NEW YORK — Working with production manager Hadden Hippsley, scenic designer David Gallo once again collaborated on the end-of-year gags for the jam band, Phish. LDs Chris Kuroda and Mike Baldassari handled the show visuals for the four shows that culminated in a countdown, huge balloon and confetti drop, and New Year’s celebration.
Along with a cake shaped like a Fender Rhodes electric piano, the show featured Phish’s disabled tour truck from the 1980s, nicknamed JEMP. The band’s drummer, Jon Fishman, was portrayed in a video road trip from Burlington, VT to New York City, where he dozes off while approaching a low-clearance bridge. It shears the truck and spills a trail of gear before making its way into Madison Square Garden.
A re-created (and suitably shredded) JEMP, replete with vintage gear including a hockey stick mic, milk crate keyboard seat and old Languedocs, then got pushed to the center of the arena floor. The four band members entered through the dilapidated truck’s cab and, from the lifted truck bed, performed songs from the early days throughout the show’s second set.
The third set resumed on the arena stage and segued from “Character Zero” to the NYE countdown, followed by “Auld Lang Syne” and “Fuego.” The celebration continued with more jamming and a video montage taking the audience from the band’s early days through the present and on toward 2043, with images of Phish celebrating its 60th anniversary.
Assisting with the theatrics were Jersey Carts, which provided JEMP’s custom build; Future Affairs for the confetti and balloon drop; and Tait, which scenically destroyed the top of the truck and placed two scissor lifts on a custom rolling base to raise the performance area. The transformed truck was dismantled and rebuilt into three sections in Tait’s Lititz, PA-based shop for transport and quick re-assembly in the MSG arena.
LDs Kuroda and Baldassari worked with a supplementary lighting package from 4Wall and Upstaging that included 28 Vari*Lite VL3000 washes (with four spares), 12 Martin MAC Auras, a dozen 12” iWhite Blasts from Color Kinetics and two grandMA2 consoles for control.
