Phish Returns To Madison Square Garden For 4 Night NYE Run

He's coming to your town, he'll help you party down. — Katie Sokoler/Gothamist

John Del Signore

Published Oct 2, 2012

Modified Oct 2, 2012

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In October 2011, the Gothamist Website published an entry titled "Phish Returns To Madison Square Garden For 4 Night NYE Run." The world rejoiced, and that post, written by the same author as this post, generated 48 Facebook likes, four retweets, and five comments, including one reading, "I hope people do realize not all Phish fans are druged [sic] up Nitrous wooks." (Yes, not ALL—Please make a note of it.) Now it's been announced that, as expected, Phish is once again returning to the Garden for four straight nights, culminating with a three set extravaganza on New Year's Eve. Rush hour commuters who use Penn Station: You've been warned.

Phish has played the Garden a sum total of 23 times during the course of their 29 year career. The big difference this year is that for the first time the floor will be General Admission, which should contribute to a somewhat looser vibe. Because you know how button-down Phish fans can be—during the holiday run in 1997 we witnessed a fan doing bong rips from a 12-inch water pipe smuggled into the Garden. DURING THE SET BREAK. Not that you need drugs to enjoy Phish show! (Just to enhance it.)

In announcing last year's New Year's run, Gothamist wrote:

There are two kinds of people reading this story: Those who now know EXACTLY where they want to be on New Year's Eve and those who know EXACTLY where to avoid. Phish, the unclassifiable quartet that even hipsters are learning to love, is taking over Madison Square Garden for one of their classic multi-night stands. For four days at the end of December, you can expect the area surrounding Penn Station to be patch pants pandemonium, with desperate ticketless fans crawling through sewers to sneak into the Garden. But if you've ever wanted to buy a balloon filled with nitrous oxide from a pit bull-owning Trustafarian, mark you calendars for December 28th-31st!

Here are Katie Sokoler's colorful photos from one of the shows last year, and below you'll find video of their very far-out New Year's eve "prank" at midnight: