Welcome back to the garden, Phish. Very glad to see you!

This was the first 12-28 show in a long time I have missed, I ended up having to work late and could not make it. Usually the first night of YEMSG is the easiest ticket and considered the "Warm Up" of the run. This year since the 28th was a Saturday, it was by no means an easy ticket. However, it did feel like it still will be the "warm up" of the run.

That's not to say this show was bad at all. I gave it a solid 4 stars. But we all know Phish is going to step it up and tear shit down much more these next three nights compared to this show.

Set one opened with a powerful and well played Simple, unfortunately, nugs.net was having a stroke during it, so was hard to keep up. Still I could tell it was fantastic. Free was also played strong. Great 1-2 punch to start! Driver was a nice little bustout and Oblivion went hard. Overall, it was what was expected. A tame, warm up, set to get us going.

Set two as well had its moments - Round Room was a long awaited bustout an a sweet song. - I always wanted it this way rips, and this was yet again another strong version that perhaps highlighted the set. Twist had a great loose jam that also came close to being the highlight of the set. Cavern and Bowie standard but effective. Overall, not the set that will light phish.net on fire but still a hell of a good time and great playing. Treys voice did sound like it was scratchy and needed a break at points, which is scary to hear N1. Perhaps hes sick? Hopefully he feels better.

Encore had 3 songs, all with unique things to offer. personally i dont care for Mtns in the Mist, but a slow song was due. FYF should be played more, that song rocks. Great to hear it. And a solid 46 days to close it all out was a good choice.

Consensus: Its a good Phish show, but one of the "weaker" and more "forgettable" shows inside Madison Square Garden in recent memory. They cant all be 12-31-23 after all. This one reminded me of 12-28-18 , but not that bad.

Set One: B-
Set Two: C
Overall: 3.75