You know how they say "you can't judge a show by it's setlist"? Well, last night's setlist was fire on paper, and you still can't get a grasp of the energy in the building just by looking at the setlist. To say Phish is playing out of their minds right now is an understatement. They came out guns blazing with Possum and the energy didn't come back down until the lights came on at the end of the show. Guyute was a treat, and played phenomenally. Axilla was sheer electricity vibrating off of Trey's guitar right into our ears. That went right into the aptly named Energy, which rode the waves of the highs of the first set, and perfectly served as a moment to reflect on the history which is being made in Madison Square Garden this summer.

Which brings us to one of the absolute highlights of last night and this entire historic run, what other than the Meatstick? Meatstick was a simply put a party with 20,000 friends who were laughing and having a good time, as their favorite band was loving every minute, having fun and playing music for some goofballs. This was one of my all time favorite moments as a Phish fan.

The notes of evil Phish from earlier in the set in Guyute and Axilla were brought to life in It's Ice, and later Carini and The Well, and let me tell you, this is about as good as it gets. He may laugh in full light of my frown, but Phish did not bring me down, as Blaze On brought back the party vibes from Meatstick earlier, and capped off what was one of my favorite sets of all time. I should also note, Blaze On is a song which has only gotten better with time and the band's willingness to embrace its jam, this was maybe the best Blaze On that I've seen yet.

Phish came out with a slowed down, funked up version of Cavern which something I didn't yet know I needed. To those who haven't heard funky Cavern yet, it's something which in my opinion works way better than it's Llama and Maze counterparts, very fun, I highly recommend giving it a listen. Carini> Piper> The Well, as previously mentioned, was the reemergence of evil Phish from the first set, which brought alongside it melt your face rock and electric jams. The Howling brought the energy back to party time, with 20,000 goofballs howling at night in Manhattan, and Taste encapsulated the moment in an uplifting jam where Trey was really just showing off that he's still the best guitar player in the world. About to Run rocked the house, and Chalkdust Torture really didn't ever have to end, it was that good...

There were rumblings of Frankenstein being teased in the first set during It's Ice, as the crowd had a moment to rest during intermission. Well, as this band never ceases to amaze, they came back out and Page bolstered his pearl white keytar, meaning only that the band was about to play the legendary Frankenstein by The Edgar Winter Group. If Meatstick shocked my brain, then Frankenstein ripped it out of my head and made it explode all over the arena; and I'm sure I'm not the only one judging from the faces leaving MSG and the fact that no one's heard Frankenstein in 120 shows, or since the pre-covid era. Nothing short of a masterpiece. They could have left it right there if they wanted and everyone in the building would have been more than elated. Trey even motioned to remove his guitar and bow before walking off, but then they turned to each other and said fuck it, lets do one more, and gave us a Slave just for the hell of it, something I doubt anyone could ever complain about.

This is about as good as it'll ever get people. This is how to Phish. 5/5