I didn't think I was going to go to this until a .netter hooked me up with a ticket in the final hour. Had great times at the meetup prior to the show and tried out NY Halal carts for the first time.

Music was great. Duh. Read the setlist. You like Phish, you'll like this.

MSG is a trip, it's been said before. Usually Phish take over blocks of a city when they arrive. MSG has like a 2 block radius around it where you feel a mild fan presence. Even on the escalators, it doesn't really feel like a show. Then you get to the seats, and like 80% of the audience is wearing primarily black and grey like New Yorkers always do. This was kind of a sophisticated, restrained crowd. This isn't a complaint at all. I had a great time. I love all the little universes the band plays in, MSG is a distinctly different one.

Security was quite mellow and I didn't have a hard time hearing the band or seeing them...you just gotta poke around, as the saying goes. A guy brought what looked like three year old and ten year old daughters to the show. OK. There also was this dude near me who strummed on an inflatable guitar for at least two songs. From afar, I watched people bug out on the rail and Pizza Shirt Guy channel TreyEnergy. I love playing Phish Where's Waldo.

Precise first set. Not a lot of time between songs. Good vibes. Tweezer was the highlight of this show as I'm sure it was for many others. I felt the hairs stand up on my arms during some of Trey's solos. It felt like we were rats and Trey was the Pied Piper...it was a hypnotizing experience...felt like I was in some massive mating ritual. Felt all of the pleasure that I do when I'm dancing in my kitchen while cleaning and cooking, but it was amplified by being with 30,000 other folks. Suzy Greenberg came on and I thought that it was the closer on a 4 song set...I had totally stepped out of time for a bit and needed to check my cell. I was completely absorbed in the music and 100% sober, btw.

I've been listening to the show on my Ipod while driving. Second set is the main attraction. Very balanced and symmetric playing going on, especially in Sand. There are comparisons to Magna going on on .net right now, and well, they are two totally different experiences, both great. This show was something I drove to while staying at my in-laws', Magna was a 3 day festival. Phish is a band and they usually play very well. You listen the recordings, and you'll hear these four men at work at two different places. Compare all you want, that's the joy of this band. You watch them on Webcasts, play their music at work, discuss it, change your mind, argue, etc. etc. etc. It's a hell of a hobby!

Few recent songs in this show. I read some complaints about that here and there...saying the band is being 'a nostalgia act.' That's wrong, IMHO. This is a band that plays whatever they want. If they're in the mood to play songs they wrote in their 20's and they feel the crowd will be into it, they do it. I like that they don't feel like they always have to add newer material to prove they can still write and be relevant. We all know they can---it's fine, we trust them.