Setlist at Worcester Centrum Worcester, MA on 12/31/1993
Set One
Set Two
Set Three
Encore
Stream this show and the entire Phish catalog
Setlist at Worcester Centrum Worcester, MA on 12/31/1993
Set One
Set Two
Set Three
Encore
Show Notes
PHISH: New Year’s Eve 1993 / Live at Worcester Centrum
By Kevin Shapiro
Phish's first show at Worcester Centrum, a 14,800-capacity hockey arena, was their fifth annual New Year’s Eve show. They played at the World Trade Center Exhibition Hall in Boston in 1989 and 1990, the Worcester New Aud in 1991, and Matthews Arena at Northeastern University in Boston in 1992. At nearly double the size of Matthews Arena, this was the band’s biggest headline gig, with the other three shows on the ’93 holiday tour ranging between 6,000 and 11,500 capacity. Phish added new sounds to their sonic palette that year and spent the fall recording their fifth studio album, ‘Hoist’, so they were armed with a fresh batch of sounds and material. Tickets cost $22.50 and the show was sold out. Mail-order Tapers’ tickets (the only mail-order tickets at this time) had been added for the 1993 holiday tour, formalizing the fan recording and sharing of live performances that had long been a part of Phish shows.
The stage set for the entire 4-show 1993 holiday tour was an aquarium, complete with seaweed, rocks, swimming fish and a giant clam built by Chris McGregor and J.W. Nickel of Rocket Science. The New Year’s Eve show was recorded multi-track on 2” reels in a GBH Mobile remote truck and was broadcast live (and rebroadcast the following day) on WBCN 104.1 FM Boston. Peaches en Regalia showed up throughout the holiday tour, and as a show-long theme song on New Year's Eve in memory of Frank Zappa, who had passed on December 4th.
Worcester set I highlights included a Llama opener and a hot Stash. Ginseng Sullivan was performed in an acoustic configuration with Trey on acoustic guitar, Mike on upright bass, Page on piano and Fish on Madonna washboard. A soaring Reba led to the tour’s third Peaches en Regalia – a Zappa cover that had disappeared from the repertoire until Frank’s passing. Run Like An Antelope saw Tom Marshall on guest vocals delivering the first line he ever wrote for a Phish song, "Rye Rye Rocco, Marco Esquandolas, Been you to have any spike, Mon?". Set II opened with Tweezer > Halley’s Comet and continued with It's Ice, which had an extended Peaches en Regalia tease. Fee began with another Peaches tease and transitioned into Possum, with more Peaches teases. At the end of You Enjoy Myself (after the vocal jam), the band donned wetsuits and announced a “little excursion” before launching a Phish Aquarium soundscape that spanned the setbreak in their first elaborate New Year’s Eve gag. Underwater sound effects and band dialog signaled the start of Set III, beginning with the band "diving" into the onstage aquarium and climbing into the giant clam, which snapped shut on them. As midnight approached, the clam rose off the stage and began to shake during the countdown to 1994 before erupting into a sea of confetti, light and sound at midnight.
The band reappeared playing Auld Lang Syne, leading to the first Down With Disease Jam during which Fish's old friend Peter Becker (who resembled Frank Zappa) paraded across the stage to usher in the New Year before a fiery Split Open And Melt. Suzy Greenberg contained more Peaches en Regalia teases and led to a Fishman Cracklin’ Rosie segment before a superlative Harry Hood with Auld Lang Syne teases, and finally Tweezer Reprise to close. As the band returned for an encore, Trey thanked the crowd for ten years of Phish and wished for ten more to come.
The ‘New Year’s Eve 1993' box set captures Phish at a crossroads of their career in their biggest New Year’s Eve show at the time. It was recorded by GBH Mobile to multitrack, mixed by Jon Altschiller, and mastered by Fred Kevorkian for CD/Digital and Chris Bellman for vinyl. This collection is the first time a live Phish show has been released on both digital and vinyl simultaneously and is an ideal way to relive the peak celebration of seeing Phish on New Year’s Eve.
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Recorded Live December 31, 1993 at The Centrum in Worcester, MA
Recorded to 2” 24-track reels by Steve Colby and Jane Pipik at GBH Mobile
Mixed by Jon Altschiller at ‘Chiller Sound with Additional Engineering by Danielle Warman
Mastered by Fred Kevorkian at Kevorkian Mastering
Post-Production by Kevin Shapiro
Technical Assistance by Ben Collette
Project Coordination by Beth Montuori Rowles
Art Direction by Julia Mordaunt + Jordan Kenneth Kamp
Design by Kampground Designs
Management by Coran Capshaw, Jason Colton, Patrick Jordan for Red Light Management.
Assisted by Mitzy Montoya
Phish Inc. is Beth Montuori Rowles, Kevin Shapiro, Julia Mordaunt, Chris Friday
Reviews
Will — 3/23/2026 5:50:46 PM
"I saw this as a kid. Still the best YEM jam"
Rampart — 3/19/2026 6:41:36 PM
"Second show after seeing WSP open for them at UMass im 1990… to say they got better from then is an understatement. Coked up Trey isnt ideal but this is before the drugs got out of hand. Think Exile on Main Street level ‘#posivesideofdrugs’ "
Chris A — 3/5/2026 7:11:10 AM
"This whole show is totally face melting!"
Biscorbit — 2/27/2026 6:34:23 AM
"This is an excellent show!"
fLUFhead — 2/23/2026 7:19:22 PM
"Amazing show and was my personal gateway to phandom. Set3 is a scorcher. The best hood. The first phish live taped show that I owned. It was an actual cassette tape. Amazing that now it has been released in its remastered glory. i was working as a pool aid in the summer time as a sophomore in high school and one of the college students that I worked with brought it home from college and let me dub it:). Many memories associated with it. Thanks for releasing this phish!"
Fliberty Jib — 2/22/2026 3:09:47 PM
"One of the all time best Hood jams. Raw and shredded. So friggin’ sweet. "
Beezdankle — 2/22/2026 9:49:08 AM
"I can remember listening to this reba riding my bike around campus in college w tears jn my eyes. Now its time for 12/30/93. One giant Mike's Groove and another one of my favorites. The McGrupps>Weekapaug......"
JT — 2/22/2026 5:38:55 AM
"That 90’s energy is something else."
Andy — 2/21/2026 4:03:50 PM
"if this hood doesn't move you... well, then somethings wrong"
Gschaff — 2/21/2026 11:35:32 AM
"My friend recorded this show on his DAT player. Some of the best tapes I ever owned"
Jack — 2/21/2026 11:21:35 AM
"This was our first New Year’s run of shows and it did NOT disappoint! Also our first show on New Year’s so doubly exciting! Crazy seeing Phish playing in such a large venue at the time, foreshadowing their eventual explosion ?? our previous Phish run was 8/11-14/93 and that was so ?? we HAD to do this New Year’s Run which was ??"
JT — 2/21/2026 11:09:28 AM
"90’s energy is something else"
Country Fried Cletus — 2/21/2026 10:09:23 AM
"I got into Phish in 95 via my older brother and I’ve heard the legends of this story and this Hood and oh my goodness is it good! Thank you Nugs for adding this show! Top Shelf Stuff here! "
Archie Raisins — 2/21/2026 3:34:10 AM
"This Harry Hood is arguably the greatest ever. It comes up many times over the years and most people are in agreement that the energy during that hood jam will lift you completely off the ground. It is truly an inspirational version."
Captain Melt — 2/20/2026 1:07:50 PM
"A+"
Tommy H — 2/20/2026 7:49:34 AM
"This is a top Tweezer ever for me"
Taboot — 2/20/2026 7:37:51 AM
"Crazy that this was the biggest show they had ever played, and now they’re too big to even play at the DCU Center. "
Ben_Bad — 2/20/2026 7:14:27 AM
"Yes! The Goat Hood has arrived on Nugs. This was the first Phish jam I fell in love with!"
Old dude — 2/20/2026 7:09:07 AM
"Wow, so cool to see this pop up. I did this whole NYE run. Needless to say, this is peak Phish. Have a listen!! "
colonel forbidden — 2/20/2026 6:19:39 AM
"ahhh. a bit of the old dev!ls tango"
Screaming Eagle — 2/20/2026 1:54:46 AM
"Best Reba ever!! "
