I don't understand why there are no reviews for this show. It was their first show at the garden and they absolutely DESTROYED the place that night. The Wilson was used on "A Live One" and is a fantastic opener to a great show. The Stash is one of my favorite versions ever, and the Tweezer is 20 something minutes of pure bliss. The YEM is something not to be missed either. If you haven't heard this show, get it now. The AUD from phishows is definitely worth getting.

So we left Providence and drove to my Dad's house in west Jersey. Slept until 3pm and then hung out with my Dad for a bit. He had seen Phish once before and I tried to get him to go to this show but he wouldn't go without a ticket...
So we drove to the show and Luke's started breaking down every time we slowed down. We hit a ton of traffic outside the LIncoln Tunnel and broke down every few minutes. We had to push start it every time! We made it through the toll and immediately broke down again. The tunnel people came and gave us a jump and we made it through the tunnel. We get out of the tunnel and park immediately. It wasn't until after the show that we realized we parked right next to the Port Authority! Not the nicest place in those years...
We were late so we ran to the Garden by following all the heads and made it in just as they were coming on. In those days they did not search you at all before going in so you could bring ANYTHING you wanted inside. MSG back then was the greatest scene in the NorthEast. Just total insanity in and outside the venue.
This night was special because the boys had played some big places but this was the big room! Who ever thought our little band from Vermont would sell out the Garden? Not me for sure. It all happened so quick but at the time I was very excited for them. I feel like the band had some jitters this night. It was a fun show but it didn't really have the impact of most of the other shows I had seen. Plus we 12/29 was one of the classic shows of all time and this was the next night. It would have been hard to top themselves. I do remember we were happy to get 3 of the heavy hitters in one set. YEM,Tweezer and Harry. That was what stood out to me the most.
Post show we met up with Luke's friend and got insanely lost trying to find the Wetlands Preserve. We finally made it and a great band was playing called moe. I was pretty faced and they sounded FANTASTIC. I remember being in the downstairs lounge and it was filled with people smoking cannabis. The bouncer came over to a guy next to me who was smoking a cigarette and said "put that out". Best club ever in NYC. I ended up working there for awhile 5 years later but that's a whole other story. After they threw us out we drove a few people up to Peabody Mass and they let us stay in their house before my first NYE show...

I don’t mean to complain, but this show continued a tradition for me where I missed a classic by one show. Within a one-year period: I was in New Haven on 12/29/93 just before the classic 30 and 31 shows, at Jones Beach the night before the 7/16/94 show at Sugarbush, and here in MSG the night after they killed Providence on 12/29/94. Now, this is only a retrospective analysis – at the time I did not know what I just missed – but it still feels as if I was cheated as 4 of these just misses are easily top 10 ever contenders on many a list. Of course, I was at Glens Falls on Halloween in this stretch, which happily blows the theory of conspiracy out of the water – you win some and you lost some. I guess it was just a great period to be seeing the band, where any given night could be a classic. Onto the show…

Wilson is always a nice way to get show going, but while this was the one they chose for A Live One, I didn’t hear anything special in the version. Simple was well-played and fun, but the band did not open things up until Stash which gets interesting about 6 minutes in where they play a NO2-type motif and the whole thing feels off-kilter for a while (in a good way) and is brought home with some good ‘ole hard-driving rock and roll.

For the second set – things get interesting with Tweezer. While solo-piano breaks are odd for the song – sounds more like the ending of Squirming Coil – I personally find it a cool and interesting version. This one for me is the undisputed highlight of the set and the show. The rest of the show was fine – not going to argue with a YEM and Hood AFTER a Tweezer – but not particularly notable.

First YEMSG show. Crazy to see how far the band has come and the legendary status a Phish show at MSG now holds. Like the '93 Great Woods show, this setlist feels a bit like a proof of concept at times as the band faces a new highwater mark in terms of venue grandeur. Set I in particular is pretty straightforward. Nice ALO Wilson opener, great AC/DC Bag with some nice playful moments of tame improv, and a well-played but relatively bland Stash. The Mule pushes the envelope a bit more, but otherwise Set I would be pretty digestible for the uninitiated attendee.

Second set sees significantly more comfort and improv. The Tweezer available on LB13 fits right in with the other greats from Fall '94 in terms of experimentation. Really love how much Page is allowed to take the driver's seat on this one. YEM acts as another high point for the show: a touch slower and funkier than others from this era, the jam is allowed to really build from the ground up and reaches a fantastic peak before a slick BnD section. Last callout is for the Hood. Not as exploratory as some of the others from fall tour, but certainly a spirited cap on the band's first appearance at the Garden.

On the whole, not sure this needs to be at the top of anyone's must-hear list, but Tweezer and YEM are awesome and the sentiment associated with the show make it a worthwhile listen for any dedicated phan.

Simply put, I don't think the majority of phisheads have heard this show. I've lucky enjoying it on minidisc for many 0 o um, many years and indeed, it's swimming!

Kimock7 aka Bouncin7

We did this run. We weren’t floored by this tour like in 93 and 95. Which began the whole concept of Phish rocking the odd numbered years for Holiday Tour. This wasn’t a rock solid theory since 2008 was good and in 3.0…. I don’t need to remind everyone how 2011 turned out. What sucked most about the 94 Holiday tour was the routing, not that 93 was better. The drive from Philly to Rhode Island was especially bad. Whoever routed this tour should be shot.

We drove in to Hoboken and took the path train from there. We were headed to my home town venue, MSG, where I had seen Michael Jordan play and many of my Grateful Dead shows. We expected Phish’s first show there to be a total throw down.

The music on this night was decent at best. The first set as whole was disappointing. The song choices weak. If I were to write a set list I wouldn’t want to hear it would be similar to this. Yes, they play Stash but I have never been in love with Stash. This version is ok but nowhere close to say 12/29/95. Otherwise the whole set was one long piss break (Rift Sparkle Simple w no jam Scent Fee Cavern could it be worse?!). When set’s turn out like this, my crew would get rowdy and start boozing it up.

Then they had the nerve to come out second set and play Sample, Poor Heart. Wow, bad start. Especially for their first MSG show?! Finally they play tweezer. By this time we are so drunk it was like whatever. But we were glad to hear Tweezer. Fishman keeps the song together with his steady-Eddie power rock beat. Trey tries to get fancy and chokes. Page has to pick up his slack. Which was comical at the time. Whose band is this anyway? We all know, it’s Trey’s band and he is nowhere to be found for this Tweezer. Maybe he was too drunk too? After a few minutes of Trey not playing, Fishman takes over keeping the usual fast Phish pace. Trey tries to squeak in a few licks but doesn’t accomplish much. Eventually after Trey does nothing for some time, Fish gives up and lets Page play. This goes on for what felt like forever. This was not the Tweezer we had come to know. Then they play a sleepy bluegrass tune. More Heineken please. Finally they play YEM. The composed section is good. Mike and Fish are tight. Page solo is good too. Trey solo is mediocre. Fishman really carries his ass. Finally Trey hits a (one) high note and then Gordo takes it- Harry Hood was by far the highlight of the show. I guess Trey’s buzz became more manageable after sometime on the stage. Thank Goodness for Fishman this night who really stepped up. Trey finally hits some pretty high notes and ‘feels good’ about it. Adding insult to injury they Frankenstein the encore. OUCH. We storm out!

On the PATH train home the most memorable part of the night happened. At some point around 23rd street I realized since the show sucked, I drank too much. Train was packed with hippies and stunk. I was going to vomit. So I told my crew and we got off. I threw up all over the landing on Christopher Street. We got on the next train. My boy was holding me up as we walked towards the car in Hoboken. That’s when I found 2 crisp 100 dollar bills on the ground. Needless to say I felt better about the night. We got in the car and prepared for Boston.