Album Review: Phish - New Year's Eve 1993, Live At Worcester Centrum

Phish

New Year's Eve 1993, Live At Worcester Centrum

**** out of *****

Back in the pre internet tape trading days, Phish's New Year's Eve show from 1993 at the Centrum in Worcester, MA was one of the pinnacles in a collection. It was a radio broadcast, SBD quality that found the band playing their biggest show to date and really nailing it. Now the band officially releases the complete concert for all to enjoy, title New Year's Eve 1993, Live At Worcester Centrum.

This concert was a clear turning point for the band, leaving their smaller college scene behind and moving up into the bigger time. The band had just finished recording Hoist, and would go onto record A Live One the following summer, pushing them through to a wider audience. 12/31/93 was the stepping-stone to all of that as the sold-out crowd of 14,800 celebrated with the band who were wrapping up their first ten years and beginning their next phase.

Starting off with a rip roaring "Llama" Phish kicks down the door before guitarist Trey Anastasio asks, "Is everybody in yet?" during "Guelah Papyrus". An angular "Stash" with excellent piano from Page McConnell, a tight "Reba" with fantastic drumming from Jon Fishman and a pumping, Tom Marshall accented, "Run Like An Antelope" with strong bass from Mike Gordon, are all top notch. The first set highlight just might be a perfectly played "Peaches En Regalia" for Frank Zappa who passed away earlier that month, as the song was teased multiple times throughout this holiday run. 

The group are clearly excited as Anastasio yelps while ending set one. The energetic craziness continues in set two as very well played "Tweezer" starts things in off-kilter funky fashion before crash landing on "Halley's Comet", which then segues perfectly into the country burning "Poor Heart".  "It's Ice" dips back into "Peaches En Regalia" again, as does "Possum" which is incredibly varied with exciting loud/soft jamming. "Fee" is a crowd pleaser as Anastasio sings through a megaphone while set closer "You Enjoy Myself" has some cool jamming between Page and Trey. The group ends the set with a vocal jam and their first large scale NYE gag as they 'dive' into the aquarium which was on stage. 

The over twenty minutes of repetitive "Phish Aquarium" background music is completely unnecessary, especially without the scuba diving visuals that make the gag, the only sour note on this release. The band returns for set three, playing "Auld Lang Syne" that leads into the debut of one of Anastasio's most iconic riffs ever, "Down With Disease Jam". The full song would not be played until April of '94, but this riff just scorches the ears with excitement and gives a preview of a future jam warhorse. 

That leads Trey into full-on machine-gun mode as he rips through a blazing version of "Split Open and Melt" that is ferocious as the six strings sing with intensity. The down shift to the more mellow "Lizards" is a bit odd, but the tune is well played while the lunacy of "Sparkle", "Suzy Greenberg", and "Crackling Rosie" prove Phish are always down for zaniness. 

A diverse version of "Harry Hood" finds Anastasio delivering both crunchy and delicate tone, as the band moves around his lead playing. He also manages to bring in an "Auld Lang Syne" riff to keep the celebration going before the song wraps up with an energetic climax before "Tweezer Reprise" closes the set. An encore of the quirky "Golgi Apparatus" and the spiritual "Amazing Grace" end the night on a historic New Years Eve show for the Vermont Quartet that still stands up and out all these years later. 

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