Happy Phishmas Eve! It’s the day before the next Phish run begins, the band’s annual jaunt to Madison Square Garden for their 2022-23 New Year’s Eve run, and emotions are running high for phans across the country.
I assumed I’d be finishing this post up from the airplane but alas I’m still stuck at home waiting for that re-booked redeye flight to start boarding later this evening. I may be one of the lucky ones as I wasn’t booked on Southwest, who’s currently exacerbating an entire country-wide travel meltdown after their scheduling system went belly-up the day after Christmas. If you’re one of the unlucky fans who hasn’t gotten yourself a flight to New York, I’m sorry for your stressing and hopefully you’ve still got a chance to make it in time.
While the weather forecast seems to be looking good with temperatures in the 40’s with minimal precipitation coming, things are still shaping up to be a nice visit to New York City assuming I can actually get there. I. CAN’T. WAIT. (BUT. LIKE I SAID. I’M. STILL. WAITING*).
* – “Crosseyed & Painless” opener, anyone?!
While we all keep waiting, let’s take a peek into my bucket full of thoughts about the upcoming run and seeing Phish on New Year’s Eve in general. First, let’s get a few obvious predictions out of the way: :::cracks knuckles:::
1. They will probably debut AT LEAST one new song. 🆕
If you’ve been paying attention to Trey’s usual output compared to what we’ve seen from him in the past few months, a betting man is throwing money down hard on the fact that Trey has new music in the hopper. No new music appearing during the Taboose tour means he’s still got some new music he’s working out, and only time will tell if he’s had a chance to teach the rest of the band yet.
You’ll remember that Between Me and My Mind is almost entirely built around Trey bringing around a new song, “Soul Planet,” which became the gag in 2017 and was the song’s debut. I could easily see that happening again.
2. The nitrous mafia scene will be ridiculous. 🎈
Honestly, this whole side of the scene can just off itself and never be seen again and I’d be happy. The scene in Denver during the Dick’s run was downright embarrassing.
Someone snuck a tank onto the floor last night during the rain storm. Only proof I have is this chaotic photo my dad sent me 😂#phish #phishdicks #nitrousmafia pic.twitter.com/V4SaKJrJEY
— water-y frog (@dersdividedsky) September 3, 2022
Sure, I know it’s a fun thing to consider doing now and again but it still brings a bad look to all of us. And seeing it spill over into the streets and onto 7th Ave. last time I was there was just a consistent head-shaker from me; it’s just not how I want to see our scene invade New York City, but to each their own I guess.
If you’re going to partake, just remember to clean up your damn balloons so we don’t have New York Post articles highlighting the trash the morning after.
3. Fishman will (hopefully) have some new samples. 🐮
I’m wondering if all those new animal noises we saw get debuted this year would be any clue for a part of the gag that the band has been working on. The art for the NYE run seems to feature a white rabbit so perhaps there’s something there. That said, the band already did their Animals set in Las Vegas during the 2021 run so I wouldn’t guess we’re getting another pass at an animal-theme soirée.
Fishman's new moooooooooo sample 🐮🐄 #phish pic.twitter.com/nCNxpXjCKz
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) July 17, 2022
Every single time Fishman uses the sample pad, think of me. I am happy when this happens, and I laugh every time. I’m done chasing “Party Time,” which is one of Fishman’s finest contributions to the band. His sample pad will likely go down as his greatest.
4. Mike will be dressed fabulously. 🕺
Don’t let us down, Mike. You haven’t stolen the Phish blog headlines in a while. We need something to tweet hard about and it may as well be some new form of garment that you haven’t wowed us with yet.
Perhaps a suspenders theme this time around? Have you ever just come out in a neat tuck, suspenders and some pants floating slightly above the ankle? I think it would absolutely slay.
I can see it now… Mike on Night #1 in flashy suspenders. Suddenly by Night #3 every w00k is sporting a pair and the lot vendors have already spun up their own creative designs on the classic pant utility. This could be fun. (I’ll pack a pair just in case.)
5. The Sec. 119 chicken sandwiches will still be dank. 🌶
I remember these being spicy as hell during the April 2022 run, so I’ll be grabbing myself a Big Gay Ice Cream to wash it down this time and neutralize the spice. 🌶🌶🌶
Don’t forget that food is half-off if you get into the venue early, which is a fun way to save some dough and pick an easy spot to meet your friends around the concourse pre-show. I personally love the energy in a Phish venue even as the show is still hours away and the lights are still fully on (maybe that’s just me).
SOOOOOOON! #YEMSG #phish pic.twitter.com/jEhKs0mJLw
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) December 25, 2022
Now that the obvious predictions are out of the way, here are some less obvious ones:
6(9). Number “69” could be part of the gag. Nice. 6️⃣9️⃣
Nobody was as excited about Phish breaking out Jimi Hendrix‘s “If 6 Was 9” during the Las Vegas 2021 run during the Numbers show than I was, and suddenly it seems plausible that we may see it again. Wednesday, December 28th will be the band’s 69th appearance at Madison Square Garden – yes, it is nice – and Scotty at YEMblog brought out this number as something that the band could play off when the run begins:
Friday Conversation: What should #phish do on Wednesday to celebrate their 69th show @TheGarden? #yembconvo (via @youenjoyme)
— YEMblog (@YEMblog) December 23, 2022
Lots of “Nice” jokes in the replies but also some fun ideas playing to the yin and yang of 6 and 9 that could be interesting to see. The Palindrome set idea would be super cool to see, but I’d guess the likelihood that we see a theme on the first night is long-shot at best.
7. The gag could be a whole set. 🎉
They’ve done this a few times now for New Year’s Eve (JEMP Truck, Underwater 2022), but they’ve also done plenty of New Year’s Eve gags as a 1-2 or 1-2-3 punch of songs strung together. So this isn’t an obvious lock but it’s something with a decent likelihood just the same. After the Earth Day/Under The Sea 2022 gag went a whole set length, and after their shows during the Vegas 2021 run, it’s clear the band is still thinking in creative arcs that spread out over an entire set (or show’s worth) of music and not just when the clock hits midnight.
This is bananas pic.twitter.com/jLDfHd8JGc
— Highway Jill 🌼🌵 (@lawngurl) April 23, 2022
Let’s just not go with another platform gag this year, please.
8. The gag could be the whole weekend. ♾️
Specifically coming out of the Vegas 2021 run, I knew the band had the ideas in them to take an entire four-night run and turn it into an entire theme. While they didn’t specifically deliver four out of four in a proper theme or arc (3 out of 4 was pretty close, though), their gags and the narrations and memes around an event have the ability to build on themselves within the weekend. Plus, we tease it out below but the band is rumored to be talking about bringing back the Baker’s Dozen run idea, which featured 13 shows under a common theme of donuts. So it’s never beneath them now to bundle a few shows together into one large concept.
We’ll know the answer on this one pretty soon into the show on December 28th, so feel free to come shame me on Twitter if this prediction turns out to be wildly off-the-mark.
Let’s look beyond the run and what fans will start chattering about come January 1st, 2023…
9. We’re due for some BIG news, perhaps a festival in 2023. ⛺️
I’m suspecting we may be hearing about a festival being planned for next summer pretty soon here. The credible rumors going around have the band on the West Coast in the early part of the summer, which logically brings them back East as the summer winds down. Plus, with lots of buzzing around the potential of a Baker’s Dozen 2: Electric Boogaloo type celebration next summer at The Garden, I suspect they’ll be planning on limited dates with high impact. They also may be planning for the fact that limited dates makes tickets more competitive to get a hold of, so ending the summer with a big blow-out festival would be a good way to make sure fans still have a chance to see the band in a fun setting. The counterpoint here is that hearing rumors of Baker’s Dozen Part Deux could mean that a festival is not possible.
Could the band do both? Easily.
Would they? YES! (in a very loud wishfully thinking tone)
All we know at the moment is that the band is making time for solo projects following their Riviera Maya 2023 run, which I suspect we’ll see more announcements about before we get the official Summer 2023 plans in an announcement. And while the band has dropped news like this during previous runs before, it’s a far-off prediction that they announce something like this during the New Year’s Eve shows. But it could come after…
Finally…
10. I’m guessing a new album comes during 2023 as well. 🎤
The creative juices just have to be flowing for these guys after a few months back off the road. Of course Trey never really slows down at all and has been making himself busy with that whole tour with Goose and then the sit-in with Jack Antonoff the other night, so we know he hasn’t lost a moment of his chops in the off-season. Now that Jack Antonoff’s number is on Trey’s cell, perhaps we see some more collaborations from these two in the future. (For the record, I love the work that Vance Powell has done with them so far and hope to see that continue as well).
Would they announce something like during this run? Not a chance. But if we see new songs debut, which is anyone’s obvious prediction knowing Trey, it’s logically we see other tunes come paired with that and get bundled into an album in the near future. Their last LP, Sigma Oasis, was released already a few years ago now. They’re due.
As for the run itself, we’ll see which person in the band needs the most warm-up on 12/28 but my hope is that the band puts in a little time today as a production test and gets themselves comfortable with their instruments again. As always…
I’m calling “Party Time” 🥳🥳🥳
— LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) December 27, 2022
See you at The Garden!
