The coming of a new year has been celebrated for over 4,000 years as a moment to actively look back on the past while marking the arrival of the new. It was in 46 B.C. that Julius Caesar instituted January 1st as the first day of the year, partially as an acknowledgment of the two-faced god Janus, name-sake for January. And in 1528, Pope Gregory XIII made January 1st a religious holiday, solidifying its significance. January 1st. One-one. Essentially, this holiday is the celebration of numbers. How does one keep track of time except through numbers? Another rotation around the sun, the year clicking forward like the slow turn of an odometer. We celebrate making it through the past 365 days and welcome the next set.

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And we Phish fans are fascinated by numbers. Show dates. The number of shows seen. Gaps between times-played. The length of songs as a measuring stick. Types I and II. 1.0/2.0/3.0. Wrapping the two together, Phish concerts begun the 31st of December have always been moments of joy and spectacle. Big Cypress. The 1995 Mike’s Groove Time Factory. 1993 and the “Down With Disease Jam.” Of course, balloons were hung from the ceiling. The one additional element was an inverted cone, or funnel, suspended over the soundboard area. What was in store for 2015?

Last night marked the thirty-third time Phish played Madison Square Garden, the twentieth New Year's Eve show, and the ninth such show played at “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” And the tenth time “The Moma Dance” opened a show. The slow, loping funk of “Moma” was followed by the bounciness of “Possum,” which in turn lead to the funk of “Wolfman’s Brother.” “Wolfman’s,” while not extended, seemed to exhibit just a bit of gusto. After some pause and conversation, the band decided on a standard “Birds of a Feather.”

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A celebration of the Fishman family was to follow, with “The Man Mulcahy” demonstrating his vacuum skills on “I Didn’t Know.” Then at the request of Fishman, the crowd (and band) sang an arena-filling “Happy Birthday to You” to his daughter Ella for her 14th birthday, celebrated the day before.

“Martian Monster” was followed by standard-great version of “Reba.” Trey made it through the fugue-like middle section relatively unscathed to deliver on the “Reba” jam that some fans have compared to oxygen — hard to live without. This would mark the first of many moments throughout the evening when Trey faced skyward toward the balloons hanging with anticipation, channeling the “hose.”

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“Walls of the Cave” would close the opening set. (Interestingly, “Walls” has closed a set the last fourteen times it has been played.) As the song built to its rawkus “silent trees”close, the floor of the arena actually began to undulate. With the restrained first section and the energetic second, the song and its structure could be offered as an analog for the show as we would discover.

The second set of the evening began with “The Wedge,” followed by the crowd participatory “Wilson.” “Wilson” then transitioned into “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing.” With Trey acknowledging the changing of time, “10 years before the mast,” “ASIHTOS” was stretched ever so slightly.

After “Yarmouth Road,” the opening notes of “Kill Devil Falls” reinforced this feel that a standard “first set” had extended deep into the second, and some fans were becoming anxious. A shift needed to occur. Little did we know that this shift would happen in “KDF” — “this time will be different” indeed. The song opened up into the first Type II territory of the evening with Mike dropping bass bombs that made the arena rumble. The jam featured a bit of “plinko” as well as this loose seven-noted repeated riff. Arguably the most exploratory “KDF” since Bonnaroo 2012. The jam dissolves into the opening notes of “Piper,” which was driving and fiery as expected — albeit on the shorter side.

With the successful shift in tenor, the band was free to open things up and the set closing “Twist” would prove to be one of the highlights of 2015 (see 7/24 and 8/12). The jam once again featured Trey staring upwards, reaching for inspiration (or at least to Cream with a couple “Strange Brew” teases). As with “KDF,” Mike would once again lead the charge, dropping meatballs and leading the band on a dark and nasty course that would feature two distinct jams. The last thirty-seven minutes of music certainly lifted everyone’s excitement for what was to come in the third set and the transition into the new year.

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As noted above, the only sign of a “gag” or spectacle was the white shape suspended over an area immediately behind the soundboard. During set break, it was observed that a drum kit was arranged and gear was introduced. It became clear the band would perform beneath the shape. It just wasn’t clear for how long, or what else would happen. Around 20 til midnight, the band took to the floor and began to play the 2015 debut “No Men In No Man’s Land.” (A confident betting man would have put money on that new fan favorite being part of the NYE festivities.) The structure of the song quickly dissolved into what could be described as sounding like a “fourth” or “secret set” — ambient, without specific structure, setting a mood rather than taking us on a journey. And while that was happening, the shape slowly began to lower itself from the ceiling while images were projected against the translucent fabric. After reaching a certain point, another section of fabric dropped from the shape and covered the band, forming an hourglass shape. The projections then began to feature an hourglass with sand marking the passage of time, with various items passing across the surface — flying wings, wolves, blocks. It was reminiscent of Terry Gilliam’s animations.

At some point with only a few minutes before Midnight, the band made a stealthy escape from below the hourglass and situated themselves on the darkened stage — they appear to have pre-recorded a piece of music to play over the PA leading into the countdown (“Thirty, “Twenty,” “Ten . . . “ booming over the speakers), as it did not appear they were performing until the balloons dropped and “Auld Lang Syne” began. A second fan favorite from 2015, the aptly titled “Blaze On” brought us all into 2016. Another highlight of the evening, as the jam freed itself into Type II territory after seven minutes, reaching a gorgeous, buttery peak. Happy New Year indeed!

The “Carini” that followed featured a short, patient section of improv in contrast to the songs darker, chaotic melody. And that section dissolved into a “David Bowie” that once again featured quite a bit of Mike, through a quiet section through a great peak before returning to “Bowie” proper.

Photo © @languagestrange

The obligatory New Year’s “The Horse” into “Silent In the Morning” (played at seven New Year’s Eve shows; “I think that this exact thing happened to me, just last year”) was a nice cool down from the earlier spectacle. The set closing “Backwards Down the Number Line” was almost as obligatory as the preceding “Silent,” with allusions to the past and birthdays, “somewhere between the past and future.”

A pairing of “Tube” and “Cavern” was offered as a feel-good encore. Even short “Tubes” work.

Last evening, twenty-six songs were played over the course of four hours. The longest song was “No Men in No Man’s Land,” clocking in at 21:32 (based on the Live Phish tracking). With the exception of “Happy Birthday” and “Auld Lang Syne,” the song with the longest gap was “Kill Devil Falls,” at 16 shows (8/5/15). One could go on and on. But despite this fascination with numbers, what really keeps fans coming back, year after year, every 365 days, is the joy of the old (rather, those melodies and lyrics we know and enjoy) and the celebration of the new (exploration, improvisation, and the unknown). And last night’s New Year’s celebration delivered on both accounts, in spades. And we are just halfway through. (Two out of four shows, for those who like numbers.)

(For the “tl; dr” crowd: Listen to the “KDF,” “Twist,” “NMINML,” and “Blaze On”)

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