Lets have a fun exercise.

Do you like Phish?

Yes: Well, then this show has just about all that you could ask for. Fluffhead opener that went type 2, the Your Pet Cat that led to subsequent teases throughout the rest of the show, a soaring Gin, a Tube that jammed (it didn’t peak but come on), a second set opener 4.0 type 2 Bowie followed by 3 great jams in Everything’s Right + YEM + Ruby Waves, a 2 song 20 min encore with shenanigans at the end of Possum that told us Phish had about a couple of hours left in them if they could have…

No: Well, then, what are you even doing here?

SET 1: Fluffhead: Killer type II jam, what an opener! All-timer. ->

Your Pet Cat: Very cool setlist, they definitely rage this one out. >

Bathtub Gin: Really sick jam that gets effects heavy in the 10-minute range. Up until then it has a dissonant edge to it, appreciated that a good bit! In the early 12’s Trey employs that backward sounding guitar effect – that he would hit up in 99 and 00 – it told to me recently what the technical term is for this but I cannot remember right now what it’s called. Unfortunately, the last three minutes they settle for that 3.0 boiler plate bliss jam that they could do in their sleep. Still, a very good jam and the set is off to a start that would turn any Phish fan’s head. I guess I didn’t catch the DEG tease? >

Hey Stranger: Quite the funky tune. Liked it! Cool placement too. This has a major camel walk element to it in the mid to late 4’s.

Tube: Ah, perfect placement – two super funky tunes in a row, nice! Ends up in a major key jam, which is very good. Trey holds a note for almost a minute and then they go for the ending. >

Slave to the Traffic Light: Stop rushing through this song. It cannot be rushed, it requires a great amount of patience and the ability to listen to your band mates. A Slave under 6 minutes is a quick no for me. I never thought I would say this, but they need to shelve Slave. The vocals in the beginning are wretched and now Trey is going for the vibrato thing in this one too? Yuck.

Blaze On: Definitely well raged. Nice set closer.

SET 2: David Bowie: Pretty solid jam – ending is a little rough.

Everything's Right: Outstanding jam all the way around – has something for everyone really. Would relisten and recommend. >

You Enjoy Myself: Lots of good funk in this YEM. Trey busts out the machine gun for a big climax. Absolutely slays this beast. Really enjoyed this YEM, would relisten/rec. >

Ruby Waves: Outstanding jam throughout and the Heartbreaker tease around 13:30 is really woven in well. Would relisten/rec. >

Lonely Trip:

Back on the Train: Great little micro jam, super tight. >

Character Zero: Standard.

Fun fact about the encore. Both of these tunes have of course been seen in the encore slot before, but never together. Of the 133 times Guyute has been played it has only been paired with Possum coming after it 5 times – only once in 3.0:

7/15/1996
12/7/1997
8/16/1998
6/18/2011
12/29/2022

ENCORE: Guyute: Trey needs whet his whistle, lol. Trey definitely struggles in most of what leads up to the evil part. Pretty, pretty rough Guyute.

Possum: Standard.

Replay Value/Summary: Fluffhead, Gin, Everything’s Right, YEM, Ruby Waves. This show RIPS! Tons of big jams and clear intent from the band on display opening with Fluffhead AND taking it type II. Things just kept getting stronger from there throughout the show. This show is the polar opposite to 12.28. I would rate this as a 4.2 out of 5.

What a show. Barn burner from start to finish.

Set 1: Fantastic 45 min Fluff -> YPC > Gin segue to start the night. Real tight playing and jamming in both Fluff and Gin. Great debut for Hey Stranger, they made it sound like they’ve been playing it for years. A slightly rocky Tube into a brief but cool Slave. Thought that would be the end of the set but Trey was like fuck it I wanna play Blaze On and they tore it up.

Set 2: Kept the energy of the first set and brought it to the second set. Awesome Bowie and then an Everything’s Right with a great jam. YEM was laid back and had some dope Mike soloage. Vocal jam went sooo smoothly into Ruby Waves which had an awesome jam too. It was definitely a night of varied and cool jamming. BOTT > Character Zero ripped. They peaked Character Zero hard and through the webcast you could see Trey getting super into it which I feel like you always love to see as an (virtual) audience member.

Guyute was slotted nicely as a bustout into the encore and it was great to finally hear Mike sing solo in Possum. Some great banter in both songs too, could really tell the band was feeling it.

This was an awesome set. Zinger after zinger after zinger. Much better segues/instrumental performance than last night. Probably the best show I’ve witnessed with my young Phish eyes. Excited to see if they can match the energy tomorrow.

4.5/5

A start-to-finish heater. Tons of jams, patient yet energetic play and damn near perfect song placement. Not much more you can ask for in a Phish show. I’m not gonna run the play by play through each song but listen to Fluffhead, Bathtub Gin, and the ENTIRE first hour of the second set.
Outstanding. 9/10…

..and then the million dollar question: With the bar now set this high, will 12/30 be the One?

Even among a slew of special dates around NYE, 12/29 continues being a reliable home for instant hits. As IndolentFool said in their review, this was an absolute barnburner; I cannot think of any word more apt than that. Fluffhead opener! And it absolutely rocked. That wasn't the end, though; far from it: the first set was full of vintage jams - each one was a contender for best version of the year of its respectful song. When I met up with friends at setbreak, I said to one of them that "That was a classic" in reference to the Gin, but he responded with "Well, which one? They were all classics!" To fool the crowd into thinking the set was ending with a supercharged Slave was another masterstroke, and the finally set-concluding Blaze On left us punch-drunk in the best possible way.

Set II was obviously no slouch, either - a fiery Bowie begat Everything's Right, and then an increasingly rare non-12/31 YEM during the YEMSG run was sublime. The Ruby Waves that followed was seismic in its issuances of jam, and the rest of the set was equally cataclysmic, concluding with a triumphant Character Zero. Rounding everything out, the Guyute encore opener was a welcome warm-up to the explosive Possum that finished things up. This show is definitely worth listening to again and again, and while I'm trying to type while acknowledging recency bias, this felt like an instantly vintage Phish performance. It's one I will certainly revisit.

Just an incredible show from start to finish.

22 minute Fluffhead to open with excellent playing through the composed sections AND a great jam.

Your Pet Cat lol - Trey teased this throughout the night which was really cool to hear.

Probably one the best 3.0 Gin's - blissful jamming from everyone with a Trey peak that gave me chills. IMO Gin was the jam of the night.

Rest of set 1 was really solid, with a nice jam at in the end in Blaze on.

David Bowie second set opener..jaw is on the floor. Loved the fairly long eerie intro - reminded me of the monster from exactly 28 years ago Some great jamming here too!

Stellar composition and jamming continued throughout the rest of the second set with some high octane playing as expected in BOTT & Character Zero to close out set 2.

I thought to myself that I would've been satisfied with a lone set 1. Then came set 2...AND THEN after everything they gave us, they come out swinging again with Guyute..are these guys 35 again?! With the exception of a few Trey flubs during some of the most difficult parts of Guyute, I think they absolutely crushed it. So damn good.

And of course they couldn't just leave us with Guyute. They decided there was plenty of time left to blow the roof off of MSG in Possum -which they did.

End of Possum also contained some hilarious Trey banter. When starting to wrap up possum Trey then says 'thank you everyone, don't do anything we wouldn't do' and then proceeded to keep jamming. They repeated this another 3 times, and then Trey started saying 'don't do anything we wouldn't do, but if you do, take us with you' LOL

These guys continue to amaze me. Unbelievable show. Ready for Night 3!

I left the night of 12/29, love at my side, with the biggest smile on my face- all I wanted to do was inhale fumes, eat hot dogs, and remain in that evenings vibrations. It was a night to remember. A week later and a proper re-listen while recovering from covid, I find out my fungi rotten brain was not playing tricks on me as it has so many times before. This show is the real deal- top to bottom, start to finish. I especially loved the memory game jam at the end of the Possum- which after re-listening I am still not sure what Trey was trying to say....but I guess we need to let them know where the party is at.

So much fun at this show! They really seemed to lean into every song. So much energy, that were clearly having a ton of fun, evidenced at the end by the fact that they didn’t seem to want to leave the stage! One of the things that struck me during the entire show was how fast Fish was playing. It took me back to 99….how Fish would push the pace of the songs and The band would respond by shifting into a higher gear. Amazing. The crowd was locked in too, not many chompers or spunions in our area. Seemed like everyone was there to dance, and they had that place bouncing! Gotta love riding the wave as the whole building moves with the crowd! Another amazing show at the Garden, just such great energy and the band always seems to love being there. Happy New Year everyone!!!!

The opening three songs was 45 minutes of fire. Hey Stranger featured a guitar tone that felt unique to the song. Slave as the 1st Set cool down song, anytime, thank you. And Blaze On blazed away.

Bowie opened a 2nd Set for the 1st time in 24+ years! And what followed was top notch versions of every song, probably the best BOTT I've been in the building in and that might also apply to the Zero.

Guyute Possum was a pretty sick ending to a spectacular show.

Really great phish show tonight. Watched from atop the chase bridge. Fluffhead was 22 minutes and as good an opener u can get. Then that bathtub gin came from nowhere, perhaps the jam of the night. I even liked your pet cat. They were just that locked in tonight.

2nd set got off to a good start with bowie. But kicked up a notch after. Top notch jam in everything's right, top notch YEM. 2nd set highlight is the following ruby waves which was blissful.

Encore containing Guyute? Yeah, this was a confirmed heater. Truly. Don't think I'll be missing the next 2 nights. Too much fun to be had.

Pretty great show all the way around. You would have to really nitpick to knock too many holes in this one. Definitely a 12/29 heater. Peak after peak for a rip-roaring crowd...the kind of show I'll take every time out. Fiery playing. Tight transitions. And a killer Fluff to kick things off with Page bringing his A game all night. Great stuff from top to bottom.

Few openers in the Phish canon elevate joy quite like Fluffhead. Perhaps this is because Fluffhead is synonymous with Phish’s return (see 03/06/09), or maybe it is just a great opener (see 10/23/21) — or both. Regardless, the jammed out Fluffhead that opened 12/29/22 signaled the start of an ebullient voyage for the MSG faithful. Fluffhead was followed by Your Pet Cat — a natural resolution to the teases sprinkled throughout the previous night sets. Your Pet Cat went feral and lurched towards towards the bombastic, before dropping into the brazenly psychedelic Bathtub Gin. Gin churned with melodic spontaneity as Trey commandeered his effects arsenal to deliver a thrilling jam tinged with shadows of dissonant chaos that never fully surrendered to the darkness. Gin capped a 45-minute stretch of brilliant, inspired playing that left us nodding our heads in buoyant approval.

Next came Phish’s debut of the brooding and slinky of hey stranger. I half expected the debut to serve as a breather after the kaleidoscopic Gin, but it wasn’t to be. Hypnotic and rippling with possibilities, hey stranger felt like we were allowed to gaze into that same mandala only to see that it had been stripped bare of its color to reveal its seductive monochrome symmetry. Revving the funk into high gear, Trey launched into the decadent swagger Tube which chugged along smoothly until it careened into its bluesy middle section — form superseding flow. A cool and suave Slave to the Traffic Light followed before the first set closed with a scorching Blaze On that stoked anticipation for Set 2.

In the same way that Set 1 started with a jammed-out standard, David Bowie quickly positioned Set 2 for similar unfettered exploration. This Bowie is dynamic, and the patient guitar harmonics beginning at 5:40 establish a delicate mood that by the 10-minute mark had blossomed into an elegant soundscape that peaked brilliantly before Bowie’s ultimate descent into its frenetic coda. A well-placed Everything’s Right morphed into a surprisingly gritty funk jam, setting the table for a soaring You Enjoy Myself that was executed with exquisite precision, including extra spicy soloing by Mike. The YEM vocal jam dissolved into a Vedic-esque chant that ushered in the opening chords of Ruby Waves. Arguably the highlight of the show, Ruby Waves burst forth mature and glorious. As the jam unfolded the band conjoined to form a sprawling sonic leviathan, appendages pumping with hypnotic fluidity — a mental image no doubt inspired by the Trammel poster released that night. The Heartbreaker tease elicited a raucous response from the crowd, culminating yet another staggering run of improvisational music — a perfect complement to the first set’s opening sequence. A plaintive and dreamy Lonely Trip followed, which juxtaposed nicely against the scorching renditions of Back on the Train and Character Zero that closed Set 2. A quirky animal-themed encore featured an untidy but jolly Guyute and a spirited Possum with lively Trey banter in the final bars.

Like many 12/29s of the past, the 2022 installment delivered as much joy and improvisation splendor that any of us can dare wish for — which left us hoping and wondering if they could outdo themselves on 12/30.