The third night of the 1995 NYE run, and the precursor to the fabled 12/31 show, is a very respectable show on its own. As I've mentioned in my reviews of the first two nights in Worcester, this whole run is pretty strong and well worth listening to. And while this might be the weakest of the four, it's still way better than a lot of other shows.

The New York shows are really different than the Worcester ones from the run in that they tend to emphasize songs over jams (though 12/31 has more jams than this show). But the songs are really, really well played... rockin and energetic. I find it best to think of these song clusters as nuggets when analyzing this show. When I look at it as a 7 song first set and an 8 song second set it makes more sense. But even so, that's a lot of songs! Don't expect deep, contemplative jamming here. But if balls to the wall rock works for you, you may just be in love!

Highlights:

Set 1 - Caspian/2001/Suzy (energy abounds... welcome to the Garden!... this is really one 15 minute song), Bowie (a strong, hard rocking 1st set version), Simple (another steam roller version), Icy Kung (rippin Ice with a pause for Kung), Avenu (the wailing version surrounded by lilting TMWSIY bookends), Divided Sky (in your face, brah)

Set 2 - SOAM>Cavern>Antelope (thunderous!)

Nice show.