Standard Night 1 warmup show. Energy was great in The Garden. Simple, KDF, Driver and Antelope were great. The jams never really took off in the second set, however the song selection was good. Wave of Hope, Round Room, IAWITW… solid stuff. Solid encore too, 46 Days ripped. All in all nothing too crazy or special. Just a standard solid show.

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

While there were no jams that really blow your hair back, this is an exceptional N1 for this year's NYE run. The whole night was tightly played and there wasn't a single bad setlist entry (while featuring significant variety). Now that they nailed the warm up, do we have any reason to believe that the rest of the run won't be just as stellar?!

We’re back at the Garden for our annual New Year’s run, and hopes are very high. This year has been nothing but top tier sauce, so I expect nothing but the same for these shows. Tonight’s setlist is pretty weird, which is fine by me. A lot of unique choices.

Simple is a great way to start a show. This is a very tight groove; nothing too spectacular, just a fun time, very positive. Check out Mike’s fuzzy groove around 8:30-9:30. Right from the get-go, Mike takes the lead in Free, and lays down some real funky shit in the jam. He pretty much controls the whole thing. He and Trey work together really well here. Farmhouse is pretty mellow, and has a nice ‘lil jam hidden in there. I like this one, lots of pleasant winter vibes. Poor Heart is our grass tune for tonight, and this one is very fun, as always. Tube is standard, but still a solid groove. Kill Devil Falls is slightly above average, the jam mainly stays in type-1 territory, and is a fun time overall. No highlights, no complaints. Driver is a nice touch, and is wonderfully played by all. I would like to see this one more often. This Reba is great. Listen to Fish in the composed section, his playing is so delightful. The jam is slow, and takes its’ time to get to the peak. It’s a little average, but an average Reba is still beautiful. Bring back the whistling! Oblivion is really short this go around, and is quite standard. Trey has a rough start, but he kills his solo. I also think Page is great here. Pretty forgettable version, but you gotta have your veggies > A perfect Antelope. Mike does some cool stuff in the intro. The hype at the end of the intro is nuts, the crowd gets so amped up. This jam is so nice, everyone is playing with a lot of complexity, and makes for a very structured experience. Like a spider web; there may be thousands of little tiny strings, but they’re all weaved together to make one beautiful collage. I love Fish’s percussion rinse with his cymbal during the Gear Shift section. This is a perfect climax to a set. I like this one a lot.

We start up set 2 with an average Back on the Train. Great energy, but nothing spectacular. We get even more energy with a sloppy Axilla 2, but I think the sloppiness is saved by the badass outro > An average Wave of Hope with a nice type-1 jam. Skippable, but well played > An increasingly rare Round Room! This one is just ok, but I’ll always love this one! Maybe with a little practice, this one can come back to be a major vessel for jams. I Always Wanted It This Way is really, really awesome. It sounds like a spaceship, booting up and taking off for a journey across time and space. Page dominates every second of this jam, and he unleashes some of the coolest sounds I’ve ever heard. Fish is also really good here. Check this one out > A chill, patient Twist; the guys are taking their time, which allows them to really flesh out and create some unique material for the jam. Mike is really awesome here, and Page does some really great stuff at 6:00-7:30, he does a really great job at establishing atmosphere. This one is short, but pretty great > The Mango Song, which is mostly sloppy, but has a nice Page solo at the end > An extremely cheerful Blaze On. Trey and Page go ham > Cavern, which is standard, but Trey does some cool stuff between verses > An average Bowie to end out the show. I’m not one of those people who thinks they should shelf this one, but this particular Bowie was a little unnecessary. However, I think Mike and Fish are great here, they carry the jam in a lot of cool places.

Mountains in the Mist is standard, but we needed a slower tune. I love the lyrics to this one so much, and the playing here is very pleasant. We get our third Gordo song for the night with Fuck Your Face. This a sweet bustout, and this one rips so, so hard > A red hot 46 Days. Everyone is going full throttle, Charlie’s Angles 2. I mean, damn, what a good way to end a show.

This is not a bad show by any means, but it’s mostly veggies. There are no major jams to come back to here, but I think it still does its’ job at getting people pumped for the rest of the weekend. The setlist is very crammed thematically, and leads to a rollercoaster of different emotions, which makes for a slightly overwhelming and forgettable show. Not bad, but certainly forgettable. Also a fairly pedestrian show considering the hellbending nature of this year’s other shows. If you really want to, check out the Antelope, IAWTW > Twist, or the FYF > 46 Days, but you won’t be missing too much. Love these guys, can’t wait for the nights to come.

I really enjoyed this show, attendance bias withstanding. It was a totally average show, minus the bustouts, and there was a little rust (especially with the vocals). But when Phish plays a show in 2024, it has to be absolutely incredible to be even slightly noteworthy...if this show was played in, say, 2012, it would be a different story. The vibes/energy in the building were great, and the lights and sound were immaculate. Felt above average for an opening night. SIMPLE was ironically the longest song of the night, with a really great little jam...Trey was obviously having a great time. FARMHOUSE placement was definitely interesting...the jam was super beautiful. Trey and CK5 also shined very bright on KDF...peaks were great. REBA and ANTELOPE jams were nice... especially the latter, absolutely relentless. My only real gripe with this show were BOTT and AXILLA...both great songs, but they felt unnecessary. If those 13 minutes had been put towards a longer jam in WOPE, this show would probably be viewed in a more positive light. Also, Axilla was pretty sloppy...especially on Fish's part. But still great tunes. ROUND ROOM was a completely unexpected bustout and a pleasant tune...very sloppy but who cares, it's Round Room. That was only the 3rd performance in the last 20 years. I absolutely love IAWITW and this version lived up to the song's rep - and in fact saved the set, imo. Rocked the house. TWIST is a fine song...and this jam was pretty cool. Brief, but went to a really nice, chill place...sounded like the late 90s ambient shit for a bit. BLAZE/CAVERN/BOWIE was a great ending trio - nothing spectacular or noteworthy in the slightest, but totally fucking rocked. MIST is pleasant in the encore...FYF kicked ass...46 DAYS shredded my damn face off. The band was in pretty good shape. So grateful they're still playing for us. LOVE AND LIGHT