Photography by Filip Zalewski of Essence Photography
New Years Eve is a magical time in New York City as hippies, phans, cops, scalpers, and the nitrous mafia all flood to Madison Square Garden for yet another Phish NYE run. Phish completed their four day New Year’s Eve run at MSG on 12/31/19 with a little help from the band’s personal clones and the newest heroes of the Phish community, the saviors of our savior Trey Anastasio, the rescue squad!
The show opened up with Martian Monster followed by Buried Alive & AC/DC Bag. The first set was definitely heating up, featuring some heavy hitters at the end like Axilla, Maze, & Fluffhead. Finishing up with a heart warming, feel good Rise/Come Together.
The summoning of Zamfir, the pan flute master, was some memorable banter and carried on the theme of Trey getting hit in the head with a pan. It featured some authentic Zamfir pan flute sounds. Hilarious!
The second set started with Punch You in The Eye followed by Wolfman’s Brother. The hour was getting closer and closer to midnight. Tension and excitement were growing. The second set ended with Soul Planet, Mercury, and a monster of a Possum.
The third set started with the opening of the NYE gag. It started with a short A cappella tune Send In the Clownsv featuring the band dressed in blue, green, red, and yellow. Phish finished played Send in The Clowns as they began to elevate on individual platforms as their ‘clones’ rushed in, signing “Send in the clones. There ought to be clones”…
For this year’s NYE gag Phish was suspended above the stage on individual platforms, dressed in different colors. On the stage their ‘clones’ were dancing and singing along to all of the songs in set 3 including Sand, Drift While You’re Sleeping, YEM, & Tweezer Reprise.. A spectacle to behold, one full of life and color featuring even the jumping trampoline parts from YEM performed by Trey & Mike’s clones. They even recreated CK5 manually with handheld mirrors, directing the beams of light around. This made the show feel like a musical on broadway rather than a rock concert, breathing excitement into the audience.
But after the Tweezer Reprise encore … Trey got stuck on his platform. The whole room became a bit tense and nervous as everyone there surely briefly feared for the safety of Trey Anastasio. With a crack of a joke, an impromptu tune, and a drum solo dedicated to the rescue squad, Trey is safely rescued by the rescue squad… and even manages to make light of the situation. No matter how succesful or good at guitar you may be, sometimes we all need a hand.
And there it is another New Year’s Eve run in the books!
Happy New Years!
