4/21 = 12/30

Tonight was nothing short of great. I was grateful to be able to take one of my life long friends to his first show and he had the time of his life.

Wolfman’s / Ghost major highlights of the first set for me. S2: CDT > Tweezer > 2001 > Maze??? If you told me this foursome would ever happen I’d eat my shoe. And let’s just appreciate that we live in a world where About to Run and Mango Song are the cooldowns.

This is why we do it folks. All aboard for 4/22.

I have nothing but good things to say about 4/21. Suzy and 46 days really ramped the energy from the start and it was electric. Awesome Wolfman’s and Ghost to close the first set jammed beautifully and masterfully. Cool inclusions like TMWSIY and Avenu, Esther, and Plasma.

Second set was fire with some awesome jamming throughout, melodic and blissful short Tweezer into an electric jammed 2001. Maze and Hood both peaked really well and kept the energy high. Character Zero had the building shaking. A return to form in my eyes and I’m excited to see what’s in store for the remaining two nights.

Last night's show was A+. It was a show that could only be played to its potential in Madison Square Garden, nowhere else. Supposedly the 3rd-second set Maze in 10 years?!

Another interesting thought... no songs about "soul" last night. But it's true! All of the songs last night were about characters, some fictional some real!... (Suzy, well, not anymore! She's real!!), Esther, Lee Fordham, TMWSIY, The Wolfman's Brother, the Ghost, Harry. Some of Trey's best lyrics were sung last night. All of the song choices were made to be interpreted by us... no cheesy soul-ocean bullshit, for once. Really deep, thought-provoking lyrics. I mean, Mango Song has no genre. Maze makes your head spin. And even Life Beyond a Dream is heavy for that era of songs. One of the most cohesive shows I've seen in a long time.

Here are some of the other notes from the night...

Mango Song and Maze (pretty much) back to back. Two early Phish studio gems with one-of-a-kind jingly endings. I see you, Trey
Harry Hood summed up in one word would be "comradery"
We got Zero'd but in the best way possible. A very psychedelic Zero to say the least
Mike Gordon has been MVP since his first notes in Carini. He is masterfully playing the entire neck with such force, precision, and intention that it feels like the band is following him. He has really stepped it up.
For 14 minutes, that Tweezer was up there with 12-30-19. Not about the timestamp, it's about what's inside.
The jump from Zero in Tweezer was criminal. Shouldn't be legal
Triple Threat Second Set: Chalkdust, Tweezer, Hood
A perfect example showing the hours Trey puts into curating the show alone. Nothing was random last night. Very intentional.

Phish sure gave the Suzy Greenberg a hell of a show, we all need a neurologist after this one. Ghost first set closer was incredible, there was a moment when it felt like Trey was setting up the ending; Fishman and Page veto-ed and pushed us into a fiery peak.

Second set is pure fun. If you're gonna give us a zero make it a tweezer. The garden was riled up tonight. Happy to see my first "12/30" show live up to its reputation.

When Mangos is the 2nd set cooler you know you are in business. Killer 2nd set top to bottom. Shout out to a Ghost that blew the building apart in the first frame and a Maze that scattered the ashes in the 2nd. A few clunky moments here and there tonight? Maybe. But who cares? We'll take that show every day of the week and twice on Thursday. Well done, Boys. Well done.

Wow was this a fun show! High energy from the beginning, playful banter from Trey and a nice and rare Esther to round out set 1! Set 2 flowed together so well, tons of classics back to back. Not a huge Tweezer guy but my gosh the blissfulness of this one with the riff reminiscent of your pet cat throughout, made for such a pleasant experience! Everyone thought Hood would end set 2, but surprise, a character zero followed up by a little recap of what we had previously heard in set 2 with Tweezer teases galore. A very fun show to be at and one I can’t wait to re-listen to.

For me, sitting solo this night I was never alone. In a room filled with friends known and unknown, my friend and brother on N2 was the music and the music from start to finish was a beautiful dream. I want to highlight how wonderful the build up to our lift off was. First, having Suzy at her first show and the band opening with her song was just exactly what Phish is, fucking crazy! Suzy Greenberg’s first show? GTFO that’s fucking amazing! Loved it. A proper rocker 46 Days then led us into my very first and long sought after Plasma. This next thing I say may be weird, but TMWSIY was the launching point for me. I just felt that during the beauty and magic of the quiet notes ringing out over us (not a single talker in my section to boot), that we were collectively passing through a portal to a new place that is mapped out for a brief time in the music being played. My expectations soared after the Hebrew prayer was sung and with the closing notes of TMWSIY we launched into a Wolfman’s whose ragging peak of a close will speak for itself for years to come. Listening back in the pause after, a guy in the crowd is yelling , “Sing Monica!” but Trey wanted to tell the story of Esther and so they did. Having only recently caught my first live version (see The Gorge) I was just as excited to get it again at my next run of shows. Our story of Esther ended were the Story of the (good god almighty) Ghost begins! What a way to end the first set, my heart was already so full.

I could go on and on about the 2nd set, but I’m not. It speaks for itself and many others have left their wonderful thoughts on it. I will only say this, the Your Pet Tweezer is My Pet Tweezer. That beautiful uplifting jam is my jam. It’s been the background music in my head nonstop since that night. As I sit here in my projects office alone in the Arctic writing this review, in place of writing about the rest of the 2nd set, I’m going to once again listen to it and follow the road map through the portal of space and time to that place, even if I can only glimpse it for a moment. I highly recommend you do the same. Cheers.

Taking a big step up from N1 of the April MSG run, the band had clearly shaken off a good amount of rust for the next few nights. I'm still not sure which night was my personal favorite among 4/21-4/23, but just reading the setlist for N2, it's clear Phish was out to please. Set 1 covers a lot of ground: some well-played but standard fan favorites in Suzy, 46 Days, and Plasma; a couple meaty jams out of Wolfman's and Ghost; and a few rarities I had all but given up on seeing from TMWSIY, Avenu Malkenu, and Esther. Aside from a couple forgeiveable slip ups in Esther, I thought this entire set sounded fantastic. Gold medal goes to the last few minutes of Ghost where Mike sets up a sweet and sultry mood and Trey slowly takes it to the god damn moon.

Set 2 follows suit with another excellent batch of tunes. Starting off with a jammed out CDT, the band spends most of the tune in an I Know You Rider-esque groove to let Trey fly around the fretboard, guiding the ebb and flow of energy. Without the world's smoothest transition, Trey signals to -> into Tweezer, where we get some more teases of Your Pet Cat, some really awesome call & response (hell yeah Mike), and then transition to an uplifting C major jam that maintains its delicacy even at its peak. Also Sprach gave the audience some nice Martian Monster / Woo! time and scratched my itch to see another 2001 at an indoor venue (something about those lights just hit so much harder at MSG than Dick's). Trey absolutely crushed the Maze peak before starting off About to Run (the first song I wasn't super excited for). Things picked back up with another unexpected tune in Mango Song, a false ending Harry Hood that dips its toes in a bunch of different modes of D before the final resolution, and a killer Character Zero->Tweezer->Character Zero finale that sent the audience reeling. After these two killer sets, I was a bit bummed to end with a less-than-inspired Life Beyond the Dream (one of the weaker versions, imo), but I'll always take a Tweeprise

Overall, I definitely thought the band turned it the fuck on for N2, delivering one of the more entertaining and consistent shows I've personally attended. Checked off a few bucket list songs and offered plenty of dancing. Upon relistening, I think Ghost stands out as an easy highlight from the evening; go check it out.

The Highlight for me was that Bouncy stellar Tweezer It may be a short one but what it lacks in length it more than makes up for from about 8 minutes it it goes from ok to Glorious Trey finds a pocket of a select few notes and just goes to Gamehendge like smooth butter. That one deserves a listen to and the entire show was great but that song is life changing! It almost has the sweet simplicity of TMWSIY It was a Mellow Tweezer not a rocker but I prefer this! DWD 2-21-03 esque also always a rocker Set 2 opener almost always but like that Tweezer too is usually in spot 1 not 2 but this was just like butter. Please I beg you if you must just dowload their Jams and can only pick one from each night, this was it. Esther is one of my favorite tunes so that rare gem was also nice to hear even though it was a bit sloppy in parts. Trey was much more relaxed tonight and rarely felt like he was forcing it. . .he was surrendered to the flow for sure (Lizards my all time favorite song) and the fab other 3 went along w Trey's mellow mood
Night 2 made up for Night 1 in SPADES!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this show. This was one of those shows where the music was just sublime. Some common and uncommon songs all woven together in a beautiful musical soundscape. The band sounded tight and like they were having a great time. We sat on the side of the stage(Mikes side) and the sound quality was definitely better than Chase bridge. Thank you Phish and my tour buddy Dr. Triptone!