12/31 - Madison Square Garden - New York, NY - Post Show Discussion and Review

[mbw]

here's the montage jason linked to:

[WhatstheUse?]

incredible night. That second set was truly something special to witness. Phish. In the center of Madison Square Garden, absolutely commanding that room. That set list was just plain absurd and I'm so grateful to have been apart of it. I couldn't help but think about how pissed antelope Greg must have been that whole set....stuck in the back! HA!  Easily the best New Years stunt I've seen.

They really could do no wrong after that for me. Loved that light jam, Fuego worked great for the New Years song and I really just loved the whole statement they made with the 2nd and 3rd sets. Sure there was so flubs and awkward Trey forces in that last set but it didn't even matter to me at that point. They're phish, they've earned it. I couldn't help but smile at the show of life encore. Perfect.

Also, that video montage during the encore break was insane. I pretty much lost my mind during that. Was SO crazy (and kind of weird) to be RAGING the Camden chalk dust blaring at MSG. The crowd response was hilarious... It was like people wanted to scream and cheer at the jams cuz they WERE so awesome and all of msg was high as shit... But at the same time, people seemed a bit tentative because, after all... Phish wasn't actually playing on stage. Tripped me the fuck out. Whoever picked the jams they used in that video knew what he was doing. Camden chalkdust, Fukuoka twist, Denver 97 Tweezer. Star lake Jim(?) -- basically a few of THE best jams of all time. Pretty unreal.

I'm going to sleep for the next week now. Thank you phish. Most fun I've had at a New Years run ever.

[blatboom]

 I had no idea what was going on during that encore break. great drugs

[sunrisevt]

great nye show imo
possibly best one of 3.0?

I had a blast last night but I gotta say as gags go, 2013's got nothing on this:

[anthrax]

they did a great job recreating the old school vibe during the 2nd set.  no bells and whistles as far as instrumentation goes.  no lazers and gobos, only solid color looks from kuroda.  just 4 awesome dudes jamming out in the middle of a sea of madness. 

[Hicks]

Just watched the youtube of the second set.

Playing those songs with the old gear, I really can't imagine a better way to celebrate the 30th Anniversary and the band in general. 

Well done Phish, and thank you. 

[sophist]

great nye show imo
possibly best one of 3.0?

I had a blast last night but I gotta say as gags go, 2013's got nothing on this:

^That was a waste of 30 minutes in person and to watch anytime afterward as well.  I fucking hated that in person.  BORING.  But this.  Oh man, I like this concept as well.  August nailed it.  More of a nod, but at the same time, keeping it fresh.  This is very cool.  I am watching it now. 

[sunrisevt]

^You're dead to me.

But the old school set on top of the truck was cool, too.

[PIE-GUY]

Sometime during the day at 'paug headquarters we were laughing about how the chubby ones, (me in particular), sometimes give folks the upshirt view of our bellies. We had a good laugh about it.

So, when Kuroda was adjusting the light rig above the drum kit, I yelled "Nice upshirt! I can see your belly!" He responded by lifting the shirt for a full-on belly flash. I laughed hysterically! It was all very funny to someone with a half a bottle of tequila in him.

Anyway, someone captured the moment on film!

Post

[sophist]

^You're dead to me.

But the old school set on top of the truck was cool, too.

Come on, you're telling me that you'd rather see/hear Meatstick for 25 minutes (because it takes that long to have 9 dozen squads of dancers get on stage) than what happened 12/31/13, which is they plug in and fucking play their music?  12/31/10, all I could think is when is this going to end?  Like I said, I found it boring, and it left the third set to be stale for me.  Where as, the material that 2nd set is all stuff I'd love to hear.  All I'm getting at is I appreciate them doing this.  I think the people in attendance certainly got more bang for their bucks, and more music, which is what matters most to me. 

[sunrisevt]

SOMEONE GET THIS ON TAPE! A DEAD MAN JUST POSTED TO A DISCUSSION FORUM!

:wink:

I hear you, Ramsay--I think the truck-top set was a beautiful, (maybe more mature) "gag" that complements the Wingsuit set from Halloween very well--it's another gesture towards a return to their origins, and I respect the hell out of it. But I'll go to the mat for the Meatstick 2010 NYE gag being the most brilliantly inspired  silliness I ever witnessed firsthand.

[VDB]

Can someone in attendance talk about the setup for the second set:

They must've had to clear a path and a spot in the middle of the floor. Where did those people go?
Did the end stage sit in darkness unchanged for the duration?
Where did the band come from? Was there a sectioned-off path, and did it remain for the whole set?
Did the sound come from the stacks at the end stage or was there another PA? If it didn't come from the center of the arena, wouldn't that have been odd?
I wonder if there was additional equipment, e.g. amps, under the truck stage -- or was everything right there on top?

[PIE-GUY]

Can someone in attendance talk about the setup for the second set:

They must've had to clear a path and a spot in the middle of the floor. Where did those people go?
Did the end stage sit in darkness unchanged for the duration?
Where did the band come from? Was there a sectioned-off path, and did it remain for the whole set?
Did the sound come from the stacks at the end stage or was there another PA? If it didn't come from the center of the arena, wouldn't that have been odd?
I wonder if there was additional equipment, e.g. amps, under the truck stage -- or was everything right there on top?

I can answer all of these questions - but I'm on the phone with Time Warner. Give me a bit.

[VDB]

While you have them can you please ask them to take a look at my internet as well. Kinda sucks at the moment.

[anthrax]

Can someone in attendance talk about the setup for the second set:

They must've had to clear a path and a spot in the middle of the floor. Where did those people go?
Did the end stage sit in darkness unchanged for the duration?
Where did the band come from? Was there a sectioned-off path, and did it remain for the whole set?
Did the sound come from the stacks at the end stage or was there another PA? If it didn't come from the center of the arena, wouldn't that have been odd?
I wonder if there was additional equipment, e.g. amps, under the truck stage -- or was everything right there on top?

i had a birds eye view of most of this, and i love stage production, so i really watched this as best as i could.  let's see if i can recall everything...

as soon as the truck rolled in on sidestage mike side, the msg floor security sprang into action.  starting on the rail in front of where mike is, they made a wall of security guards holding a white "velvet rope" and just kinda folded the people on the floor inwards.  they did this on the other side to, effectively creating 2 lanes from backstage to the center of the floor, one one each side.  fans were not allowed in these lanes.  they quickly replaced the velvet rope with your standard metal concert cattle fencing.  at this point the floor looked pretty packed.  note, the floor never looked overly packed at any point during the run before this. 

they were working on the truck for a bit side stage.  see my pic of the dude working on the bottom front.  i don't know what the hell he was doing down there, but sparks were flying everywhere, and i don't think it was just for "show".  but people were also prepping the top stage of the truck.  then they slowly pushed it to the center of the floor, at the back center of the west floor and right in front of the east floor rail.

the big stage did sit in darkness during the duration of the 2nd set.

the band came from page side and walked down this newly created lane on the side of the floor.  they entered the truck through the passenger side door and popped out on top.

there were small stacks of lights and speakers hung around all 4 corners of the huge new scoreboard in the center of the arena.  kuroda used those lights as well as the par cans on the truck.  he also used the main light rig to light the backstage crowd at certain points, but he didn't use the main light rig to light up the band at all.

sound was coming from all over the place.  they had more speakers in the garden than i ever remember seeing.

i do not believe there was any additional band equipment inside the truck.  i think what you saw was what they used.  all in all it was a pretty ballsy maneuver, and it was pulled off very well.