Date: Mon, 25 Sep 1995 23:35:14 -0400 (EDT) From: yancy davisSubject: 12/30/94 Phish's first show at Madison Square Garden, sold out in four hours, was a definite sign of the ever-growing crowd of phans. The ushers seemed a little harsh at times, but they left me alone, and it was New York after all. Wilson started things off with Trey motioning wildly with his hands to get the audience going (and succeeding). The pace set, the band wasted no time, flowing right into a quick Rift (aren't they all) from Wilson. AC/DC came next and could've been a little longer, though the power was all there. I wasn't expecting another Simple, yet, since they just played one the 28th, but then again they encored with it the following night in Boston, so what do I know? Stash was one of the highlights of first set for me, but I rarely find fault with it. There's just a lot of room to jam with it and they used the room very well this night. Fee. After Fee came an incredible Scent of a Mule. I just didn't expect this much from the song, but Page was HOT. The rhythm got a kind of Russian beat after that and Mike and Trey danced the Russian kick dance (?) while jamming, the pace increasing and increasing 'til you could hardly keep up, until finally they flowed back into Mule. Cavern ended the set on an average note, but that was OK after that scent. Sample In a Jar kicked off the second set. It seems as if it could be a good jam, yet it never really does much for me, this night included, and Poor Heart was, well...Poor Heart. I was glad to get them over with early in the set. Poor Heart went right into Tweezer, and a fine Tweezer it was. Somewhere around 25 min, they managed to explore several different interesting themes, while never getting boring as they can do occasionally in long Tweezers. I don't think I once felt the urge to sit down, which is how I rate some of the longer tunes. I highly recommend it. An acoustic Blue and Lonesome came after a long applause, and they harmonized beautifully throughout it. Someone had told me that they'd played a YEM the night before at Providence(though they didn't), so I was completely surprised to hear those jazzy opening notes. It was a nice surprise, though, and Mike was getting pretty funky there towards the end. I think this one was also around 20-25 min. Trey and Fish switched places for a soft relaxing Purple Rain, with a short but sweet vac solo. The opening drum beats for Harry Hood slid in ride after HYHU and I jumped to my feet in joy. It had been a while since I'd felt good about the Hood, and I was more than ready to. The end section had so much energy I felt like my feet weren't even touching the ground. It was bliss! Tweezer reprise slid into place perfectly here, adding its energy to the leftover power from HH. A good set. Playing reprise already had me wondering what the encore would be, but Frankenstein was the furtherst thing from my mind. The song doesn't leave too much room for variation, but it's just such a great piece of rock that it doesn't matter. A phine ending to this show. Overall, the show seemed shorter than usual, though I didn't think about timing it. Yance Davis