Wife Kat and I have had a long tradition of catching only 12/29 in the four day NYE run where we couldn’t do NYE or more, due to kids, money or whatever. The first year of this tradition was Providence 12/29/94, thirty years ago, and that show contained the longest and wierdest jam to date, the 31 minute “Lassie” Bowie.

Last year’s 12/29 was a rager. I recall thinking at that show as well as the kast year’s SPAC WW Benefit N2 jammed out “Chalkdust” and the last night of the 10/25-27/24 hurricane benefit shows at my hometownish shed Knickerbocker/Pepsi/MVP Arena N3 10/27, also on my download rotation, that the shows Phish is playing these days surpasses the 1.0 level of quality, intensity and consistency (% truly memorably great vs. “average great” shows).

I won’t go into a play by play recap because others above have done that aptly and much better than someone who kinda sucks at the Phish in terms of musicology. But I’ll say that the exploration that happened in Ruby Waves was jaw dropping and that Section 112 behind the stage at MSG is one of the best places in the world to see Phish. Our 137th show since 5/6/93.