Saturday, April 23rd marked the fourth and final night of the rescheduled New Year’s Eve run for Phish at their unofficial East Coast headquarters, Madison Square Garden. The band left nothing to chance and delighted fans with one last show before Summer Tour commences in a few months.
The first set had a decidedly old school flavor to it, with a dash of music from the future thanks to a new Sci-Fi Soldier wrinkle that was brought into play. A classic “Fluffhead” opener went off without a hitch and was greeted loudly by the Garden crowd. Next, Phish brought out another signature tune in “Mike’s Song” and delivered a proper “Mike’s Groove” with the mesmerizing “I Am Hydrogen” placed in the middle.
In keeping with the old school flavor, “Simple” came out next, no doubt spurred on by the new mayor of New York CIty’s Twitter usage. As the “Simple” jam stretched out and started to become anything but that, vocals emerged from the band and a distinct “Egg In A Hole” jam developed, the first time it’s been played since the Vegas Halloween run of last year where it was first spawned. A late set “Divided Sky” was perfectly placed before the set closed out in raucous fashion with the arena rocker that is “First Tube.”
Phish’s last set of the run began with a scintillating “No Men’s In No Man’s Land” that spawned a sprawling jam. The set also featured a memorable “Piper” that once again seemed perfectly dropped into place and contained a discernable “Dave’s Energy Guide” jam or tease, depending on who you talk to. Page McConnell and Trey Anastasio each also got to feature some of their personal material as well thanks to the pulsating “I Always Wanted It This Way” and the introspective “Lonely Trip.” An unexpected encore pairing of “Wilson” > “David Bowie” brought one last taste of magic to the Garden before a euphoric “More” officially closed out the run.
Setlist via Phish.net
Set 1: Fluffhead, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Simple -> Egg in a Hole Jam -> Simple, Divided Sky, First Tube
Set 2: No Men In No Man’s Land -> Prince Caspian > Piper > Gotta Jibboo, I Always Wanted It This Way > Lonely Trip, Walls of the Cave
Encore: Wilson > David Bowie, More
This was the the rescheduled date for the show that had been postponed due to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 surge in New York City in December of 2021. Trey teased San-Ho-Zay in No Men in No Man’s Land, Dave’s Energy Guide in Piper, and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed in David Bowie.
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