Phish began their seven-night run at Madison Square Garden (MSG) on Friday, July 28, a well-anticipated run in the middle of their Summer Tour, which was recently extended to include two benefit shows at SPAC in late August.
Kicking off Night 1 with the re-emergence of “Evening Song,” which hadn’t been played live in more than a year, Phish shifted into an extended and spaced out “Wave Of Hope,” two common themes through each set of music so far. Friday’s first set also featured a funked out “Cities,” an all-too-fitting “Old Home Place” for the band’s 73rd performance at Madison Square Garden, and an explosive “My Soul” to cap things off.
Friday’s second set began with “More” and the band took this to heart and applied it to the massive “Ruby Waves” that followed, one of the new truer jam vehicles of this era. Seamless segues into a riveting “Plasma” and “Simple” also highlighted the set before a super dark, scary and all around amazing “Split Open and Melt” served as a momentous set closer.
Phish – Friday, July 28th, 2023 – Madison Square Garden (MSG), New York, NY
Set 1: Evening Song > A Wave of Hope, Cities, The Old Home Place > Free, Brian and Robert, Stash, My Soul
Set 2: More > Ruby Waves-> Plasma > Simple > Mountains in the Mist, Split Open and Melt
Encore: Good Times, Bad Times
Saturday evening’s show picked up right where Friday’s left off in terms of energy and musical cohesiveness beginning with the show-starting “Get Back On The Train.” Phish again delivered a massive blow in the two-spot with an early but effective “Down With Disease.” More familiar first set tunes like ”Sugar Shack” and “Horn” also made appearances. And the band continues to mix in newer material in their sets with songs like Anastasio’s quarantine tune “Evolve,” a song quickly growing in popularity. A classic take on “Foam” followed by a rousing cover of David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream” ended the first set in fine fashion.
Phish continued to kick out the jams in the second set, courtesy of a super extended and exploratory “Fuego” that clocked in at close to thirty minutes in all. This was followed by another one of the new songs that is quickly making a name for itself, “Oblivion.” The set was punctuated by an absolutely raucous “2001” that had all of Madison Square Garden in a collective uproar. Things lightened up a bit afterwards with the first “Cracklin’ Rosie” cover in eleven years. There was still room for one more rocker though and “First Tube” in its typical encore slot more than served that purpose, with the Garden loudly showing its collective appreciation once more.
Phish – Saturday, July 29th, 2023 – Madison Square Garden (MSG), New York, NY
Set 1: Back On The Train > Down With Disease, The Dogs, Bug, Sugar Shack, Evolve, Horn > Foam, Moonage Daydream
Set 2: The Wedge, Fuego > Oblivion > Wingsuit > Also Sprach Zarathustra,->Hold Your Head Up > Cracklin’ Rosie > Hold Your Head Up, Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S
Encore: Farmhouse, First Tube
The “can’t miss” Sunday show featured a first set of all old school songs played in the new school fashion, beginning with a show-opening “AC/DC Bag” that took a stroll for a bit before melding into “My Friend, My Friend.” The opening stanza also featured a truly interesting and slightly funked out “Theme From The Bottom,” the “newest” song played in the set. Things amped up even further with the rollicking “Llama” that followed which featured some mesmerizing lighting effects.
Phish then reintroduced some newer material in the second set with a “Sigma Oasis” opener that set the table for the first ever performance of “Life Saving Gun.” The “No Men In No Man’s Land” that followed featured one of the heavier and more experimental jams of the evening and the band even dusted off “Frankie Says” for a rare second set appearance. The second set concluded with “Light” and its typical powerhouse accompanying jam. An encore of “Suzy Greenberg” and a fiery take on Jimi Hendrix’s “Izabella” served as a fitting conclusion for the first weekend of Phish’s summer residency at MSG.
Phish – Sunday, July 30th, 2023 – Madison Square Garden (MSG), New York, NY
Set 1: AC/DC Bag->My Friend, My Friend->Bathtub Gin, Theme From The Bottom>Llama, Tube>Golgi Apparatus
Set 2: Sigma Oasis, Life Saving Gun>No Men In No Man’s Land>Lonely Trip>Frankie Says>Gotta Jibboo>Light
Encore: Suzy Greenberg, Izabella
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