Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I’ve been listening to Phish since the 90s and have seen over 300 shows. I was just left totally speechless. My mind blown. This show was incredible. I don’t even know what to say. Both sets were unreal and Madison Square Garden was on fire all night. Holy shit!!!!! I love you so much Phish!

This is what one calls a Monster Show.

A jammy Disease opener, a phenomenal Moma Dance with a creative intro and absolutely ripping jam, a well played Pebbles and Marbles, a Theme from the Bottom that goes deeeeep into exploratory waters, and four fan favorites in Reba, the Howling, Foam and Antelope close out. And that’s only set one.

For set two… just listen to it. I cannot put it into words how phenomenal that second set was. Can’t forget a ripping Chalk Dust encore. I expected a great 12/30 show and I got a Monster 12/30 show.

Wow.

This was only my 2nd Phish show, but I’ve come to realize that it the greatest concert I’ve ever seen…ever. My girlfriend got us tickets for my Birthday/Christmas present, and we stayed at a hotel near the venue so it was an easy commute. I was a bit worried that she wouldn’t enjoy it as she’s not as much of a Phish fan as me and it was her 1st show, but all that worry went away a minute into DWD. The energy from the band permeated throughout the crowd and we quickly realized we were having the time of our lives. The DWD jam was excellent, and I also loved the Theme From the Bottom jam too. And Reba is one of my favorite tunes so I was so happy when they played that. The first set in general was just banger after banger. The 2nd set was definitely more psychedelic and contemplative but still incredible. Sand was killer, and I Always Wanted It This Way was an amazingly epic closer. Out of all the songs in the 2nd set, I’d actually only known Sand before coming to the show (I’m a noob I know), but the whole experience was just incredible and left us begging for more. I can’t wait to go to another show, but the best part of the whole thing successfully converted her into a Phish fan and I know that we’ll be going to so many shows together in the future!

12/30. It never fails to deliver. All I will say is this is the prime example of “don’t judge a show by the set list.” Just do yourself a favor and listen to that 2nd set.

Preferably somewhere you can have your face melted comfortably.

Just a truly incredible 75 minutes of music with probably the best Sand I’ve ever witnessed. Pure magic.

SET 1: Down with Disease: Love the direction this one takes in the early 8’s. Trey is playing with tons of purpose and Fishman is driving this bus. Late in the 10’s and early 11’s Trey gets that ol’ whale call going a bit. Tastefully though. >

The Moma Dance: Like DWD, every note seems to have a purpose. They came to play tonight.

Pebbles and Marbles: Nice! Interesting to see how DWD and Pebbles so close to one another in a set since both have similar jam structures seemingly. Standard Pebbles, but a welcome sight to a setlist as it was only played two other times this year.

Theme From the Bottom: In the late 5’s, this bad boy is going Type II and the crowd loves the direction. This version is certainly an all timer, no doubt about that. Right up there with the likes of 2.25.03, 6.16.00, 6.7.95, 10.22.14, and 12.31.14. Really strong jamming here. The last few minutes of this one are fantastic, I love all the effects. >

Reba: Wow, can’t believe they follow up that awesome jam with another heavy hitter. Guess they are intent on levelling the joint tonight! Solid Reba right here, thought it sounded really good.

The Howling: Standard. Bet this was a ton of fun to get down to. >

Foam: First thought was, oh that is odd seeing this so deep in the set. Then I checked out ihoz and that the last 7 times they played Foam that 5 times it was played deep in the first set. Huh, the more you know I guess. >

Run Like an Antelope: Oh hell yes. How about that crowd energy when they drop into the jam? That is what it’s all about right there. Reminds me some of the 12.31.02 Piper energy. Crowd giving all the love to the band that they can, letting them know how appreciated they are with the last three sets of really good stuff. Too bad Trey’s playing going into the jam is Marty McFly’d. Doesn’t matter. On nights like this where they give us all they can, it’s about the energy and not the technical prowess. Big, big, big peak. Nicely done! Just a smoking, smoking set. Wow!!!

SET 2: No Men In No Man's Land: Mike sounds awesome in the early 11’s and beyond. Very chill jam. Absolutely electric peak in the early and mid-19’s. Extremely impressive. Ripped HARD.

Golden Age: Cool jam, Trey gives it a Gotta Jibboo vibe in the late 13’s. Big peak in the late 15’s.

Sand: In the early stages of this jam things were a bit disjointed, everyone kind of doing their own thing – check out the 7-minute mark. But once you get into the 9’s they start employing some big, noisy effects and out comes that 99’ish Trey backwards guitar sounding stuff in the late 9’s. In the mid 11 range this thing has evolved into big guitar rips. Very hard rocking. Eventually in the 14’s this has found its way into a dark spot, deep in the muck and mire – nasty, edgy, gritty. Just the way we like it. Sick has hell here! Reentry is a little rough and forced and then into… >

If I Could: I am sorry, I just can’t get over Trey’s vibrato singing. It is corny, distracting, embarrassing. Beautiful jam in the middle. But it just kills me that Trey doesn’t take a solo anymore at the end. It’s just not the same song without it.

I Always Wanted It This Way: Things go the way you would mostly expect here. In the late 8’s it gets a good bit more energized, and this jam is taking off here. Trey goes all rock star mode in the early tens. Backwards guitar stuff is back in the late 11’s! Things from there reach a huge crescendo.

WHAT A SET!!!

ENCORE: Chalk Dust Torture: Great encore! Standard CDT but in the encore, slot just plants a big, fat stamp of approval on this puppy. Incredibly rare placement. Tune has been played 496 times and it has only been the encore 18 times and only once in 3.0 (10.24.10).

Replay value/Summary: Theme (all timer), No Men (all timer), Golden Age, Sand, I Always Wanted It This Way. That first set is just a total smoke show. Complete hell fire! Somehow, they delivered a second set that was even better. Very, very impressive show. I’m all in on this one: 4.5 out of 5. Show is blistering!

Holy blankenstein. 12/30 is my wife’s birthday and we’ve been blessed over the years to get some ripping shows to celebrate and this year was no exception.

The second set was the best set they’ve played since the bakers dozen. I’ve never heard them end the show on such a peak, it was like they decided to keep throwing gasoline on the fire of the jam and just let it burn itself out after they left rather than wrapping it up themselves. Coming out with a chalk dust encore means the band knew they had delivered in a big way and wanted to send us off into the night with the vibes through the roof.

It’s almost like I always wanted it this way and didn’t realize it until now.

Incredible stuff.

Set 1 was hot from the get-go, a really complete Disease that didn’t let up. Love that the last few have been finished. Theme was the highlight for me though, so glad they jammed that out. The room was really loving The Howling and the Antelope had some extra hot sauce tonight, especially from Trey. That peak was intense!!

Then Set 2. I will echo another comment and say that Trey seemed to be struggling early on with where he wanted to be. For about the first 10-15 minutes of NMINML, he was more or less searching without much direction. But, when he got where he wanted melodically, it led to a really great peak and they were locked in for the rest of the show. Everything else was simply fantastic. I think Sand was my favorite. Trey, Mike, and Fish had a bit of a conversation beforehand and I wondered if Trey was saying “let’s take this one out there,” as there seemed to be a conscious effort to do so from the time it started. Lots of effect and some heavy, heavy stuff. If I Could is my favorite Phish ballad and couldn’t have been placed better - a beautiful rendition that the room really appreciated. I’m never thrilled to hear IAWITW/Page’s Space Carnival, but man if they play it like that each time I’m all for it. Wow that was cool!!

CDT encore - what else can I say? It ripped!!

Not sure how this is tracking behind 12/29 ratings wise. Felt that this show was more complete top to bottom. I’d put 12/29 at about a 4.2 and 12/30 at 4.4. Both were really fantastic, but this second set puts it on top.

But in the end who cares - just listen and you won’t be disappointed!

Once again Phish got the Garden rocking. They almost never play a bad show in these grounds, and once again tonight was no exception. On the king of anniversaries, phish went for some deep jams. The first set to me was perfect and 2nd set was enjoyable and pretty flawless. Check out the amazing disease opener, theme, Reba, and that entire 2nd set. Great show all around. No it wasn't the 12/30 show to rule them all but its one fun time. I will admit I prefer 12/29 a tad more but that was off the charts. This was in striking distance of that for sure nearly all night.

Incredible show, “sand” was epic , entire second set was pure heat , pretty much 4 songs with one breather. Crowd was very loud. “I always wanted it this way” was awesome.

Some real classics first set. Whenever FOAM makes the setlist I consider it a special occasion. DWD opener , love it. Reba , always greatly appreciated.

What to say about this show? I texted my cousin at the end of set two and said it was the most beautifully relentless music I had experienced. I’ll leave it to the more seasoned vets to breakdown the sets, but in the meantime I’ll be vibing to Live Phish until heading back to MSG for NYE. Cheers!!

This is the show that inspired my username. Got everything I asked for in this show, and the band put me in a spliff and smoked me. If I Could was barely enough time to catch my breath in the second set. CDT was the nail in my coffin. Congratulations to everyone who was in orbit and survived when planet earth was transported to the farthest edges of the radiation belt.

12/30 is always a safe bet for best show of the year and this one is an all timer, really inspired jamming throughout. The energy inside the garden was electric in a way I haven’t felt since 2017, left this show absolutely floored by the song selection, all killer no filler. Even if I could had something extra to it tonight incredibly sublime version of that one. This second set is one I’ll be coming back to over and over again, while it didn’t have the spacey experimentation of this past summer tour, it had nothing but solid playing all around from all 4 members and a flow that’s rivaled only by 4/22/22. Even if it’s not the setlist for you I promise you’ll find something to love here. Unforgettable night.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I’ve been listening to Phish since the 90s and have seen over 300 shows. I was just left totally speechless. My mind blown. This show was incredible. I don’t even know what to say. Both sets were unreal and Madison Square Garden was on fire all night. Holy shit!!!!! I love you so much Phish!

Gotta be one of my favorite NYE run shows ever. The first set blew me away and I had zero expectations for the 2nd. The 2nd set just keeps getting better better and better! The band was experimenting a lot it felt like and damn did it pay off. Sand was a big highlight for me, must hear. This is why we all keep going to shows, for nights like this

Wow. What a god damn show this was. 4 days later and I'm still picking my jaw up off the floor. This was my 8th new year's run with the boys from Vermont, and it was absolutely, without a doubt, one of my favorite of those runs. I personally believe this show will stand the test of time - absolutely one of the best of 3.0 and up there as one of their great MSG shows. Some say perfection is unobtainable, but that second set would disagree. Gonna be glowing on this one for a while!!! Thank you Phish, for a real good time!

This was my first NYE run since 2015, and this remarkable show hit the mark completely. Reading the first reactions, forum posts, and reviews, one thing stands out to me: so many people are responding to this show in terms of their personal Phish memories. Many are framing their remarks in terms of their 60 or 100 or more shows, their ten or twenty or thirty years of seeing the band live. I don’t think it’s so much a matter of comparing this show to 1997 or whatever, but rather a way of saying that this show brought home in a holistic, joyful way just what the band means to us.

So what was it about this show? It wasn’t a show of moments or individual songs or jams for me. In fact, the most memorable part of the show was the communal Antelope roar. It wasn’t a visit to the high peaks region, there wasn’t any banter or gags, no spacey jazz-jams, no major-league bust-outs, no 59-minute songs and no comic relief songs. It was the band playing *music* like no one else can, all heart and soul and muscle. No nonsense, all focus. Often, the end of a big second-set song leaves me grateful but a little sad that the creative reach of the show might have peaked. On Friday night, the end of each major journey (take your pick in that second set) left me catching my breath, smiling, and ready for the next one. And every time … the next one found its own groove and its own bliss.

One small note: the only minor criticism I’ve read is that at times Trey was working hard to find his way. I think that’s true (I felt it first in the Moma Dance) but that was one of my favorite parts of the show. It’s so cool to see the greatest guitar player since Jerry patiently finding his way, staying with the brilliantly played rhythms of Mike and Fishman, maybe struggling at times but persevering and abiding. What a treat!!!!

On the train heading back to Boston from MSG...honest assessment they (Trey) were searching in the first half of set 2. It seemed like they made the conscious decision not to do tweezer and tried to compensate. Came together during GA and that IAWITW was an all timer.

First set was phenomenal. Great antelope. Nothing better than MSG in late December.