Phish kicked off their annual New Years Run at Madison Square Garden, the band’s 16th overall at the ‘World’s Most Famous Venue’ and a feather in the cap of a band who have had a remarkable 2024.
With shows at Sphere in Las Vegas and a stellar summer tour culminating at Mondegreen festival in Delaware (plus 4-night Mexico and Dicks runs) the foursome from Vermont have much to live up to at MSG, where the most recent performance by the band last New Year’s Eve featured a two-set stage production of the band’s Gamehendge rock opera, the holiest of Phish grails.
So while the bar is set high – let’s face it, Phish fans eternally set the bar high for the band – and the band doesn’t always reach that bar. It would be impossible to do so, but they gave it the ol’ college try on Saturday, December 28.
The show opening “Simple” would end up being the longest jam of the night, clocking in at 13 minutes, and when that’s the case, there’s a lack of flow that follows. “Free” followed and had some meat to it, but gave way to a sedate “Farmhouse”. Throw in “Poor Heart” and “Tube” plus a rare “Driver,” and the crowd was content to fall into a well placed first set “Reba,” with a beauty of a bliss jam within. A late first set “Oblivion” thankfully did not jam out for a change, and instead gave way to “Antelope” to close, as it so often has at the Garden.
Set two looked to get things started with “Back on the Train,” and while things were headed in the right direction, “Axilla (Part 2)” limped out of the gate, with Anastasio being a bit ahead of the band. The song struggled until the outro, which worked its way nicely into “A Wave of Hope,” a jam to enjoyably get lost in. “Round Room” – which let’s be honest, needed a little more practice – was performed for only the seventh time ever, and first since 2016, yet an apropos song for Madison Square Garden.
Just as the excitement over “Round Room” died down, “I Always Wanted it This Way” (aka, Page EDM) took over mid-set, and after that, the rest of the set played out with a standard “Twist,” a pleasant “Mango Song”, “Blaze On”, “Cavern” and to close things out, “David Bowie.”
For the encore, “Mountains in the Mist” to start meant a multiple song encore was in the works, but the bar was set high when you’ve seen “Mountains” at Sphere. “Fuck Your Face” followed and random, but possibly influenced by a recent tech CEO tweet. “46 Days” to close was on par with much of the show – fun and energetic, but nothing incredible to write home about.
Phish fans have three more nights left in 2024, including the 25th anniversary of Big Cypress to celebrate. What does Phish have in store to close out 2024? Stay tuned!
Setlist via Phish.net
Set 1: Simple, Free, Farmhouse, Poor Heart, Tube, Kill Devil Falls, Driver, Reba[1], Oblivion > Run Like an Antelope
Set 2: Back on the Train, Axilla (Part II) > A Wave of Hope > Round Room, I Always Wanted It This Way > Twist > The Mango Song > Blaze On > Cavern > David Bowie
Encore: Mountains in the Mist, Fuck Your Face > 46 Days
[1] No whistling.
Reba did not contain the whistling ending.
Round Room was played for the first time since June 22, 2016 (322 shows)
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