All I can say is Bob Fucking Weaver. Since the Net won’t accept shorter submissions, special shout out to Mike’s toy car and the look on his face when Trey went into farmhouse. Also: S.A.N.T.O.S. just absolutely crushed. I couch toured tonight, but the energy and joy during that song came through perfectly. Trey walking around with his strat was priceless. This band has and continues to give us so much. Thank you Phish!

On a night where the expectations are so enormous that anything less than The Best Phish Show You’ve Ever Heard is somehow a letdown, Phish deliverered one of the standout performances I’ve ever heard, in person or on tape. Which is a lot.
From the get go, deep psychic explorations from inside the garden. The sound was amazing, the whole production of Mercury was really beautiful. I think literally everyone in the entire building forgot they were playing Hood before finding the end.
What a fantastic year of phish music. 2018 top to bottom best year of 3.0 phish music, no doubt.

took the last couple nights off from reviewing due mostly to how in awe i was of this incredible band. but it's only right that i review the last show of 2018. and what a show it was!

first set begins pretty standard with a nice moma. stray dog is the first of 4 kasvot tunes played throughout the night. i enjoy this song; it works well as an early 1st setter. 555 is not my favorite, but the jam segment is always solid. i was very excited when sand began---i thought we could be in for another big first set jam. plus the way they've been playing sand this fall (see vegas and chicago versions) has been incredible, with each version reaching ridiculously high peaks. this one was not a huge jam, but it did deliver on the huge peak promise. MSG was rockin' indeed. the next segment, steam > chalkdust > WTU > play by play is definitely worth a listen in full. i certainly wish that they jams in steam and chalkdust had continued (particularly in chalkdust) but aborting a jam to beautifully settle into WTU is definitely fine by me. Play by play might be my favorite kasvot song, and this version featured some inspired grooving from the band. never gonna complain about a waste, or an ass handed, or an antelope for that matter. this antelope featured some great tension and release (as they all should) and ended the set on a great note.

set 2 was a monster set, with one blemish. disease predictably starts it off, and this disease really delivers. a deep type-2 exploration that ultimately winds up in an awesome minor key hose-jam. at 18 and a half minutes, this version certainly went long enough. however, the move to go into farmhouse was certainly not ideal, and the crowd responded with some audible expressions of dismay. according to those who webcasted, mike gordon himself shot trey an annoyed look, which just makes me laugh. regardless, farmhouse is a pretty song which i certainly don't hate, i just wish it wasn't played so early in the set. but phish powered on, dropping into a wonderful 7-below. another 15+ minute jam, this is a sick version that deserves a relisten. -7 drops into twist, which as a song seems to have shifted roles from big jam vehicle to 4th quarter energy boost. i certainly have no problem with that. after the economical twist, those familiar tom-tom hits come, and we drop into harry hood. this is an awesome hood, in which trey steers the band into deep type 2 territory. the jam moves into passing through, the 3rd kasvot song. this is a great song, but i found myself wishing that they would have finished the hood. sure enough, as passing through winds down, trey starts back into the hood jam. it gets finished after all! an awesome ending to a great set.

set 3 was truly awe-inspiring. the music was great - some absolutely sick playing during the mercury as the acrobats performed, a la the clifford ball acrobat jams. the SANTOS was also awesome - again some sick playing even as mike and trey were literally flying! the fourth quarter is standard 3.0 NYE show fare. simple thru suzy was just a rock n' roll dance party. i'll never be upset about the lizards as an encore, and zero caps the night (and the run) off with some amazing energy. i definitely wish we'd heard YEM, Fluff, Reba, divided sky, etc, but in general the song selection this run was excellent.

As for the gag itself, i personally loved it! the pyro effects were really cool, the acrobatics were awesome, and seeing mike and trey fly around was really amazing. it was reminiscent of the petrichor choreography for sure, but i enjoyed this one much more.

as a whole, this was an unbelievably strong New Years run. 12/28 was a solid phish rager, 12/29 was maybe the show of the year, 12/30 is top 5 show of the year and last night was another rager that is no slouch in the jamming department. the last two NYE runs have been just so money. amazing to see that each year the band just improves. god i love phish. what a year.

Seven below. Beast mode. That jam is one of the best I have seen live. To follow with a Carlos Santa infused Twist. To Hood getting a 0 to 60 climax jam. 3rd set was no laydown set. Soar like eagle that set did. Lizards encore brought the warmth and Zero just gave the boys the last chance to rock the hell outta MSG. P.S. 1st set had great energy and that raged Antelope set the tone for the rest of the show.

I love this band of brothers!! Happy new year! Thank you Phish for another great wonderful journey in 2018-2019. We look forward to the new year!! Well done !!! I was feeling a lizards tonight and they delivered. All four played have played with purpose all year! There is not a better band on the planet right now.

LOL Bob Fucking Weaver. Heavens I say. Terrific run at MSG which to me was a continuation of the Vegas run and as far as that goes 2018 as a whole. IMO the best Phish music by year of 3.0...My the guys were determined to blow out ‘18 it seems especially after the Watkins Glen cancellation. But even before that we experienced some outstanding music that is unprecedented for a band of their tenure. Safe to say most bands are riding the successes of the past and riding the horse home. Either ravaged by drugs Love Jerry or just a lack of creativity with age most bands have folded at this point. Not Phish. I feel so lucky to be a fan of a band that continues to push the edge of creativity. What a band what a year. See all you ‘19 can we be so lucky next year??? Love the band love you guys!!

12/31/18: A fitting cap to the run & Fall 18
Set 1: Highlights of the set include: Steam>Chalkdust and the Antelope. Honorable mention for the vocally harmonized section of Ass handed (lol classy, guys). First half of the set was good, very start the night off funky. Lawn boy comes up and might I mention what a nice shirt Page had on. The steam was good not great but had good direction then into chalkdust the crowd just went wild. I felt this one was especially energetic (behind stage looking out at the band/floor for this one) and they even tossed in a little second jam after finishing the CDT (is this becoming a trend? I like it). What's the Use silences the building (in a good way) and then trey sings us to sleep with waste (see Coco monkey meme). Did I mention that I really like the Kasvot songs? (See previous reviews) both stray dog and Play by Play I had a lot of fun with, and I think they fit great in the sets. Cap it off with a well executed antelope, no problem.

Set 2: Here is where the meat of the show really lies. Highlights of the set include: DwD, a confused look from Mike during Farmhouse, Seven Below and the Hood. All are worth a relisten, and even the twist was good but there was no time for more. I was utterly surprised with the Farmhouse call after a great disease (with good direction, which you can't say for all of em). But after that -7 the band tells me to shut up and keep quiet as they get really creative and deep on this track. The Hood I thought was really good (almost going to plinko land) then went into Passing Through. I’m torn on this, I like the tune (and the attempt to segue in and out) but I think it might've been better if they played them separately. They did end up coming back with a good finish to the Hood, but I’m not super sold on this one. Hard to say, either way, the band was flexing their muscles with this one. Shiny gem of the set is definitely the -7 IMO with the DwD at a close second.

Set 3: Highlights of the set include: Mercury & SANTOS. Some really sweet licks from trey and Mike throughout the Mercury and it was just awesome to see the guys having so much fun with SANTOS. I think I was smiling this whole set. I loved the gag, the lights were great, streamers everywhere. Just super fun (and honestly that mercury jam will hold up). Watching mike and Trey fly through the air just having a blast. Watching mike air walk, the goofy balloon dancers. Space smells pretty damn good. The simple got ripcorded but one of my friends wisely said “SIA demands it” and it's pretty much on par for the course. It’ll take a lot more than that to make me salty right now. SIA>LxL>R&R>Suzy were all great fun choices. The only two bad ripcords we really got all weekend was the farmhouse the and SIA, so count your wins! Also we got to witness another couple accounts of the fabled Bob Weaver!

After you play me Lizards, you can play whatever you want. Cliche or not, that was a rocking Zero. I’ll keep this one brief because I wrote some lengthy ones prior, but all in all I just thought this was a great cap to 2018. And what a strong run. Fall tour has been so fun and energetic after the cancellation (thank you all for being amazing). Even the “bad” shows were still awesome and have songs that have “replay value”. Eternal joy and never ending splendor. Keep adding more chapters to the book, pham.

Months after I hit this recent NYE run at the Garden, and this unique show is the one I come back to and listen to the most. Even with monstrous shows like 12/29 and 12/30 preceding it, there's something special about this show to me.

Sand, Steam, and Chalk Dust Torture are the clear set 1 highlights. Sand oozes with space-funk grandeur, and Steam and Chalk Dust may be short, but they pack quite the punch. I'll be honest; I've been getting a little tired of Antelope set closers since the 12/30/17 set II Antelope. I wish they'd bring back the 20 minute insane, chaotic Antelope!

I love this second set, and prefer it much to the second set from 12/31/17. DwD and Seven Below are the obvious big exploratory jams of the night, but this 8 minute Twist is snappy, and fully of energy. I love exploratory Twists a la 12/31/15, 7/23/17, 12/28/17, but I sure am digging the short set 2 high energy treatment Twist has in this show and got during fall 2018.

This set 3 is what makes this show my favorite out of the past several New Year's Eve shows. This is my third 12/31 show, and it's by far my favorite set III. This set is anchored by Mercury, Saw it Again, and a glorious Limb by Limb! This Limb by Limb (only my second) cemented it as one of my favorite Phish songs to see live! I find the lyrics extremely psychedelic and personal, and in this version Trey and Page always kill it with the typical Type I bliss. Suzy Greenberg is noteworthy for some hilarious banter from Fishman.

When they came out for the encore I knew by the expression on Trey's face that we'd get a Lizards. My first Lizards taboot!

Seeing my 21st Phish show in Camden on 6/29 and I'm hoping to finally get my long awaited PYITE!

Before you read ahead, be aware that I don't write reviews with the objective of fluffing everything as a 5-star, best ever show. I like to give my honest opinion and sometimes that means writing things that critique, rather than only praise a performance. If this was the best show you've ever seen, do not in any way let my review affect your opinion.

This year's New Years Run capped what I would consider Phish's finest tour since the return in '09. Rather than taking it easy for 4 shows, the band continued to push the envelope with dynamic, unique improv and several complete sets/shows of music. Much like the Vegas run this year, each night leading up to the final show was an improvement. Apologies for speaking in hyperbole, but Vegas #3 and MSG #3 were some of their best top-to-bottom shows in 3.0. That said, the band has seemed to have problems in the last several years with the actual holiday show, as they often don't quite reach the level as the shows surrounding them (from a musical standpoint at least). I don't mean to say the songs weren't well played in sets 1 & 3 of Halloween or 1, 2, and 3 of New Years, but they just lacked that "it" factor that the other nights had.

Set 1 contained by-the-books renditions of all 12 songs. By no means a bad set, and certainly got us all up dancing, but nothing to write home about.

Set 2 started off with a really improvisational DWD. It seemed like they were steering the jam towards the same territory as the Melt from 12/30 or the Hampton Golden Age but then just as things started to get weird Trey opted for Farmhouse instead. This left most of us at the venue scratching our head, Gordo included. It was really the only ripcord of the run, so they can have it. Seven Below got us back in the swing of things and showed some serious promise for the rest of the set. The jam continued the theme of deep space psychedelia that had prevailed all tour, and just as Mike was laying down some thick funk, Trey opted for the woo's. For real, it's time to retire the woos. I know, the woo-enthusiasts say that since "Trey loves them, I do too!" but they're trite, overdone, and quite honestly ruin the relistenability of the jams they enter. Listen to the Weekapaug from 12/30 that narrowly escaped the woos and tell me that all of these jams wouldn't be better if they had stop-start segments rather than woo segments. Anyway, I digress, but c'mon - don't ruin the Tweezer and Seven Below. OK moving forward -- Twist emerges. It's one of my favorite tunes, but fairly straightforward here. Hood>Passing Through>Hood is a good idea...but again, the crowd wasnt really having the "way-o way-o" which makes for an awkward and non-triumphant return to Hood to finish the set.

Set 3 kicks off with one of my favorite new Phish tunes. We all know what happened next and I won't say much on it. I loved the gag. It was simple, colorful, entertaining, and rang in the new year the best way possible: Phish jamming. SANTOS is the first song of 2019 and had the whole garden signing along. Love that tune in that spot. The remainder of the set was kind of bizarre. Bizarre only because this tour was so full of creativity and improv, yet Simple, Saw It Again, LxL, RnR, and Suzy were all about as straightforward as you can get. Good song selection (hell, way better than 2011 when they played Wedge>Alaska>Velvet Sea right after the ball dropped), but it did feel like they were just mailing it in rather than trying to finish it as they had started it.

Lizards is lizards, and Character Zero had us all raging like we weren't gonna see another Phish show for another 7 months (except for the lucky folks going to Mehico).

All-in-all this was a fantastically average-slightly above average show, especially given that NYE is a show that can be counted amongst the greats if executed properly. Song selection gets a B+/A-, Jamming gets a B/B-, Gag gets a B+. There's nowhere I'd rather be than MSG on 12/31, and the show was definitely a good party.

There's obviously lots to break down... so I'll highlight just one aspect that deserves some recognition; This show's Down with Disease! I'm very much down with the Down that went down. Frankly, I think it's downright one of the better jams I've heard. From a musical standpoint, this is the kind of face-melter that showcases Phish's uncanny ability to evolve and push for new heights while giving us what we want.

I would expect anyone with ears to enjoy, if not marvel at, the shredding that ensues - unless they're just a downer.

Madison Square Garden will always be a special place to see Phish for me. My first ever Phish show was at the Garden on the last night of their 2015 NYE run (after getting a fake ticket to their show at the Mann that summer). I remember not knowing a lot of the songs at the time (though looking back at the setlist, I was extremely lucky) but I do know I was gifted an insane Tweezer (plus Reprise!) and a Lizards in the encore spot. I didn't manage to see them again until the 2016 NYE proper show (Petrichor) and then caught 6 of the BD shows + the 12/28 + 31 2017 shows. The NYE show was my first time on the floor & my mind was completely blown. I told myself then that I would never do NYE anywhere else but on the floor of MSG.

So, when they announced the shows this year, I instantly hopped on floor seats (resell unfortunately, damn scalpers!) for NYE as well as 100 level seats for the 30th. I managed to secure a spot near the side rail, Page side, about 30 feet back from the stage. There was ample room to move and sooo many fun people that I met. I actually went by myself this year and don't regret it at all. The show had my undivided attention the whole time. The first set was great fun, especially once they broke into CDT. That is one of my absolute favorite songs from any band & I don't think I've ever gotten down harder in my life. Not a crazy version, but boy does it whip the floor into a frenzy. WTU was incredible, as always, Play By Play was super groovy (didn't recognize it until they hit the chorus) and waste was incredibly emotional (especially after seeing the helping, friendly book that Bella gifted Trey. Stuff like that is why I adore this band.) That's not even mentioning my first 'Lope (somehow after ~12 shows I never got it until now).

The second set started off with a Disease that predictably went deep. Tons of great improve here, and while the ripcord into Farmhouse was abrupt, they played it perfectly. Seven Below is another one of my favorite Phish tunes and this was also a really, really good version. Everyone around me was so into the groove. Twist surprised me by not going deep, but who can complain when they cut it short for Hood. Great Hood too, some Type II improve. The transition into Passing Through wasn't perfect, but it is also one of my favorite Kasvot songs. Mikes solo in the middle part is just perfect. Then back into the Hood peak to end the last set of 2018! Just great stuff.

I've been waiting on the Mercury gag since 2015. The song has always had so much potential, and when they kicked into it, I was smiling ear to ear. On a side note, my buddy hates Mercury, somehow, and commented the night prior that he was praying that wasn't the gag. I couldn't help but laugh at how different our reactions at that moment must have been. I'm not even going to comment on the midnight spectacle, just go watch the video. The whole floor was going insane during SANTOS and it's moments like that that initially drew me into this band. Where else can you see the band having possibly more fun than the fans. Just absolutely wonderful. The rest of the set was pretty standard (a.k.a fun) stuff.

Everyone was calling a YEM encore as they had about 20 minutes left and while they might not of played it, who can complain about getting Lizards? It was especially great to me, as it was also the encore to my very first show in the same building. The groove during the chorus is just one of the happiest and most fun in their catalog. Zero gave them one more chance to light the building up, and Trey almost never disappoints on things song. Fantastic cap to a fantastic show. Phish's NYE shows are just unparalleled (though I will say I've seen the Biscuits NYE shows a few times and they do a pretty damn good job as well).

Musically, was this the most adventurist night of the run? No. That's not what the NYE shows are about though. It's about celebrating another year with people & a band we all love. If you were there and didn't have a great time, I honestly think there's no helping you. We did get great versions of DWD and -7 as well. Everyone else is saying it, but for a band to be as old as Phish is and to still be pushing limits is something we can all be thankful for.

OMG Maybe MrStevie should stay home and listen to his ‘94 tapes Lololo. Why put in the effort to listen to shit?????? I get it. The band has evolved but my grandad never did. Party on Garth lol. I’m no spring chicken and understand the band has changed. If that’s what I’m looking for I’d still be listening to Molly Hatchett haha good one. Sorry brother it’s not working for you. BTW I didn’t know there was any other kind of LSD than liquid......frickn hilarious

played my favorite song for an encore and one of their best newer songs for the nye ball drop into auld lang song . . .i loved the umbrella theme and the little people going fast on golf carts stand out as the best 2 recent years but this mercury is amazing too! and a great choice i love that song! i dont like stray dog play by play passing thru or say it to me santos i for one think the latest album is garbage much like round room was and only had a few gems this doesnt even have a single one but i think i am one of only a few that feel this way and they are clearly putting the songs into rotation the joke is over and now it is just their latest album not a lie they told us all about an obscure skandonavian band that never existed . . .it is just Phishs latest crap not obscure underground crap. But this was a great year in spite of 10-31 the rest of the year was good and i hope they keep touring and make another far better album

This is fucking bullshit. This band doesn't know what type 1 or type 2 jamming is. They don't care what 2.0 or 3.0 is. They played zero classics during this run. No bowie, no foam, no reba, no divided sky, no fee, no dinner and a movie, no gp, no rift, no mound, no it's ice, no col forbin, no tela, no harpua, no ffm, no glide, no ctb, no gumbo, no nothing. Just the usual shit. This band used to ooze fusion chops, emulate Zappa and yes and Santana and all the greats, but this last 20 years have been crap. My sister in law did liquid acid with the band in their limo at great woods in 2000, with trey' s friend Hammond, from school. They were full of shit then, and now. Trey can't figure out one fucking melodic lick compared to the old days. This band exists to pity his existence. Tom Marshall should find a better composer to write for.