time. This highlights one of the peak shows of a peak era—December ’95. Within this show, the band throws down a fantastic first set “Slave” that sets up Hall of Fame versions versions of “Split Open and Melt,” “Reba,” “Mike’s” and “Weekapaug” in set two, not to mention an early, scorching version of “Taste.” This is an absolute can’t miss purchase, as Fred Kevorkian’s remastering has been dialed in on recent releases like Ventura and Hampton-Winston Salem. Bring that oh-so-crisp sound to the fast, frenetic and layered jamming of December ’95, and this drop is bound for glory. Here’s a 2008 piece I wrote on four shows that should be remastered—including Niagara Falls. Hey, two out of four ain’t bad!
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Jams of the Day: Niagara Falls 12/7/95
[audio:http://phishthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ph95-12-07d2t02.mp3]
“Reba“
[audio:http://phishthoughts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/15-Reba.mp3]
Shovels and Rope are tight butthole.
Any of you boners watch The League? Just watched season 4 finale. So awesome. Rafi is such a crazy character. Dude kills me.
MUST catch Trampled By Turtles. Look for Michellemybell. We still haven’t gotten the deets yo!
League is badass. That’s how you & your boys roll in Chi-town no?
@Marco – I used to get said shots in my hip joint and lower area. Never had any issues. Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully you didn’t sign a waiver beforehand that relieves the Dr. of bad practice. I’d sue them for sure. That’s crazy man.
lower left lumbar area that is.
They could do a way better job depicting Chi town, but it’s not really integral to the show, so whatev.
Simpsons Treehouse of horror and Bobs Burgers tonight. Woot.
Oh hell yeah. Another thing we’ve got in common.
here’s a little project my lady and I made on a headful during the floods in boulder. Enjoy…
http://www.sendspace.com/file/20d4jp
Miner thank you for having the guts to make that MSG call. Yes I agree, and I’m born in Boston, pre renovation, MSG was hands down the best indoor arena in the country for music. The Loges w/ 4 seats per section were the absolute bomb, with both tremendous room and sound. Then the entire arena, as a whole, was open and mellow enough to basically find a good spot to hang, even if ur crew had up to ten or more people. Yes the best Loges and front floor had relatively anal security, especially the floor, but every venue has that unless it’s 100% ga. I recall in 99′ trading 15th row floor for the loge about 15 rows off the stage 4th row up equal to the stage. Ohh man from a stunning first set with a wild 1999 of Prince fame, to a giant of a show all the way through, save for Big Cypress the next year, and specifically in my case, 1/1/11; that was the last of my New Years shows that absolutely killed it in terms of me being lucky to physically be in attendance, starting with the first Boston one way way back.
So where should Phish do MSG, Miami ehhh, not a huge fan of that place, it’s OK, but I’d rather be outside. How about Shoreline? NYE in Palo Alto gets to be what 50 degrees at worst? Plus Shoreline needs the revenue, as more and more bands bypass the place, so they would most likely wave the curfew for every night, not just NYE. Yes a field somewhere would work too, but Shoreline is a big enough place, and the sound there is stellar. Yes I’m bias cause I won’t have to be on the lawn if I go, but for an idea of a future nye venue, I’d vote Shoreline if the weather is ok, and maybe then a rotating tradition of exotic places from everywhere starting with Hawaii to Bermuda maybe, there a field would have to be the venue, also Big Cypress works, but it may be a bit too big, and plus been there, done that. Personally if I attend, I don’t want it to be too many people. 20,000 or so is a good cut off, as sorry navigating through 80,000 not my view of a mellow and good time. If I was in my 20’s, I’d say OK, although even then, it may be libel to say, but as fun as big Cypress was, IMHO did not touch MSG 95-99 in terms of show quality as specifically JUST a concert, w/ everything else excluded. Yes they played for 8 straight hours, and as a life experience, it was priceless, but musically it was not even in my top 20 shows, or even top 50. Again, the experience as a whole, definitely one of the best experiences of my life, and I almost broke my ankle the first night before the shows, dancing when we stopped in the traffic jam, landing in a pot hole jumping out of the rv, and for the whole festival, I was hobbling, albeit with an absolute sick walking stick, my friends went into the swamps and found a perfect wooden staff for me, and the great atmosphere dulled the pain. We had five RV’s, and a few other cars, and a total of 40 or so of us in our immediate crew. After the show, we went back to our site, and cranked up Zeppelin, then phunk, and partied through the whole next day to the horror of some of our neighbors. Ohh to be young again.
Bottom line; time to retire MSG for NYE. I won’t push for Boston as I know that will immediately get shot down, but I live 40 minutes away, so I would not mind bringing the party back to where it all started. Or Barclays? maybe, have not been there, but heard the place is stunning. Then save those two, I vote Shoreline or some other OUTDOOR event. Outdoors for NYE is special, especially nowadays when more and more nature is being forsaken for technology in terms of leisure. As long as it’s not a 80,000 person madhouse. OK that’s my two cents, and if I sound jaded probably cause I finally had to face the broken nature of The Pats today in terms of winning everything. Yes it could happen, but the odds are long, and they will need not only a healthy Gronk, but also a spry and rumbling GRONK, as well as Vereen healthy and 100%.
Finally speaking of sports, TWEEZER came blaring through The Fenway sound system when the Sox went to the bullpen after Lackey yesterday, gave me chills. Wow a thought just popped into my head, MONTREAL for NYE, as that place is sweet, saw Macca there, and had the time of my life, although it was Macca and it was my first time seeing him …
Touchdown Welker, seventh of the season all ready!!!!!, nooooooooo, I better get off before I really piss people off.
ps Twitter is stupid, as people bitching about Brady are IDIOTS, and that forum is just a hater forum, with people just hating like me right now hating on Twitter :<) Only in Boston, would there be "fans" hating on Brady, a guy with not one above average offensive player, throwing in a torrential down pour. For some reason all of us in Boston seem to take Brady for granted, at least a little bit, as the guy is possibly the best Boston pro athlete ever, but even I admit, compared to say Larry bird, I just don't appreciate him as much, and that is foolish. Don't know why, maybe cause football has a much bigger team, but football is my favorite sport of all time, ok watching sports, The Celtics will always be there cause of the 80's, and 1986 with Larry Legend having the greatest season of any athlete i ever have rooted for, plus you add The Grateful Dead connection, and it was almost religious, almost, hell it was more than religious, as Bird was more of a God than Jesus or Buddah to me :<).
Guillermo Del Torro directed a couple minute long intro theme for the new Simpsons Tree House. Pretty awesome, tons of references. Pan’s Labyrinth as the topper.
Shoreline? Please no!
grew up in Palo Alto, Phish NYE there would be no bueno.
So happy they haven’t been playing there. Bad sound, the lawn sucks. Sure I always go to BridgeSchool Benefit (Sunday has Tom Waits this year), but am so happy that they have been skipping it. I think Oakland’s Oracle Arena could be worth a try. Doubt they’ll ever do a NYE show on the west coast.
So my daughter started crying when it was time to take her back to her mom’s. Very tough to deal with. Sure I get them every other 7 days, but it’s not enough as far as the kids are concerned. Not sure how to handle it. Anyway, wasn’t going to drink tonight, but that ship has sailed. Just picked up a 4 pack of Dogfish 90 and a sixer of Stone IPA. Should do the trick.
Oh and what about Bobby Orr as far as Boston sports heroes go? I’d pick him over Brady any day. Sure it’s a different sport, but they are both team sports. Bird is Bird however. Not much of a basketball fan so theirs that. Dude could shoot. Any good show recommendations are much appreciated. Take care.
Tba, can only imagine the hell that is twitter sports bickering. i’ve avoided it almost entirely, but read some crazy exchanges. brady not working with much, and doing pretty good job. edelmann catches that pass in the end zone and things could have gone differently.
any leggit link for Simpsons stream tonight?
sorry about your situation, obviously my loose little commentary about where nye might be next is not even worthy of consideration in comparison to the struggle u r enduring right now, and i was just saying my opinion, not saying it should be fact. also yes we could go down the list and find guys arguably better than brady, so i guess i should have been more specific about my wording. guess i was just saying not necessarilly he is the best, but just maybe he is at least among them imho, and lately we boston fans may take him a bit for granted; guess i was more upset at reports of many fans bashing him online, mainly twitter. i don’t have a twitter account as i think it is bad for the head, so rarely check it.
i hope things work out for your daughter and u and ur family, hang in there, and i send u my hope and whatever positive feeling or vibes i can send you.
as for my shoreline idea as one of the places they could play, i knew that would bring criticism asap, as i recall before ever attending people, ie old school dead heads, hating the place :<) to each their own, but that may have to do with what the venues were for west coast dead heads before shoreline. for me on the east coast, and up to living in sf for about a decade, only having attended 30-40 various west coast shows before my residence, when i first attended shoreline, i was stoked. ok after that show, i have seen many many shows there, but only twice have i not sat in the 100's, as i am lucky to have a friend who has a connection through bgp. and sorry imho, the sound and sight lines inside the stadium section is amazing there, mostly talking 100's, and how about the space per seat, there is enough room for two folks per seat, which means u can dance and have fun. and yes i agree phish highly doubtful they would play west coast for nye. anyway the shoreline suggestion was not the main point, and mainly an idea, like i said montreal popped in after, and that wouls also be cool. madison square for me is not the same place it once was, and now is hardly much better than any other ice/hoops arena, save the fact nyc is great for nye, and great period. oakland, no way, no thanks, sorry just my opinion. be well.
Seen one show at the from the Pavillion and not the lawn at shoreline. Much better concert experience.
also should include I have never been to MSG. Wasn’t tryin to hate on your opinion. just don’t really love Shoreline. But yeah, good point, where should they play?
def not Oakland for NYE… just sayin they’ve been tryin the Greek (which I love), or the Bill Graham instead of Shoreline and I just see the Oracle Arena as a potential option. Here I show my bias as well. I may not have some way to get Shoreline Pavilion seats, but I live next to the Arena. (don’t think it would be the BEST place for a Phish show)
Think my favorite place I’ve seen the boys is the Gorge.
Totally non bias opinion of my own. I think they should play US Bank Arena in Cincy. Like I said, totally non bias. OK, maybe a little.
And thanks for the kind words Tba. Things are always only as bad as you let them be. I could ponder on all the negativity in my life and let that define me. I choose not to and allow the positives to lead the way. At least I try to.
vibes to you to Phishm. on the bright side, you know your kids love you! probably one of the best feeling in the world i imagine (i don’t have kids)…
other people probably have tv. but if you don’t, here’s a site that you can watch tonight’s Simpsons Halloween special on.
http://www.ch131.so/
(this shit seems to have everything)
Thanks lu. They do. Very much. And I love them. They are my life. Plain and simple. Tell me again why you don’t have a tv? I actually could do without mine. It’s just there to play video games on and watch sports. Maybe a couple programs here and there. It’s mindless distractions like tv that keep me sane during late nights. Guess I could get into some Phish. hmmm. What to listen to.
Cherby & the Kid!
Thnx MrM
Good Dead show for those that may be looking for something to get into.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVZD9CZ623M
Got rid of my T.V and video games when I was 18. Started to learn to play the bass. probably one of the best decisions I ever made. A lot of things to absorb out there, I’m trying to be creative as I can.
… course at the moment I’m absorbing the Estimated from that show you posted. All in the balance I guess.
would like to include, not trying to pass any judgment here. everybody’s got their own path. whatever works for you is golden. I just think it was important for me to give up the video games and what not.