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.

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?!

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

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

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.

This was either my 28th show or my 23rd, depending on whether The Great Went, Lemonwheel, Coventry and Magnaball each count as one show or several.

Magnaball in 2015 (especially Day 2) was my all-time favorite show musically. After that, my next three shows (over the next 4 years) were not the greatest – I inhaled so much fucking cigarette smoke from the crowd on 6/29/2019 that I couldn’t even make it to 6/30 – and then the pandemic hit.

12/28/2024 was my first Phish show in over 5 years, my longest gap since I started seeing them in 1994.

A lot of things about this show struck me as very odd! I don’t know if that’s because a lot of things have changed since 2019, or if things haven’t changed and my memory just sucks. I’m pretty locked in on the performance at shows so I’m inclined to trust my memory, but I’m curious to hear takes from other fans who’ve been around for a while, to see if any of my thoughts seem off base.

So here we go!

My friend and I drove down from Ithaca, about five hours away, and got into Manhattan plenty early to stash his car in a parking garage near MSG. Once we got to the garage, we learned that our 5:00-12:00 reservation was not actually good till 12, since the garage closed at 11:30. Immediately, we started hoping really, really hard that the band would start relatively on time.

As it turned out, they came on nearly an hour late. We knew we were fucked. Unless the band played a weirdly short show, we were going to miss the encore at the very least.

When they opened with Simple, I immediately got fully into it, happy to be back seeing Phish, hearing the sound, singing along, watching the lights do their thing, watching the crowd dance. Song selection didn’t really matter, I would have been happy with almost anything. As Simple launched into the jam portion, I suppose I must have been expecting something less ambitious, because I was pleasantly surprised by a 13-minute rager! This was the best show opener I’ve ever seen live. Just a fantastic version, intense and interesting but easy to follow and dance to. This was my second big rock show since ACL reconstruction, and the first one where I could really thrash like I used to before the injury. I even grew my hair out for the occasion. It was fucking great. I rocked out as hard as I possibly could in front of my seat (Section 107, Row 7) sandwiched between two other people, and when the song ended I told myself that that alone was worth it.

(My ticket was $162. So much more than my last show! Fortunately I have way more money now than I did back when tickets were cheap.)

Next up was Free. Not played particularly well, but good enough, and holy shit Kuroda did some absolutely amazing stuff with the lights! The lights were great during Simple too, in a very familiar Phish way. Free was different. A lot of red and some white shooting out of the darkness in rapidly changing patterns. It kind of felt like being under attack by aliens, in a very very cool way. This sort of vibe continued through the jam, and when the song ended I was very happy and excited to see what would come next. Yeah, it was a weak Free musically with a forgettable jam, but after that amazing Simple and thanks to the great lights, I was still completely immersed and having an awesome time.

And then Farmhouse completely killed the momentum. It was weird. I like Farmhouse! I’ve seen some very soulful performances of Farmhouse. I’ve seen Farmhouse be a perfect part of an amazing set, many times. But this version was awkward as hell. First, the lights. The song started with a mix of pale purple, green, white and yellow lights on the band and the crowd… and just stayed there for the whole song. It was like Kuroda just left. I can’t remember whether that was for the full song or just most of it… but it happened again for Driver, and that was definitely for the full song. Hey, I understand if Chris needs a break at times, like after the virtuoso performance on Free, but can another lighting person fill in, to keep the dynamics going? I started wondering if there was an illness going around the group, since Trey’s vocals sounded very hoarse. Was Kuroda out puking somewhere? Regardless, it would have been nice to have an understudy.

The second awkward thing about Farmhouse was that the crowd tried to sing along but Trey completely changed how the chorus vocals end, and the old and new versions did not go well together, and the crowd didn’t catch on in time to join Trey in singing it a different way. It wasn’t until one of the last reps that it was clear to me that Trey was doing this deliberately rather than screwing up. I think the new vocal part might actually be quite nice, if he were singing it with a healthy voice and not fighting the crowd. But that’s not how it went down.

Finally, Farmhouse had a longer than usual solo, but I found the jam to be mostly a tease. Each time I thought the intensity was starting to pick up, it just stayed where it was. I do not need every Phish jam to churn out a classic climax, but this one needed to go somewhere and it really didn’t.

After Farmhouse, whatever the band was going to do, they were going to have to start back up from scratch. Which I had full confidence that they could do, after that amazing Simple! But it did feel weird.

Poor Heart was fine, a punchy tune as always, great soloing from Page, but still no contribution from Kuroda. Fortunately the lights came back to do their usual awesome thing with Tube, and the show was back on. Whew! A strong Tube, followed by Kill Devil Falls with a particularly strong jam for that tune. I got my thrash back on and all was well.

Then they repeated the strange thing with Farmhouse again, where the lights didn’t move for the entirety of Driver, and the band played with little energy. I have always been opposed to some fans’ characterization of Phish’s short, quiet, or predictable songs as “bathroom break” songs, but this version of Driver really felt like being told “go pee.”

(It’s always baffled me that Phish started dropping jazzy numbers like All Things Reconsidered back when they began playing arenas, claiming those songs didn’t work in that setting… but they’ll still play quiet tunes like Driver? Bring back ATR! And Magilla! And many more I could name! Nothing against Driver, but I prefer the jazzy stuff.)

Their break over, the band played a perfectly solid Reba, and then launched into the first “new tune” (to me) of the show, Oblivion. I had just gotten my hands on Evolve (2024 album) a few weeks before so I could recognize the new tunes, and Oblivion was one of my favorites. This performance was a little muddy in places, but did cohere in a satisfying fashion, and launched a fantastic, rocking, short jam which led quickly into a balls-to-the-wall Antelope. Oblivion + Antelope was a truly excellent way to close the set.

(I have enough experience with Antelope live at this point that I didn’t fall for any of the first 6 or 7 peaks Trey hit and exhaust my dancing batteries early. Nope! I stayed with the band all the way to the end – I didn’t go 100% and use up all my energy until they finally finished the jam. Good thing, because I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Phish sustain climax-style intensity without a lull for as long as they did here.)

So that was Set 1. Plenty of great moments, and I totally got what I came for, but at the same time I felt almost insulted that the band and Kuroda didn’t appear to even really attempt to put together a full, beginning-to-end set of the kind I’m used to. And no, I’m not talking about pre-scripted sets from the early ‘90s with no pauses. That’s not my point of comparison. I’m just talking about a persistent flow to the energy, where the lulls or rests feel like part of the arc of the set rather than just awkward stops.

I have many fewer thoughts on Set 2. I had a bit less energy, and without getting lost in moving my body to the music, I was a little more distracted by an idle thought here or an annoying fan there. The first four songs of the set were fine. I Always Wanted It This Way was neat and strange and tantalized me with being a potential lights-and-keyboards tour de force in the future. This was my first time hearing this song, and it reminded me of a Disco Biscuits jam, which is not a bad addition to Phish’s arsenal. Twist was solid, Mango Song was messy (did Mike forget how it goes?), and Blaze On was fantastic, with an energetic jam that climaxed in a yell-along conclusion.

Then it was time to head back to that lying parking garage. If their website had told the truth about being open till midnight, I would have gotten to see Cavern, Bowie, and an encore starting with Mountains in the Mist, which was the perfect choice. On the drive from Ithaca, the white mist had been so striking that I had taken dozens of photos out the window, trying to capture it. I had even speculated that Phish should play Mist or Taste (with the Fog That Surrounds lyric). And they did! But alas, I wasn’t there for it.

Overall a strange Phish experience for me. I got to enjoy the sorts of spectacular highlights that the band almost always delivers, but I also had some head-scratching lackluster moments. In the end, I think it will be the Simple, Blaze On, and Oblivion/Antelope combo that stick with me. I may want to update my expectations before my next show, though, depending on whether the weak spots were a one-time outlier or a new normal.

I grew up and still live in the Pacific Northwest. My first Phish show was 10/17/2014 Eugene. Basically my entire conscious life, I've been intrigued by the idea of going to see Phish at the Garden for a New Year's Run. But it has always seemed so far away, both in regards to distance and practicality. The cost of finding hotels, transportation, flights, and tickets on the post-market made it seem far out of reach. But that all changed once my twin sister began living in Brooklyn - I could save lots of money for the lodging and would be able to commute easily in for the shows. After flying solo to Dicks and meeting up with friends and Phishcord users there, it made me think that I could start to pull off an MSG trip if I could get it done for relatively cheap. A friend at Dicks suggested, why not put in for the lottery and see what happens - you could always sell if it didn't work out. Somehow, I got a 4-day pass in the lottery. The "holy shit" moment begun. Soon, I was able to weave together travel plans, flights, and it was a go! I was sitting on MSG NYE Phish tickets!

So I flew out from PDX to JFK early in the morning of 12/28, just full of anticipation. Part of the reason why I was so willing to get this done and do it *now* is because Phish is playing so well lately - Mexico, Summer Tour, the Dicks run being easily the best shows I've seen (and one of the best weekends of my life), with N2 in particular my best of around 15 shows. So while I tempered my expectations, I knew the potential was there for a killer run. And boy, did they deliver.

I was able to meet up with my sister, drop my bags, and soon headed into the city for the shows. I was so pumped! Stopped at a liquor store and was taking swigs on the subway. Just getting into the Garden was magical - the weather was cool, crisp, but most importantly clear - it was honestly warmer than expected for the entire week in NYC. Stepping into the Garden was an ethereal experience. I've heard so much, I've read so much, and it was just otherworldly. I really leaned into the history of it all, soaked in all the vibes, and had some pre-show meetups with Phishcord and Phish.net users prior to things really getting good. Made friends with my rowmates in Section 211 and had great seats given the situation - they felt like right on top of the action, it wasn't obstructed, and the vibes were immaculate.

The lights went down and I was beside myself. I knew it was going to be a good run after the crowd erupted during the "We've got skyscrapers" line in Simple.. great opening jam and you could tell Trey was rearing with energy. Trey was very animated all throughout this evening, moreso than the next two nights. He was ready to rock this place down. While I don't know enough about crowds to speak on different noise/energy levels of different arenas, I could tell that the MSG crowd throughout this run was very plugged in and "on top" of the action.. we were all ready to express our joy in any way possible. I love getting Free in the first set of a show (or at any point in the show, honestly) and the Simple > Free was a great way to start off the entire run. Farmhouse next, actually a pretty good placement for it - that's another thing that Trey and the band have been really good at lately is song placement - compare to early 3.0 or really even late 1.0/2.0. Poor Heart was a nice treat - I will always take Phishgrass at a show and this is a song that needs to hit the rotation for it. Perfect spot for the energy it brings, and same with Tube. The KDF got out a bit and I recall really enjoying it. Driver was an absolute treat - I absolutely fucking love this song and it was the first song of the run that I had not caught live before. Such a cute ballad. Reba was very welcome and was played well, the jam was vibrant and felt right. Oblivion next - the Evolve album is one of Phish's late-stage best and I was so happy this has turned into a jam vehicle - lucky enough to catch one at Dicks this year. While it didn't jam much this time, I got to loudly belt out the lyrics and spread the new-era Phish love to my surrounding row-folks. Antelope was a perfect choice to close and I feel like this was an above-average 4.0 version on relisten.

Set 2 I was again, so excited for anything that was about to happen. MSG was just so magical I am starting to see why people buy bot accounts to vote down every show outside of its confines! This is a very good version of BOTT to start the second. It's worth a relisten and I enjoyed it very much. Axilla wasn't anything new for me, and neither was Wave of Hope, but I really enjoy Wave of Hope and it was nice to get. The jam was solid and then all of a sudden comes a familiar riff... My first thought was, is this a Mock Song? But then it sort of had the repeating circular sound and I immediately yelled out for Round Room! Wow, what a treat. I never expected to get a Driver but damn did I really never expect to get a Round Room.. They have played MSG so much and it's never come out so I just didn't even mentally have it on the radar. Not many people around me knew what it was which was surprising. Solid treat, and then they went into IAWITW.. which absolutely slaps. Had only gotten one of these prior, at the Gorge 2021. Looking back on the NYE gag, it is possible that this could have been an early indication, or a practice run for some of the more EDM-styled jams to come? We will never know. I think the IAWITW > Twist are the best musical pieces of the night - there was this moment in Twist where Trey was really animated, dancing, and just sitting on the groove. It was special. After the end of Twist, it sort of petered out, and then the opening notes to Mango Song dropped... One of the best crowd moments of the first show was when the realization for that hit. Always special to get one of those live, and then I thought Blaze On was pretty juicy. Cavern and Bowie were fairly standard but always nice. It was actually somehow my first David Bowie live, so that was nice. Loud ovation for the band after it closed.

Was excited again for the encore. Mountains of the Mist is beautiful and I think Trey has sort of settled into a sometimes-pattern for encores, where the slower tune goes first, and then a rocker to close. Nothing new I suppose but this was a solid rendition. Fuck Your Face was out of left field. That was incredible.. I again also never thought I would get one of those live but it was perfect. Mike was fucking jacked for this song, he was hyped up (as much as he shows) and he was loud on the vocals. 46 Days in the show-closer spot was special. They were definitely trying out some new stuff there, and it's one of the best jams of the show. Tons of energy in the building.

Also, it's somewhat unrelated but this was the first show in the second post-Trump era. For that reason, I wasn't surprised at the Mango Song being played. Also, earlier in the day, El*n Musk was on a coke rant on Twitter and one of his replies to someone even more racist than him was that they should "Go fuck yourself in your face".. this was making the rounds, I saw some Phish folks on Bluesky referencing it prior to the show, and for that reason I wasn't exactly surprised that it came. I think both of those songs were oblique references as Phish loves to do...

For me, that was a special show. I was enthralled from the first note to the last. My first Garden show was so incredible. I would do anything to get back there.. Maybe it's not out of the cards to return. Musical highlights: Simple > Free, Antelope, BOTT, IAWITW > Twist, 46 Days. This left us absolutely wired for the next couple shows as they were almost guaranteed to bring the hype...

I don't generally write reviews on here---(...cuz what's one more opinion drifting around in the Phish-iverse...)---but this show felt special for various reasons: (1.) 'Twas my first MSG show; (2.) The band didn't nail every note, which (by many phans' standards apparently) makes it a "bad" show(?), whatever that means, but any lack of accuracy and speed was more than made up for with offerings of soul currency...(... so whatever hate you might wanna direct at "Twist" should humble itself by relistening to that jam in the middle...); (3.) The song selection was both bangin' and unexpected. I’ll wait while you look up previous showings of "Round Room"... and, how about that "I Always Wanted It This Way"!? It was exactly how I've always wanted to hear that song played live; (4.) This night felt representative of the modern Phishtory era – like a Classic TAB show featuring The Chairman of the Boards and lots of alternate takes on classic hits. (If you don't like this show, I feel like that's more of a "You" problem and less of a Phish problem.... 8^) (Summary.) I would gladly travel backward(s) in Timespace to revisit this evening of music...!