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.