There have been some great New Years Eve runs in Phish's history. Most would argue the best and most memorable run was Big Cypress. There are many aspects to this run that make it special, such as the all night set that saw some of the most creative playing from the fouresome up till that point in their career. But one such attribute that came to mind while watching the live Youtube footage of the first set from day one was just how awesome they sounded out of the gate.
Often the first night of a new years run is not given much credit among fans as producing great shows. Some might suggest that the typical break between their fall tour and the NYE run is a contibutor to this lack of momentum that seems to be prevelant in NYE opening shows. A warm up of sorts. A theory that got even stronger during the 2011 run where they took the entire fall off. Some even calling it one of the worst NYE runs ever. But that being said, there are plenty of highlights to pull from opening nights in years past, however, none come out firing quite like Big Cyrpess.
Water in the Sky opens and when they sing the line "filter out the everglades" it elicits the crowd to cheer, which still to this date gets the same cheers even if it's played in upstate New York and not down in the middle of the actual everglades. The clear standout in this opening sequence is Light Up Or Leave Me Alone. A 1,000+ show bustout but that's not what makes it the standout. What makes it the standout is the energy and excitement that is clearly flowing through their veins during this version. They hadn't played it live for over 1,000 shows yet they could have been playing it in heavy rotation for the past two years the way they jammed it out that day.
Stream Traffic playing Light Up live
Suzy kept the energy up but when they dropped into the soulful Taj Mahal tune, Corinna, yet another cover they had shelved since the late 80s making it two 1,000+ show bust outs in one sequence, everyone knew right then and there we were in for a real treat. And like Light Up, they played Corinna to perfection.
The Limb that closes out this opening sequence before they would go on to invite the big chief out to the stage has a really cool jam punctuated by staccato style riffs from Trey. At the end of Limb as Fish hits those repeated lines "limb by limb by limb by..." and they do a quick pause before ending the song you can hear Fish give a little gasp of air, signaling that all this energy even has him ready for a break in action.
And that, my friends, is how you should start a new years run.
The other NYE first night opening sequences that are also memorable in their own right are highlighted below.
12/28/93 - Bender Arena, American University
Peaches > Poor Heart > Split
The Peaches opener was played in light of the recent passing of Frank Zappa, who had a big influence on the band. There were a lot of calls for this one because of this tragic event and everyone loves it when the fan base calls a bustout and the band agrees (See Back in the USSR from this past fall tour). It was over 500 shows since they had played Peaches so definitely set the tone for the NYE run. Plus you have the introduction of the acquarium backdrop that was hung up througout this new years run.
12/28/96 - Spectrum, Philadelphia
Runaway, NICU, Wolfmans, It's Ice
This is a selfish selectoin. It was my first show. What a great first four songs to hear for ones first show. But otherwise, nothing epic and probably not really in the running.
Axilla > Stash, Farmhouse, Taste, Sleep, Albuquerque, Driver
This has to be considered for the acoustic set that started with Sleep and ended with Driver. A ferocious Stash in the two slot is sure to get anyone's blood boiling and an excellent version of Taste with Trey on fire during his solo round out this opening sequence.
Piper
It was the first show since October of 2000 marking the end of their first hiatus. The energy of the crowd is primarily what puts this into the list of memorable NYE openers. The Piper is fantastic but goes down hill from there.