Print-friendly Version
Album Review: Phish, "Live at Madison Square Garden New Year's Eve 1995" (JEMP/Rhino)
Phish built its reputation--and its fortune--on the road. During the course of its 20-plus-year career, the Vermont-based jam band delivered many performances that are now regarded as legendary by its loyal "Phan" base.
There was the epic Millennium New Year's Eve concert held in swampy Florida that kicked off before midnight and lasted until dawn, which reportedly was the largest ticketed event in the world that night. There were the Halloween gigs where the band donned "musical costumes" and played entire classic-rock albums such as The Beatles' "White Album" (1994), The Who's "Quadrophenia" (1995) and Talking Heads' "Remain in Light" (1996). And, finally, there was the group's farewell concert in 2004, which drew some 60,000 Phans from all over the globe to a two-day festival in rural Vermont.
Yet, perhaps, no show holds a more special place in the heart of Phish-heads than the band's Dec. 31, 1995 outing. But it's not just patchouli-scented twirlers and maniac tape-traders who hold this performance in high regard--Rolling Stone magazine crowned this show as one of the 17 greatest concerts of the '90s.
Now, everyone can hear what all the fuss is about. The three-disc set "Live at Madison Square Garden New Year's Eve 1995" is the first release on JEMP Records, a label devoted to the band's live archive. Given the quality of this initial offering, Phans can only hope that this turns out to be a long-running series, an equivalent to the Grateful Dead's "Dick's Picks."
Kicking off the show with a hard-hitting version of "Punch You in the Eye," the quartet is in prime mid-'90s form as it jams through such fan favorites as "Reba," "The Squirming Coil" and "Maze." Disc one ends with a blistering take on "Chalk Dust Torture," which was a regular highlight of Phish performances, and disc two contains powerful renditions of "Runaway Jim" and "Mike's Song." Disc Three is dominated by a groovy "Weekapaug Groove" and a wild "You Enjoy Myself," adopted by many as Phish's signature song.
As the 27-track set draws to a close with a double-shot of "Frankenstein" and "Johnny B. Goode," it becomes increasingly difficult to argue with either the Phans or Rolling Stone. Even for a band that delivered more than its share of memorable moments, "Live at Madison Square Garden New Year's Eve 1995" is truly Phish at its finest.
