“What’s up, 2016 Phish?

“It was a pleasure making your mellow, care-free acquaintance last night.

“You may be able to tell by the fact that I shaved my face and put on my Important Show Sneaks With Funky-Assed Day-Glo Laces that I am looking forward to getting to know you a little better tonight, baby. Please feel free to let your hair down and do the whole Garden thing you do. I’ll be stuck to you the whole time. Like groundscore on your shoe.

“Requests? De moi? Wouldn’t dream of it. Play what you want, but by all means feel free to add some nutmeg and other spice to the “Tweezer” cider you’ve got brewing. Some like it hot, you know what I’m sayin’?

“What’s that, you ask? Why, of course you can dim the lights.”

Photo © @Phish_FTR

The final act of this MSG holiday run boots up with what almost feels like a tease of “Your Pet Cat,” versus a performance. It’s gotten shorter than “Tube” way faster than it took “Tube” to get as short as “Tube” is. Actual statistics may or may not bear me out.

“AC/DC Bag” slips into the two slot at what can only be described as a Weir-esque tempo. Message: the quartet from Vermont is going to storm the castle on their own time tonight. Page swings it out on the grand for a few measures, then Kuroda’s HAL 9000 Sentient Wizard Pod sends lighted signals that instruct Trey when to start the climactic trilling. He obeys. He must.

The song... is over.

Gently, Trey begins chording “NICU” on his Ocelot Languedoc (sometimes called “OcelDoc” by rig-nerds and collector types who are so busy buffing pickups that they can’t spare three syllables). “NICU” does not go very well, I’m afraid, possibly owing to the not-having-rehearsed-the-song-at-all thing, or, like, other factors. When properly cared for, this song can propel a set forward and rarely even birth lovely wee jamlets (see: 10/30/98 II). When it’s being crossed off a to-do list, it tends to underachieve.

Photo © @hersch

That makes the selection of “It’s Ice” all the more mysterious. If the relatively elementary changes in “NICU” defy mastery, why dig a deeper hole? Yes, we are sensing a pattern here.

But now, what is this? A “Divided Sky” through yonder window breaks, and despite some missteps, it’s almost as if the Pause in “Divided” is the reset button on this flagging set. The band collectively breathes out the old and breathes in the new, and the music between this moment and the set break is infused with an extra measure of the good stuff.

After a powerful conclusion to “Divided,” a muscular “Axilla” sets the table for “Maze.” While it always has potential to light fire to the building, this “Maze” keeps the pot at a rolling simmer, with the highlight of the song once again arriving before the final peak as Trey transforms into a comp player and serves his Chairman dutifully through the organ run with slashing, atonal chords.

“Train Song” marks yet another brief retreat into precious atmospherics, but a deliberate “Julius” punctuates this mostly-wobbly first set with some legit emphasis.

Onto the second, where “Tweezer” is not a question of “if” but “when.” That question is answered promptly – “Tweezer” is NOW.

Through the composed section of this “Tweezer,” my legs withstand beatings from flailing children dancing their little bottoms off, careening here-then-there-then-here. Mike and Page share some lewd instrumental pillow talk during the pre-Ebeneezer funk breakdown, and we are propelled forth into the jam at warp speed.

Photo © Jake Silco

Trey’s hot take is at first quite staccato, leaping from eighth note to eighth note with barely a touch to each string as Mike weaves a bed of luxurious, sustained tones behind him. Both players are pulling the other two behind them, creating an undercurrent of tension as they try to force their way to escape velocity. Fishman, demigod that he may be, can only hold back so long before the floodgates finally burst, and Trey gushes forth with a deeply satisfying blitzkrieg of pentatonic goodness.

There’s another virtual huddle, then a transitional passage with Page in the lead on clav, and finally a frenzied conversation in octaves that precipitates a shift to the major. The first measures of this blissout sound like the Big Cypress Sand jam on 78 rpm, and it’s apparent by now that this “Tweezer” is playing for the win. The band effortlessly moves from a 3-chord major key meditation to monochromatic and then back again, and then once again into blues rock territory, where they craft another peak of sorts with a stop-start jam.

As a bona fide sucker for the breakdown, I wish this could go on longer, but we have other places to go yet! A climbing four-pack of chords generates a jam somewhat akin to “Tweeprise” for a minute or so before “Sand” announces itself. At first and second blush, this is a truly spectacular, must-hear “Tweezer” that for my money may be the jam of the holiday run. Finger-licking great.

“Sand,” while mostly straightforward, is “Tweezer’s” note-perfect disco chaser, and deliciously funky. Just before the 8 minute mark, it is apparent that Mike wants to take this one out there, but Trey ain’t having it. He ties a proper bow on Sand in another minute or two, and introduces “Limb By Limb.” This “Limb” and the “Suzy Greenberg” that follow it don’t pretend to go anyplace special – they’re just solid readings of tried and true utility tunes that glide home easily on the froth and foam of the “Tweezer -> Sand” segment.

The fourth quarter is anchored capably by “Harry Hood” and “You Enjoy Myself,” both of which you can see coming around the corner. Mike assumes a commanding role in the early moments of this “Hood” jam while Fishman dances across his snare. Page moves to his Rhodes, suggesting a moodier direction, and the band slides agreeably into the minor, where they map their rapid ascent. Trey makes something of a tactical blunder in moving to his Whammy for some whale-calls, though, and this takes the wind out of the sails as “Hood” rather clunks to its unremarkable end.

Photo © @Phish_FTR

[Curfew is a factor at this point, in fairness, and it seems Trey wants to let the “YEM” breathe. Fair enough.]

And breathe it does! Versions of this song that contain soloing from Trey are now the exception versus the rule, but this one has a pretty good one with lots of greasy wah. Mike and Fish nail the drums-and-bass section, and this is suddenly one of my favorite straightforward “YEMs” in quite a while.

“Lizards,” as always, is bloody gorgeous, its melodies perfect for conjuring a mood of gratitude. Tonight, in this placement and this setting, it feels like a carol, or a benediction. And the ever-thunderous “Tweezer Reprise” is there to make sure those smiles stay chiseled on our faces as we shuffle back – sated – to Our Normal Lives.

A happy, healthy, and prosperous 2016 to all of you, from all of us here at Phish.net! Nos vemos en Mexico!

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Our next puzzle will have you spinning. All you need, is on the label - though click through, if you're playing, for a higher-quality image.

Concert images (clockwise from bottom left) by Andrew Blackstein (8/23/15 and 10/31/14) and Jake Silco (7/12/14 and 8/23/15) used by permission.

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