Celebrating the new year at the end of 2000 got me thinking about how I spent the end of the year back when the year started with a 19 and not a 20, back when we were living in the 90’s.

The Big Hoop-la
This was it. The so-called end of the millennium. Even though there were many people who would argue that the end of the millennium would not take place for another year, people paid no heed whatsoever, and were more attentive to their televisions and other advertisement transmitters. The big question on my mind, of course, was what to do for New Year’s.

Follow Tradition? Sure!
Since 1995 and with only the exception of 1996 and this year, I have spent every New Year’s with a little Vermont quartet known as Phish. Through the year, speculations were made as to where Phish would have their big 1999-2000 New Year’s shows. I had seen all of my New Years shows at Madison Square Garden, but it seemed that this was already booked by another musical artist. Also, in recent years, fans had been experiencing difficulty in getting tickets. In an announcement, spokespeople for Phish had announced that Phish wanted to have a sort of show where everyone that would want to come would be admitted. As the months went by, possibilities started to sprout up. First, there were talks of a show in Hawaii. That didn’t work out. One area in Florida was chosen, but the town voted against it.

The Location Is Chosen
Finally, it was settled. Phish would be playing a multi-day festival at the Big Cypress Seminole reservation in the south of Florida. When this had been decided upon, and an announcement was made for tickets-by-mail, I was in Israel and thus could not participate in the program. I would have to get my ticket through TicketMaster, which wasn’t a problem for this show as there wasn’t really a specific ticket limit set for the show. Who knew how many would go?
Continue reading → New Year’s Eve 1999 Revisited