Incredible show, my favorite since the reunion, and one of the Top 5 concerts I've ever witnessed by any artist.

Highlights:
-Guelah Papyrus: crowd was going NUTS!
-Round Room: another great bustout, I was SOOOO happy to finally hear this song. MSG is a round room, after all
-Walk Away: raged harder than the Hartford version, IMO.
-Reba: very great Reba jam, not quite Augusta, but I might call it the 2nd best of 3.0
-Walls of the Cave: so much energy here, great way to end the first set. They nailed it

Set 2 speaks for itself. No need to point out "highlights", just listen to the whole thing. AMAZING performance.

The boys got off to a rockin start -- but slowed down a little after Jim. Why doesn't Jim jam out anymore? Things started to take off again during the closing of Divided where the jam brought tears to the eyes of many phans. Stunningly beautiful jam. Very classical in tenor. The boys later returned to this vibe during the closing jam of Simple. Walls of the Cave literally blew everyone's mind. It was good to hear live. For me, a first time.

The second set had potential to be the best of the year. Crosseyed had some exquisitely funky jam. In Twist, the jam was highly band-led. Trey relaxed into the skill set of his fellow bandmates and took us on a nicely subdued but nonetheless wild ride. Twist set the stage for the best track of the night: Simple. Hands down --- one of the best of all time. Got very classically minded towards the end --- like the DWD --> Bathtub Gin segue at the Great Went in 97 (but less Baroque more Romantic). Sally was epic as always but during Bowie Trey's energy level or something just collapsed. A lot of flubs. It was like he couldn't keep up. Although that was a bit of bummer --- you have to keep things in perspective. After the Simple we just partook in --- Trey could have played Bowie at half-speed and I would have still been quite pleased.

Final thoughts: Phish!!! Please don't tour in Europe this Spring. We need you in the states. Particularly in parts of these states not in the Northeast. Let's keep this thing going. Some small arenas -- some long jams. Do you think you can arrange that?

The boys are back, my friends! You heard it first here on the first of the year.

What a great end to a great run! I got to thinking about this second set's length, and while it may seem short, the heralded 12-07-97 second set is just as many songs and around the same length in minutes (possibly even shorter)

So, no griping about the length of the second set! All time greatness lies in those minutes!

I'd say this was the best of the MSG shows, & since the other 2 were a complete blast, that should say something. I don't believe I have ever heard Foam, Guelah Papyrus & Divided Sky played so well. They rocked Walk Away like they did in AC, with the chord changes under Trey's solo -- just awesome stuff. Reba was nailed, & Walls of the Cave had some great climaxes.

Set II was a ton of fun. Each of c&p, Twist, Simple & sally had it's own unique jam & feel, & each was wonderful. Sally had the place completely rockin (reminiscent of `97 at MSG, but with the added vocal jam, even more fun!). Makisupa was good & Bowie rocked the house again.
What a time at MSG this year. Each night carried the feel of, "who cares what they play, when every song is this awesome?"

I think they have been doing Fee with the megaphone since DC this summer. That was the first with the megaphone in a long time.

He said "rolled myself a blunt" not smoked. Great show. Short second set.

Above average show, Sally is truly exceptional?

Absolutely ridiculous show, and coming on night 3 of a New Year's run and already having played their NYE show, I expected something of a lower energy show. NOPE!!! The energy level in MSG was as high as ever, and you knew it as soon as Page started ticklin' the clav on Tube, one of the funkier versions of 3.0. They no longer jam Jim the way they used to, but this one was tight and super fun. Divided Sky was one of the best I've ever heard, and I've never loved hearing it live simply because it doesn't tend to vary much each time the play it, but this one was PERFECT. They nailed the elaborate composed parts yet maintained an undertone of jam, and kept the energy level RAGING throughout. Round Room provided a much needed break in the dancing without making us tolerate "Dirt" or "If I Could". Then came Walk Away. BLEW MY FUCKIN' MIND!!!! Again, I'd never been a HUGE fan of this song, as I never saw them really take the jam anywhere all that interesting, until now. This version may very well be the best ever, though I'll have to do a bit of research before actually making that claim, but playing the chord changes throughout Trey's solo and Mike just thumping along like a boisterous little boy truly peaked the energy level in the room. This was definitely my highlight of the first set, so much so that I kinda "ho-hummed" the Jibboo->Reba, which really was anything but "ho-hum". Walls of the Cave was a fun bust out and a good way to send us into setbreak knowing we were in store for something special.

And then the second set began....I have a bit of a hard time differentiating between all of the amazingness in the second set, as they flowed so seamlessly in and out of phenomenal tunes, nailing the compositions and shredding the jams. C&P was truly epic, but Twist floored me. What a start to the set! And the Simple was again, one of the best of 3.0 if not the absolute best. Sneakin' Sally was very funky, and the vocal jam out of it had the room reeling with excitement as they segued into the laid back Makisupa groove. Bowie definitely tested Trey at the end of a run, but the boys did NOT disappoint. There were low points of the jam, for sure, but all in all it absolutely killed, and by the time they found their way back to the arpeggios the crowd was again raging, and the boys delivered a very high energy close to the set. Fee was fun, uninteresting, but totally fun, and Frankenstein was the perfect way to send us off into the city, grinning from ear to ear at our favorite band and their continued ability to surprise and impress.

I think this might be the best show I've seen the band play in the modern era. From Guelah on there's no let up.

Divided Sky, Reba ,Jiboo and WOTC are all high energy versions with tight jams that have great "when to kick and when to stick " timing. Divided Sky in particular is probably one of the best versions you'll find that isn't from the mid 90's. And I don't even like Jiboo all that much but this one is definitely a keeper.

The second set is centered around a blissful Simple jam but the tone is really set with another great "kick and stick" song in C&P. It doesn't venture from the theme other than an ambient passage into Twist, but is sure worth mentioning.

Was fortunate to have great floor seats on the aisle just to the right of Chris Kuroda.

Was a wonderful night of Phish music.

Finally heard this for the first time. It is nice to look back, knowing how much i loved Summer 12 and how much Fall 13 firmly planted how "back" the band is. There was a lot of wishful thinking right after this show that they were indeed back at this early stage of 2011. To say that this hovers more towards average nowadays says a tremendous amount of how far 3.0 has progressed and will continue to progress. This is not an 09 but it isnt quite as tight as they are today. alllllllll that being said... Check out this show.

A high energy first set. I love WotC and wish they had a deeper 2.0 to really grow this song to its potential. It fell threw the cracks and that is a shame. The roar of Papyrus was already mentioned and it is just as awesome as expected. Divided Sky was powerful.

Second set is awesome. Too short but who cares. C and P starts a little too loose (but on par with early 3.0 fare) but the band really gets tight as the song progresses. Great segue into a fun Twist. Simple is the highlight, one of my favorites of 2.0 or 3.0 with the gigantic exception for the hands down best of Dicks 14. Sally at MSG. Yeah, that should be high on your Phish Wishlist. Kudos to those who have gotten it.

Undisputed standout for early 3.0 but as the boys continue to pound out top notch performances this may regress to standard material. I'm damn fine with that.

It may be 2011, but this is one of the finer 2010 shows. A quick and narcotic Tube, Divided Sky, and Walls of the Cave highlight a first set full of heavy compositions (all very well done). Other than the Bowie closer, Set II is a glorious salute to open ended happy jamming. The Simple/Sneakin' Sally combo is the strongest section (check out the post-vocal Sally jam for some sexy, sexy grooves), but the Makisupa gets a full work out well worth the listen as well. Mix in a fun encore and the fact that this is the only "1/1" show in Phish history, and this one has all the makings of a modern classic.

My third show, and the show where i got "IT" ....the exact moment was at the conclusion of Walk Away...which to this day remains the ultimate perfect version of that song..Treys nails the intro perfect, and the solo is still my most played 6 mins of music...Page on keytar was the icing on the cake...

Though Phish is a creative band that continually strives to expand the experience of their audience however they can, the band has come up with a few ideas that were not so well thought out. Like playing an acoustic set in the desert in Indio, California at high noon in the very predictable searing midday heat or announcing at their Coventry festival that everyone should turn around and go home because the gates were closed when in fact they weren’t.

Or like letting Trey play that little keyboard he used to have or letting him join Fishman on the marimba lumina.

And on January 1st, 2011, by definition, Phish did it again. I mean, who wants to go to a raging rock concert the night after the biggest drinking holiday of the year? Looking around Madison Square Garden before the lights went down it was clear that many in the room were actually still awake from the previous night, which is actually the cleverest idea of all. To those fuelled by stamina and more this was actually an afterparty show that was occurring really, really late on New Years Eve. Certainly these geniuses didn’t have to drag their sorry butts out of bed in time to get to the concert for the 8pm start-time like I did.

I really should have thought of that.

It was a pretty rockin’ show though, and I shook my cobwebs loose and got my bones moving soon enough. I expected the crowd to be subdued – surely everyone had a bit of a hangover too – but I was wrong. People really like this Phish band, and the energy level for their first ever January 1st show was high. There was lots of speculation about something unique happening, a U2 or Metallica cover; Gamehenge; who knows what these guys have cooked up, but no, it was just a normal fantastic show. Divided Sky, Makisupa Policeman, Fee…there was even a cover of Walk Away by the very awesome James Gang and afterwards we found ourselves at a swanky hotel for an afterparty that was a total gas and kept us going until daylight.

Our crew somehow managed to take our leave of the place before being asked to and we hailed a taxi to Greg’s place in Queens. The cab took us over the 59th Street bridge inspiring the four of us to belt out Feelin’ Groovy in cacaphonic harmony. I’d like to think the cabbie even joined in, but that seems unlikely. After another 5am arrival in Queens I quickly went down for the count. My body had been growing more and more exhausted with every moment I spent in the City that Never Sleeps.

This was the last night/morning of a very fun but physically draining road trip. Moncton for xmas>Worcester, Massachusetts for Phish>Prince at MSG>three nights of Phish also at MSG. Not bad. Now I just had a quick Broadway show to see and then it was a long day of driving back to Ottawa where I would dig in to the new calendar (though we did have a bit of a monkey wrench coming).

In retrospect I guess it was a pretty kickin’ start to a great new year, so maybe not so poorly thought out after all. That said, let’s try to get Trey to stick to the guitar, okay?

http://www.toddmanout.com

My 2 year anniversary was just great. Went to 3 of the four nights and this was my favorite night. The energy was intence for me. I was in great company and they played the sky.

Walls of the Cave rocked !

Crosseyed through Simple was the best 3 song run I saw since the reunion. My 2nd fave show energy wise since '09(1st place is 10/30 for me). Nice stuff boys. Summer is a comin'!!

BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???

BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???
BRO DUDE IT WAS AMAZING, WHAT CAN I SAY???