We left the Wetlands at about 4 am on our way up to this show. I had a head full of L and was feeling quite grandiose at this point in my Phish career. We drove through Providence and it was the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen in my life at that point. The city with the sun rising in the background is something I will never ever forget. We met this guy at the club the night before and he let us stay in his house in exchange for a ride home. It was a hell of a night.

This show was fantastic. This may have been a short NYE but it was a fantastic night. I was never one to judge the music with a stopwatch however so what do i know... Boston for me was hallowed Phish grounds. I saw my first show here and I had some amazing life experiences in high school here. So I was really feeling the whole thing. When you are 20 years old NYE is really important and fun. To be seeing Phish on that night was pretty heady stuff.

The show was killer. NICU,Antelope,Glide and Peaches in the first set!? Are you fucking kidding me?? This set the tone for what was to come. Buffalo Bill was pretty new to me but I loved it. At this point I didn't really think they would ever play anything that I hadn't seen but Phish has a way of shattering preconceptions. The Hot Dog stunt was hilarious. Completely unexpected and totally Phishy. I still have my ping pong ball that said "Phish NYE 1994" somewhere. There's something about them playing Auld Lang Syne that just makes you misty eyed. I think I was surprised that they were playing it which made it even better.

After the show we were exhausted. Up and down the East Coast for three nights with nonstop raging takes it's toll on you! After this show all I thought was "SEE PHISH SEE PHISH SEE PHISH" And that's pretty much what I did for the next 2 years.

Hello, my name is NYE '94, and I'm a truncated show.

It's embarrassing looking at my 3-set peers and withering in comparison. I mean, as a whole I'm shorter than three hours, none of my sets top sixty minutes, and my second and third sets barely top fifty! I'm a New Years Eve show! What gives?

Sometimes I try to convince myself that it's the content that matters, but I just don't know. What's a unique Maze with a super patient Trey solo and a sweet Mike's -> Buffalo -> Mike's sandwich in the second set if that set is so short? If I'm being honest, I suppose my second set, despite it's brevity, is really quite stellar. However, I can't for the life of me start to feel good about my first or third sets, which are filled with perfectly fine renditions of some great songs, but are really nothing special.

I guess I'll just go sulk and oft be forgotten at NYE '96's place.

(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

"Phish always does something crazy New Year's Eve," my sister told me after she found out that I had scored tickets to Boston Garden. "Get ready for a party!" I was more than ready for my first New Year's show. I had seen the boys for the first time that summer at Great Woods, and the Divided that capped the Gamehendge set told me that I would be with this band for a long time to come. Now in my hometown, and just a few subway stops away, I was ready for a New Year's party.
"Party" is the best way to describe the beginning of this show. Plastic horns and New Year's noisemakers were quieted only when Paul began blasting the ultimate pump-up song, "Rock and Roll Part II" (the "HEY!" song) from the PA as the band took the stage. After jamming along for couple seconds Trey counted off a rip-roaring "Golgi" that whipped the crowd into a frenzy. My seats were awful at this show -  straight back, deep behind a low overhang. Despite the poor acoustics and annoying safety light in my eyes, I was swept up with the energy of this set. A Tom Marshall-sung "Antelope" soared, and "Glide" reminded us how happy we all were that we had arrived. For me, the centerpiece of this set was the "Divided Sky", although it was marred by an incessant fire alarm that went off several rows behind me. The ventilation in the old Garden wasn't the best, and needless to say, the room had gotten quite smoky by the time "Divided" came around. Nevertheless, Trey played it off with a smile as he jammed along to the fire alarm for a bit before busting back into a wonderful "Divided" finish. A rampaging "Funky Bitch" closed the set. When the lights went up, I couldn't believe the amount of gray haze hanging in the air. As always, I sat down to rest my dance-weary legs and did some people-watching. I was sitting with three friends, none of whom knew much about the band. Their bright eyes told me they were hooked. It's always great to see new fans in the making. The lights went down again and I jumped from my seat.
The second set contained the real meat of this show; three years later I still get chills about that "Maze". This was my first live "Maze", and needless to say, I was blown away. Even after dozens of shows and countless hours on tape, this still ranks as one of my favorite versions. "Bouncin'" pleased my friends, and though I hate to say it, this is probably one of the tightest versions ever. As sick as I am of this song, I always enjoy hearing this version on ALO. The end sounds like an old music box cranking away until Mike thumps the finish. "Mike's Song" blew the roof off the place, and I was completely swept up in the groove. An appropriate "Amazing Grace" ended the set.
Toward the end of the second set break, voices suddenly rose from the PA. Is that"...hey, that's Fish's voice, talking about how all this playing was making him hungry! He orders a hot dog, LARGE fries, and a LARGE Coke. This has us all scratching our heads until his order appears during the "My Sweet One" opener, and the song was aborted for "2001" as the food revealed itself. With growing amazement I suddenly realized that something"...something very big"...was rising from the stage next to Fishman. At the peak of "2001", the giant hot dog, fries, and Coke were unveiled. I couldn't believe it when they opened the hot dog and climbed in. Surely they're not going to -  yes, they began to rise, even as the New Year counted down. The boys busted into "Auld Lang Syne" (playing on portable instruments) as they sailed in their hot dog across the arena and back, throwing souvenir ping pong balls to the audience, dropping balloons -  truly one of the strangest sights I have ever witnessed. Anyway, they eventually glided back to the stage and played a great "Chalk Dust" and raging "Suzie". The "Slave" really moved me; I have since compared all subsequent "Slave"s to this one. Truly majestic. "Simple" was an odd choice for the encore (the third in the New Year's run), but it certainly left me smiling. Dazed and confused, we made for the exit.
The party was still going on outside after leaving the Garden, and the subway ride home took over an hour. No problem -  there was a great show to be discussed. Though often overshadowed by the 1995 New Year's "jamfest," the show at Boston Garden had an incredible party vibe the equal of which I did not feel until Phish returned to Boston bearing sixty thousand balloons two years later. In the meantime, I was happy as could be. The lights of the city were whisked away as the subway went underground, and visions of hot dogs danced in our heads.

Sure, it's a shorter NYE. I can only speculate how that would have made me feel as an attendant, but I think the quality of the music and the wondrous spectacle of the gag would have more than made up for any other shortcomings associated with this show. First set contains a great lineup of tunes, not the least of which is a blazing Divided Sky, capping off the tune's best year. Set 2 features a damn powerhouse Maze and an excellent Mike's Groove with Buffalo Bill / YSZ filling. The transitions are tight and the jamming excellently musical. Set 3 obviously boasts the band's most memorable and iconic NYE gag, but also closes out with some more great playing on CDT, Suzy, and especially Slave. Toss in a celebratory Simple->ALS encore and I'd say it's a pretty sweet way to wrap up Phish's best year yet. On to '95!

Surprised everyone's hung up on how "short" this is. It's 2:48 or so... that's not enough?

I'd MUCH prefer 2:48 of hotness over 3:20 that contains bathroom break stuff like Fish singing and Trey drumming. This show is plenty long and mercifully lacking on BS (save the hot dog stuff, which is pretty brutal from a "listening to the tape" standpoint).

It's also played really well. Antelope in the 3 hole is awesome and tightly executed (I guess some would complain it's not long enough), and then Divided Sky is on point as well.

The Maze intro is the very best I know of... over the top creepy and patient. Also patient pre-climax work in the jam.

The Suzy Greenberg has an atypical jam tacked onto the end of it.

I was "Front-Row-Hotdog" for this show... unaware until they pulled the tarp off. I figured it was a zamboni or something. To get to front-row-hotdog, we had sort of a Spinal Tap moment. All the signs to the various seating sections mentioned every number except ours. It took us a LONG time to even establish this fact. Once we did, we tracked down an usher who escorted us to the secret staircase to our seats in the bleachers, around the "20-yard line", in the front row. It must have been some kind of VIP section at the old Celtics Garden. We missed several songs to get there and the seats were a little too far to the side, but it was definitely worth it when the band walked RIGHT TOWARDS US and got in the hotdog. I still have a Phish NYE labeled ping-pong ball that Fish threw out on take-off.

As for the show, one could grumble that it was too short and not as good '93 and '95, but I'm very fine with that. I'll happily revisit that experience when I get the bugs worked out on my time machine. Don't overlook the Suzy-Slave finale. A SERIOUS rager into a grand Slave that could have gone on A Live One. Happy 30th birthday, NYE-94!

Coming back to add: Trey teases "Shine" by Collective Soul in Mike's Song. Surprised nobody's picked up on this at .net, especially considering the role that song would go on to play in the following year's NYE gag.

On the Relisten recording, it happens around 5:38 - 5:57 on the Mike's Song before Buffalo Bill.

Shortest NYE ever? Only about 2 hours and 45 minutes and a good 10 minutes of that, they aren't even playing. Hot Maze though.