PHISH, THURSDAY 12/28/2023
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
New York, NY

SET 1:

No Men In No Man's Land: Standard.

Halley's Comet: Good jam. The second time they jammed it out this year and both of them were at MSG. Each is quite a bit different. I think I prefer this one more though. Would recommend!

Sample in a Jar: Standard.

Runaway Jim: Trey has some whale call going on in here – little abrasive. Page shines brightly in here on the baby grand.

Bouncing Around the Room: Standard.

Axilla (Part II) - Nice, little jam here – little more whale call stuff like there was in Jim – some cool effects from Page >

Funky Bitch: Trey gives this a proper ripping. Nicely done.

Bathtub Gin: More gross whale call. Sounds lazy and abrasive. Once he starts playing with his pedals in the late 8’s – the whale goes away. The pedal/effects laden stuff doesn’t last for too long. From there this transitions into a canned bliss jam. That same one you have heard a million times since 2017. They do in fact finish this jam and then some effects and then it segues into Ghost >

Ghost: Bliss jam, see Gin comments as they apply here as well.

SET 2:

The Howling: Standard. >

A Wave of Hope: The wah stuff that Trey was doing in the late 11’s sounded cool, but it was kind of brief unfortunately. It harkened back to Fall 97! Nice clean tone from Trey in the 14’s and 15’s, some very nice licks! Unfortunately, this section is brief and from the 17:20 mark through the end it just devolves into the same canned bliss jam. ->

Rift: Not as sloppy as some have been recently. >

Mike's Song: Lol at those ridiculous howling samples to at the beginning. The beginning of this jam is your fairly typical pedal heavy jam from Trey. Trey doesn’t actually play his guitar until 7:14. From there he has a nice, clean tone for about a minute. He then implements some wild effects and when he comes back out of that it into the part that would wind down the first jam – this meshes really well with those effects. Very cool. Then into Simple, that was really good stuff right there, would recommend. >

Simple: Good jam here. Starts off very quiet, lots of headspace and room to breathe initially with some subtle effects from Page that help paint a nice portrait. Eventually this transitions into a very Trey centric jam as he has a bit of whale and a bit of reverse reverb. The last couple of minutes threatens another return to the dark abyss of a bliss jam but thankfully they show enough restraint not to let it get full blown. Would recommend this jam. >

Blaze On: Pretty good jam, Page and Trey are way out front. It’s too bad we cannot hear Mike anymore.

ENCORE:

mercy: Trey sounds hoarse as this starts out.

The Squirming Coil: Beautiful solo from Page.

Weekapaug Groove: Standard. >

Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S. - Standard.

Summary: The current rating on Phish.net is 4.322/5 (199 ratings). I think it is a strong Phish show when you take into consideration the entire of body of work. For me, I have three tunes that I would return to Halley’s, Mike’s, and Simple. The encore is fantastic, and it shows how excited they are to be back on stage and creating art for the fans. Good stuff. I would rate this as a 4/5.

Replay Value: Halley’s Comet, Mike’s Song, Simple

Trey teased San-Ho Zay in No Men In No Men's Land. Mike quoted No Men In No Men's Land during Ghost. Mike's Song contained sound effects used earlier in the show during The Howling.
SHOW RATING
Your rating:
Overall: 4.322/5 (199 ratings)
TEASES
No Men In No Man's Land quote in Ghost, San-Ho-Zay tease in No Men In No Man's Land