Attending the 1st three of four, last night left me wanting for more on a number of levels and whatever musical itches I had were definitely taken care of tonight. So many highlights, an embarrassment of riches and we in attendance were the grateful recipients. Section 217 at the world‘s most famous, and greatest, arena was shaking earthquake style at times, a testament to how moved we were by them. I personally love the behind the stage view of the love being reciprocated between the band and audience.

Open with Carini into a on point segued Plasma back into nearly three minutes of balls to the walls Carini (Reprise)? Yes, please, thank you. The next three minutes was basically the exact opposite, to find out through this very website that it was called Quadrophonic Toppling. And that if you made the “Vegas bet” that it would be played at this MSG run that you might have felt like if you had struck gold. The Curtain and Bathtub Gin were exemplary versions, clocking in ‘round 13 minutes give or take. A cool down period of sorts with well played versions of NICU, Evolve and a very tenderly played Mountain in the Mist before allowing New York to welcome Fluffhead “back home”. The hour and twenty five flew by, always a good sign of a good time had.

Mike’s Song to start the second stanza was a pretty ripping eleven minutes followed by an excellent The Third Hoorah into a typically rocking Weekapaug Groove. Then the centerpiece of this show and this run so far imho. A Wave of Hope. I was at its debut, the Earth Day show ‘22 and my oh my has its wings grown allowing it of fights of all sorts and tonight’s was a straight up 20 minutes of Trey shredding, wave after wave. After wave. Definitely three, maybe four, this relisten is going to be fun, with the band totally in lockstep with Trey. Mike was thumping hard, Fishman was being his usual self, imitating what an octopus might look like if they had drum sticks, and Page was ripping up whichever 88 keys he was choosing to play. One of the finest 20 minutes i’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing live.

I totally love Twenty Years Later and Trey took it for an eleve minute psychedelia drenched ride, it was delivered with purpose. As was the Golden Age, it’s purpose ones to get everyone dancing and for the next 15 minutes, it just felt like a celebration of life, the releasing of one’s troubles through music. Character Zero ended the hour twenty five set on a Trey Rock God note, noted by the enthusiastic response to it during and after it. A double dose of The Lizards and Possum as the Encore and the night was done. For another twenty hours or so, bring it on. This was a great night of music, blessed to be surrounded by others that simply wanted to get down to the nitty gritty and focused on the musical conversation happening on stage and not otherwise. Night 3 awaits…

Just to add on my review above since the Edit feature doesn't seem to be working for me that I was referring to the MSG debut of A Wave of Hope '22, I know the actual debut of it was Summer '21 at Deer Creek.

(Just typing in order to get this to the proper length to post as a "review"). (Just typing in order to get this to the proper length to post as a "review").

Sometimes you need to see it from the band's perspective. Our seats for this show were caddy-corner behind Mike and Fishman. As I explained to my friend, there are two light shows: the light show Kuroda is composing for the audience, and the light show the band sees. Sitting behind you get the latter. And, fortunately, with the band's transition to a more sparse rig, there was very little in the way of watching from the bands perspective. Oh, and they played music.

Much like the previous night, the boys from Vermont launched into it for the first set with a screaming Carini...into a subdued Plasma, but (for the viewers at home's free first song) back into Carini to get the place absolutely bubbling with anticipation. Take a breath during Quadrophonic Toppling, and back into the set, head first with a song I've only seen once before in my 67 shows: The Curtain With. (Note: Rift, played the previous night and TCW, have the same chord structure, so I'm fully expecting Trey and the band to find time for a Squirming Coil which also shares this progression, albeit at a different speed.) Time for a drink with several standards like Bathtub Gin and NICU...both performed punctually. From there the band slowed things down with Evolve into Mountains In The Mist, which was so dreamy and the vocal harmonies were on point. Finally, a solid 1.0 Fluffhead...the crowd goes nuts and the first set is done.

Second set seemed to pick right up where the first left off with a solid Mike's Hurrah Groove? We got a wave of relaxation with a Wave of Hope into Twenty Years Later into Golden Age! They love this song by TV On The Radio and it was the only cover of the night. The clock hit 10:55pm and Trey was like, I'm not really done. Character Zero to finish out the set...Kuroda's lights screaming in the World's Most Famous Arena. The band took their bows and off before the encore. Of course we were wondering if they'd choose to come back with another cover like Loving Cup to quietly end the night...they were having none of it. Another 1.0 standard, Trey started the opening notes of The Lizards and caught the sound engineers off guard. Quickly they corrected and we were back at full blast. For some reason, this is one of their hardest songs, harder than Fluffhead. I've never seen it performed perfectly outside of Gamehenge in recent years. This was no exception. Mike missed a note, Trey missed a note. Fish flubbed a beat. The band rolled on...as if in an apologetic way, they finished the night with a song they couldn't not play perfectly: Possum. Its presence here means that the merch shirts were no indicator of the upcoming NYE stunt. Phish nailed this rock-a-billy standard to close the night and I was sated.

Was this the best show I've seen. No, but it was a solid B. Come for the Carini, stay for everything else. Can't wait to see what they do the rest of the run, and NYE!