One of the things that gets lost in the quibbling about the new-ish songs at the micro level is how they function at the macro level.

The two song salvo that draws the curtain on this years' Garden party is an opening mood to a concert/run that the band couldn't have pulled off even five years ago because these particular songs didn't exist five years ago. The sparkling, ebullient jam in a Wave of Hope (with its roots firmly planted in Donovan's There is a Mountain) is directly colored by the measured but hopeful tone of the two songs that precede it. One doesn't exist without the others.

Yes, it's dadrock, but it's really freaking profound dadrock. Some, I daresay, of the most profound ever performed.

The subsequent Cities provides a dreamy complimentary jam, and the rest of set I that follows is no slouch either, with a couple of relative rarities, a swampy Free, and an old-timey Stash that adds some nostalgia to the mix.

Second set, then, is one of the jammiest of the tour so far, despite having no singular jam approach the 20 minute mark. Much ground is covered here, some of it unexplored and new, including, improbably, a swing jazz jam in Plasma that's somewhere between a 1920's speakeasy and the Mos Eisley cantina band from Star Wars (really, where the hell did this come from?) Simple gives us a glimpse of the machinery under the layers of love and light, and the closing Melt reveals the heart of reality to be an alien AI hive mind undergoing wave after wave of cascading system failures.

The Good Times Bad Times encore functions as a grade-A stamp of approval from the band, marking this as the first truly great show from a tour full of really good shows. And truly great it is, able to sit easily at the table with the likes of 10/29/21, 12/30/22 etc.

The last few years have been full of watershed moments like this one, old Phish mixing and meshing with new Phish, giving us new forms and new meanings and interpretations. I don't think the full weight of what's transpiring now will be known until the passage of time provides some much needed perspective. Best to layback and enjoy the scenery here at what may be later recognized as the top of a mountain.

SET 1: Evening Song: Good enough tune. The vocals sound uncomfortable for Page. >

A Wave of Hope: The first thing that grabs my ear is the breakdown that starts happening around the mid 12 minute range. They take things down a few notches and trey hits this echoing effect. Very cool. Another effects driven breakdown starts around 16:45. The jam that eventually evolves out of this is truly inspiring. Very peaky! The re-entry into the ending lyrics is real head scratcher. Trey singing them way to fast an in an uncomfortable high register. I don’t get it. But, whatever. That jam was ridiculous. This is an all timer version for sure.

Cities: Another very upbeat, very peaky jam. Beautiful. Peaks for days and days. Damn! Impressive. Those two jams at the beginning of the set is just nuts. Guess they let everyone know they weren’t messing around.

The Old Home Place: They basically start up Beauty of My Dreams and then immediately stop after like half a beat. Then from Trey, “This is thematic Mike, this actually follows the last song in a little bit of a way”. Then they go on to play TOHP and play it as you would expect. >

Free: Broadway Trey. Plenty of vibrato, singing in that higher register and halting delivery of lyrics. Why? Cool interplay from Trey and Mike in the early stages of the jam. Trey with that bullfrog effect.

Brian and Robert: Page’s solo was sweet I though.

Stash: Good enough. The ending is quite strong but the body of work before hand is just really sort of nonexistent.

My Soul: Rip roaring good time.

SET 2: More: Really? To open the set? >

Ruby Waves: Love how quiet and dark this gets in the early stages . This is great! Page has some huge WTU style effects showcased in here. Wish they would have kept this going, but Trey’s love and light ADD would not allow it unfortunately. Good news though, it eventually finds itself in a funky, bouncy jam. Tons of fun there. All in all, this was a very solid jam. The segue into Plasma is ridiculous. ->

Plasma: The very early stages of this jam are awesome. Trey sounds like he is right out of Summer 97 – by 4 and a half that is over but still – loved that. The jam gets effects heavy in the middle, breaks into upbeat mode. Page again is leaning on heavy WTU like effects in the 9 minute range and ongoing for two minutes. The last 4 or 5 minutes you will find Trey blazing through tons of great runs. Not peaky type stuff like in Wave of Hope and Cities though. This is a very strong jam and to date was the longest version they have played. >

Simple: Pretty chaotic jam through the middle part. Plenty of dissonance and even slight whale calls. Solid enough jam – nothing to write home about really but it certainly keeps the momentum up. >

Mountains in the Mist: Ahhh, I will take this most anywhere/anytime. Takes me right back to 7.3.99.

Split Open and Melt: Chaos and effects. Had to be there’d.

ENCORE:

Good Times Bad Times: Absolutely crushed. Very impressive!

Summary: If the jams are why you love Phish, then this is the show of the tour so far IMHO. Great show! 4.3/5

Replay Value: A Wave of Hope, Cities, Ruby Waves -> Plasma

Wow!
What an amazing show! What a crazy day!
After just getting my car tuned up the other day, We pack it up with 3 days worth of clothes and food to head down to NYC to our hotel. Picked the GF up from her last day teaching summer camp in Fairfield CT and head to Trader Joe's for last minute refreshments. Then the fun starts... Every instrument indicator light illuminates including the power steering, which locks, and the battery dies. I get a jump from a nice girl and her mom but it it hot AF and the car is still having issues. Eventually it gives out. AAA comes and does a battery test and tells me it's my alternator and not safe to drive to NYC or anywhere. We figure the best plan is to get AAA to tow us the 1.5 hours to my house and take another car. They eventually call us back to tell us that it's gonna be hours and they're contacting out to another company who doesn't take passengers.
New plan: Have them take the car (which shows up at midnight) and hop on the train from Fairfield. I won't get into my fear of trains stemming from a traumatic incident in Oakland. We finally get to Grand Central and hop in an Uber to our conveniently located hotel (28th & 7th). Then there's a SNAFU with check in. There's a problem with their system and none of my cards take. Well, I just used them so I know they work. I "politely" tell the woman after 20+ mins that we're running late and to just make us ket cards and we'll sort it out later. We'll be here 3 days and all our stuff will be upstairs. Great! We get upstairs and the room looks like shit. GF is upset; I'm not stoked either. But there's no time to fuss bc the show's starting!
We catch the opener on my phone in the hotel room. A fast Evening Song is a great opener for a 7 night run in NYC. The play Wave of Hope as we're walking. As we enter MSG they start playing Cities and it is loud and glorious. We decide to grab a quick bite since it's been since breakfast and then hit our seats. I thought the seats were going to suck be they were sect 108 and too close to the stage for good sight lines. I should know from seeing 62 other Phish shows at MSG already that there really are no bad seats. And these are actually great! Right on an aisle with plenty of room and pretty close. They play a ripping Free, sweet Brian and Robert and perfect Stash. I think I saw Trey smiling at my dance moves during that one, Lol!
The second set was one of the best I've seen. 6 songs, all great! More is a great set opener. Plasma and Simple were wild! MITM was a nice mellow point to take a breath before the most insane version of Split Open and Melt I've ever heard. This has been my favorite phish song for 248 shows since 7/26/92 at Big Birch. Last night's version was the most insane I have ever heard! GTBT was the perfect encore. SO much left on the table for the next 6 nights. IDK if we'll make all 7. but have our sights on 5 at least.
So after a gruelling day wrought with potential disasters, we glided through relatively unscathed and oh so happy to have finally made it to the show and our awesome seats. It would've been great to hear Train song or BOTT or Billy Breathes or Glide but there's still 6 more days! What an incredible show! That Split Open and Melt was one for the ages!!

Welcome home! This is home, right? Once upon time this was the Phish from Vermont. And while they almost certainly always will be—especially to this Canuck who’s home ain’t far from Burlington—it’s easy to start thinking of them as a New York band. (Or is that a Colorado band..? Overheard in a hip clothing I stopped into with my girlfriend before the show: “I need an outfit I’m going to see Phish tonight… “oh is it your first time seeing them” .. “no..” “do you see them here or in Colorado?” … Heaven forbid Phish is becoming an exclusive club by bi-coastal elites! But I digress..)

So yes it felt very much like homecoming with the happy return to the Garden. “It’s thematic, Mike,” Trey says before they started Old Home Place, following the fabulous Cities, (“find the BEST city to live in”).

Obviously there was much anticipation for the 7 night run—the longest residency since the Bakers Dozen, which looms large over this stretch of shows. And for myself as well, with the night they raised the banner being the last time I was in the room. Time flies, huh?

I can say this—they sure don’t seem to have turned down the crowd energy since 2017. If anything it’s gone up..? It might have been dangerous to blow the roof off with something big or busty—so Trey instead suggests we all take a breath and approach the night with caution, with the smooth invitation of Evening Song.

Once that prelude was done though, holding back didn’t seem like an option. A Wave of Hope, and then the Cities that followed, washed over the Garden approach about 40 minutes of mostly inspired and energetic jamming that would have been comfortable as the second set meat of any show these last two years. Some fantastic Mountain jam like hose in Hope, and a fabulous Cities that left notice that the majestic offering on 4/23 at the Hollywood Bowl wasn’t an anomaly (though the latter still might be a more dynamic offering).

Trey sounded fiercely happy to here, energetic and in full guitar god mode. Free featured some nice duelling action, and Stash had an almost old school feel, never quite going out the box but nevertheless staying engaging and sharp. I would have happily taken another 6 minutes in the middle of that Stash over the My Soul that closed the set, but as mentioned Trey came to rock tonight, and you can’t fault the performance.

The trip to open the second set was decidedly contemporary, vibrating with love and light in a sea of love and plasma. I try and stay receptive to new material, and Ruby Waves has become a contemporary favourite, but 3 newer ones back to back started to leave my wanting a little More.. ? The jamming here probably needs some digesting. Parts were phenomenal, others a little too familiar, but points for the -> to Plasma and the willingness to get weird. It didn’t always work to my tastes. Much as Trey has chops right now, it still feels to me like he’s in a rush to get somewhere in jams and ends up recycling these major rock outs with not very inspiring riffs. My biggest beef lately. If you love the blow up (and the crowd often does) more power to you, but it doesn’t tell a very interesting story. I’d take a slow down space exploration till the real inspired lick comes over 3 rote peaks every day of the week

But the set picked up from here. Simple had a nice jam, not rushed, almost one of those modest minor excursions that wouldn’t be out of place in a jam from the late 90s. And the landing in Mountains of the Mist worked, a tongue in cheek inversion of the On the Road Again that closed to Bakers Dozen run.

Split Open and Melt delivered on its name. Absolutely filthy, evil, face melting material that combined with the ever evolving CK5 rig left the room pretty much obliterated. I’m not sure listening back if it’ll top the standout on 4/22 from earlier this year. But it sure was fun from Section 2.

And the Section was on my mind as the show wrapped. GTBT was executed perfectly, a Bakers Dozen nod, but what came to mind for me was that it was also the same encore I saw at my first show at MSG on 12/29/97, when I had the good fortune of scoring mail order tickets in the same section. Full donut!

Taking my 14 year old to his second show tonight (took him to the dud in Portland in 2016 when he was 8). Have a feeling tonight will be a little more memorable…

Have fun all and stay cool!

Last night's setlist would not excite anyone who is casually scrolling through to see how they opened this MSG run. But do yourself a favor and listen to the entire show, and hear how they spun gold without the aid of the A-list songs in their catalogue. Exquisite jams, seamless segues, and all topped like a cherry by a perfectly placed GTBT encore.

Just about a year ago I flew across the pond to attend 5 of the 7MSG-run of Summer 23. My first Phish (and I intend to come again by 2025 for that, whereever I have to venture in the States or the world). With hindsight, this first night was the best of the five and sharpened my hunger for what more was to come. I was up in the 300s with 3 NewYorkers, had the time of my life there. A Wave of Hope gave me a what's this experience, especially the grande finale. Cities rolled on, Brian, Robert & Misty Mountains had me catching some air. SOAM was deafening and exhilarating at the same time. I'm a 60+ and don't know what life has still to offer for me, but they can't take away this 7-28 from me, ever.

Saw most of the tour and THIS was the show that delivered the psychedelic masterpiece that only comes along here and there. Would not be surprised if the boys took some shrooms this night. I just so happened to be tripping this night, but as a musician, I am an even more critical listener under that influence. If there is no magic, I hear it right away. This show, even the 1st set had a psychedelic edge. Wave of Hope and Cities have that magic. For sure Trey was playing Mountain Jam in Wave. Phish.net please amend. But despite the strong shrooms, the rest of the set was clearly not in Electric Ladyland territory.....like the entire 2nd set was. Honestly, you hear the extra special sauce when tripping to this 2nd set just like Electric Ladyland. It is there. The boys put it in on purpose, just like Jimi did. If you do not know what I am talking about, with respect to Electric Ladyland, you need to dose and listen to it while peaking, start to finish....and then you will know. That is what is happening with the Melt. Full on psychedelic brain orgasm. Trust me. Tested it twice now. Until you hear that while tripping....you just won't get it fully for what it is. Mountains is surreal as well. But the whole set, from start to finish flows perfectly for an acid test music listening party. Suck it up those who dissed on the More opener. It works just fine as the mental warmup for what follows. They probably needed it to get their bearings. This can happen if playing on shrooms and they seem to like a little 2nd set warmup lately. just deal with it. stop judging shows by the setlist. You guys are weak.

On July 28th, 2023 I woke up at 4:30am, twenty minutes before my alarm was set to go off. I always do that on travel days. Got up, brushed my teeth, dropped the cat at the neighbours, drove to St. John’s through seventy-five minutes of highway twilight, flew to Halifax and connected through Toronto Island to Newark. Waited in the Customs & Immigration line for ninety minutes before being waved through in less than sixty seconds, took the Skytrain to Penn Station, walked to our hotel on 36th and discovered that the hotel offered a free happy hour that whattya know, was starting just as we were checking in. Soon discovered that the happy hour entailed nothing but Bud and Bud Lite served in small sample-sized plastic cups, quit the bar in a huff and left m’lady to relax in our room while I went on a mission to find supplies. Upon my return we had a drink of Duty Free and went to a rather excellent pizza place on the corner of 36th & 9th where we filled our shockingly empty gullivers with piping hot pie. Then we went to the show.

Of course the show was Phish, playing the first of their seven-night residency in The World’s Most Famous Arena™, Madison Square Garden (which is conspicuously round, and doesn’t have a garden). The last time they did something like this was their legendary Baker’s Dozen run of thirteen concerts at MSG back in 2017, when the band created special setlists each night based on a donut theme. M’lady and I were thrilled to have attended the last five of those shows and we were excited to be going to the first five of these ones.

And while there had been significant online chatter speculating what sort of surprise theme the band might have in mind for this run - Seven Wonders of the World? Seven dwarfs? Seven deadly sins? - once we were actually in the building there was little talk or speculation about such trivialities as we busied ourselves catching up with far-flung friends, acquaintances, and the inevitable random run-in’s. In this case we incurred a random run-in that saw us getting yanked into the Chase Lounge where a private bar and free bottles of water awaited us as we and our crew took over a wing of barstools.

(I actually pooh-poohed the free bottles of water until m’lady bought one the next night for $6 [plus a $1 tip that almost broke my brain].)

So after a $20 beer and a lot of fun chatter we stuffed a couple of $6 waters into our pockets and headed to our seats. I was looking forward to enjoying all five shows from completely different vantage points, but I was probably most excited for our seats on this night, which were in a short row of bleachers set up at the back of the floor directly behind the lighting board.

Which meant we were sitting directly behind CK5. If you know Phish then you know that CK5 is the nickname of the band’s longtime lighting tech/designer/guru Chris Kuroda, and if you know me you know that I am a huge CK5 fan*.

The bleachers weren’t as close to CK5 as I had hoped. I could see him standing there at his massive console but I wasn’t nearly close enough to see him pushing buttons or sliding faders. But the main thing was our view of the stage. We were straight on and seeing pretty much exactly what Kuroda was seeing, and the show looked amazing!

Good thing too. The girl who showed up late to the seat beside me danced and bumped around raising her arms in the air like a rabid orangutang the whole time, even for ballads like Brian and Robert (for realz). So I was extra-appreciative of the massive distraction that is CK5’s lighting work. I mean he has these hanging trusses that have independent controls on each corner so he can move them up and down or hang them diagonally or what-have-you. And for this tour he added spinning light bars to the front of each one of these dangling glories of polychromatic light. Gosh, it all looked so amazing. Especially when m’lady reminded me to take my glasses off so I could see it all fuzzy. So, so awesome.

I mean the lights in the first set Blew. My. Mind. For minutes on end I stood motionless gaping at the stage in wide-eyed wonder, only to break the trance with giggling fits that forced me to grip my head in my hands to keep it from exploding. I did this for at least fifteen minutes straight. I’m sure it must have looked like I was on all the drugs that I wasn’t.

Unfortunately there was no light show to help distract me at setbreak, when the two couples sitting behind us began conversing so loudly amongst themselves that they were literally screaming. They were clearly having a blast, heck, they probably had a few blasts before they got there, but it was killing me. However, just like the whirling dervish flailing beside me for the whole first set, I said nothing. I ain’t here to step on anybody’s legitimate good time.

Overall the show was very jammy (Melt was a definite highlight) and the lights remained spectacular throughout.

The Good Times Bad Times encore was unquestionably a nod to it being the 50th anniversary of the middle night from Led Zeppelin’s three-night run at MSG that was recorded to create their iconic Song Remains the Same concert film. I only made this connection in retrospect, when I saw a meme about it the following morning. This tidbit led me to speculate that Phish might play the entirety of the movie’s setlist at their show the following night, which I had tickets for**!

By the time the show ended our day had been pretty long and we were exhausted. When the house lights came up we found the nearest exit and bee-lined it back to our hotel, where we clamoured into bed as quickly as we could and fell fast asleep.

*The three reasons why I go to see Phish all the time are: m’lady, CK5, and the band. In that order.

**Spoiler: They didn’t.

https://toddmanout.com/

Saw most of the tour and THIS was the show that delivered the psychedelic masterpiece that only comes along here and there. Would not be surprised if the boys took some shrooms this night. I just so happened to be tripping this night, but as a musician, I am an even more critical listener under that influence. If there is no magic, I hear it right away. This show, even the 1st set had a psychedelic edge. Wave of Hope and Cities have that magic. For sure Trey was playing Mountain Jam in Wave. Phish.net please amend. But despite the strong shrooms, the rest of the set was clearly not in Electric Ladyland territory.....like the entire 2nd set was. Honestly, you hear the extra special sauce when tripping to this 2nd set just like Electric Ladyland. It is there. The boys put it in on purpose, just like Jimi did. If you do not know what I am talking about, with respect to Electric Ladyland, you need to dose and listen to it while peaking, start to finish....and then you will know. That is what is happening with the Melt. Full on psychedelic brain orgasm. Trust me. Tested it twice now. Until you hear that while tripping....you just won't get it fully for what it is. Mountains is surreal as well. But the whole set, from start to finish flows perfectly for an acid test music listening party. Suck it up those who dissed on the More opener. It works just fine as the mental warmup for what follows. They probably needed it to get their bearings. This can happen if playing on shrooms and they seem to like a little 2nd set warmup lately. just deal with it. stop judging shows by the setlist. You guys are weak.

Im finally going to get around to reviewing what i remember from this 7 night MSG run.

Night one of the run and I was excited. I wasn't able to make many of the Bakers Dozen, so this was my first chance to do a big residency. Night 1 I thought would be a warm up or the most skippable - thank god i still went. This definitely holds up as one of the better shows.

We got in through the MSG turnstyles and went to our seats. Right out of the gate I knew this run would be fantastic with the Wave of Hope. Talk about a way to begin, It was hot. And after that, they drop the Cities on us, my first ever. It was also my first old home place.

Stash was amazing. Was drunk and ate food during it and had my face melted. First set a very solid B+, and all im thinking is thank God this band is here and ill be here for all these nights.

Set two time. My first ever More and I actually like the song. The 2nd set did not hold a candle to the first set, which would be somewhat of a theme on this run - but it does contain the best part of the show - a ripping melt to close the show. Aliens and UFOs were the talk of that week and i can honestly say that was as close as ive been to extraterrestial life. thank you phish. Set two B. abbreviated but very strong GTBT encore. This show rocked and deserves this 4.38~ rating. Very very solid. No warming up needed.