Phish 'Live at Madison Square Garden New Year's Eve 1995 [LIVE]' album

Widely regarded as one of Phish's finest live performances and called one of the "Greatest Concerts of the '90s" by Rolling Stone, their 1995 New Year's Eve show at Madison Square Garden is an amazing collection of the band's finest songs. Just in time to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of one of the band's proudest musical moments, the entire show will be featured on the Rhino Entertainment release PHISH: NEW YEAR'S EVE 1995 LIVE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.

This collection includes the complete three-set show totaling 27 tracks and more than three and a half hours of prime Phish. Although several official live Phish albums are available, NEW YEAR'S EVE 1995 is the first to feature one of the band's hallmark New Year's Eve concerts. Guitarist Trey Anastasio, drummer Jon Fishman, bassist Mike Gordon, and keyboardist Page McConnell demonstrate their legendary musical skills while effortlessly navigating Phish's vast repertoire, including several interesting cover songs, theatrical stunts, and an extended narration by Anastasio about his fabled musical thesis "Gamehendge."

The band kicks off the festivities with rousing renditions of "Punch You In The Eye" and "The Sloth" before moving on to extended workouts of "Reba" and "The Squirming Coil" from Phish's second album, 1991's Lawn Boy and "Maze" from 1993's concept album Rift. Adding an unexpected twist after "Colonel Forbin's Ascent," Trey pauses during "Fly Famous Mockingbird" to explain Phish's creation of time in Gamehendge, setting the stage for the band's New Year's stunt. The Vermont quartet then welcomes longtime lyricist Tom Marshall on guest vocals for Collective Soul's "Shine." Rock anthem "Chalk Dust Torture" ends the set with soaring jams. In typical prankster fashion, Fishman's mom, Mimi, appears onstage between sets and helps shave her son's shaggy beard and hair as he begins his transition from Father Time to Baby New Year.

Phish opens the second set with an extended take on The Who's classic "Drowned," from the rock opera Quadrophenia (which they covered in its entirety the past Halloween), before segueing beautifully into "The Lizards." Next comes an experimental "Runaway Jim" followed by "Strange Design" and a barbershop reading of "Hello My Baby." An epic, 20 minute "Mike's Song," one of the band's oldest songs that was eventually featured on Phish's 1997 live album Slip, Stitch & Pass, closes the set.

Continuing the theme from the first set, the band appears shortly before midnight dressed as mad scientists, fiddling with dials of the Phish "Time Phactory" as a Van de Graaff generator and Tesla coil spark wildly. Drummer Fishman emerges from a birthing tank high above the crowd dressed in a diaper and bonnet as Baby New Year. As the crowd counts down to midnight, the band launches into "Auld Lang Syne" before veering seamlessly into an acrobatic "Weekapaug Groove." Phish then visit their 1988 debut Junta for a 25-minute performance of progressive rock composition "You Enjoy Myself," then flow smoothly into "Sea and Sand," the second cover from Quadrophenia, followed by the rarely played "Sanity." The band closes the third set with Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" before returning with the ultimate rock 'n' roll encore, "Johnny B. Goode."

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Phish - Live at Madison Square Garden New Year's Eve 1995 [LIVE]