PHISH: 12/29/97 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY essay by Phish Archivist Kevin Shapiro (12/19/06)
December 29th, 1997
Phish was the first show of Phish's first three-night stand
at Madison Square Garden. Before starting the holiday tour,
the band played a breakthrough 21-show tour starting November
13th in Las Vegas and ending with two nights in Albany,
New York December 12th and 13th. Consistently amazing performances
were the rule throughout the tour as Phishheads soaked up
legendary shows from Vegas to Denver,
Hampton to Worcester, Philadelphia to Michigan, Ohio
to Rochester and Albany. By all accounts, the holiday tour
closed an exceptional year in Phish history.
Phish had released their 6th studio album
"Billy Breathes" in fall 1996. The band had been
working toward a new, more textural and democratic sound
leading up to their Halloween 1996 musical costume "Remain
In Light". By the time they recorded "Slip
Stitch and Pass" live in Germany in March, 1997, Phish
had become comfortable with the sparser, funkier feel that
defined their sound in the later ‘90's. They created
another festival masterpiece at The Great Went that summer.
Following the release of "Slip Stitch and Pass"
in October, they would spend the spring of 1998 recording
"Story of the Ghost" with a brief time-out to
perform the four shows of the explosive and historic Island
Tour. Filming for the Phish movie, "Bittersweet
Motel", also began during fall 1997 and continued through
the sold-out holiday tour and into 1998.
Amidst this busy background, holiday tour
1997 kicked off on December 28th in Landover, Maryland before
the band settled into New York City for the remaining three
gigs. The band hit the stage on the 29th with NICU >
Golgi Apparatus > Crossroads. This was one of only nine
Phish performances of Crossroads, Robert Johnson's devilish
tale of the making of a guitar hero and the band made the
most of the rare chance. A hot Cars Trucks Buses and soaring
Theme From the Bottom and Fluffhead led to a set-closing
Antelope, which resolved into deep funk only after multiple
peaks of music and energy shook the Garden. A dark and poignant
Down With Disease > David Bowie opened set two before
the band paid tribute to the Blues Brothers (and Otis Redding
who penned the classic) with a double Possum/I Can't Turn
You Loose sandwich. A deep, telepathic Tube and a smoking,
funk-filled You Enjoy Myself to close the set. The Good
Times Bad Times encore unfortunately can't be included with
the video for the show but it's included with the audio
download. Like the other three shows from the holiday '97
tour, each of which deserves a chapter of its own, this
show transcends all worldly expectations.
With beautiful flow, song selection and
execution, 12/29/97 is the next show in the Live
Phish Video Series, which will feature regular new releases
from the Phish Archives, so stay tuned. Enjoy!
--ks