The first night at Madison Square Garden was most phenomenal opener to a killer three day New Years celebration. December 30th came on the heels of two great shows up in Worcestor, MA. A chilly crowd rallied up in Massachusettes, and were thanked with two great nights featuring bust-outs like Mound, Roggae, The Wedge, She Caught the Katy, and Frankie Says, and favorites like Mike's Song, Cavern, Wolfman's Brother, and Limb By Limb, among many other well-played and well-loved songs. Alas, I was not able to witness such shows as these, and caught up with tour in New York City.
Night One was a rager. Everyone was pumped and ready to see Phish again, whether it had been a day, two months, or even 10 years. All the excitment had built back up; that pleasent anticipation that we all thrive on was rising; though we had no special lot of our own, we made a scene out of 34th street and somehow all managed to meet up with our phamilies to go to the show. The excitment made the whole room vibrate, and the opening songs did a lot to maintain that. But up until about halfway through the first set, they were blowing through hits as if to get them out of the way. The "Cities" opener was classic for NYC and they definitly rocked it out, but it was sort of pulled to a halt, quickly to be replaced with a standard "Chalkdust Torture." Don't get me wrong- I love CDT (see November 15th, 2010 for my thoughts on this song), but I think I had over played it and just couldn't get into the feel of it. "Gumbo>Quinn" was excellent, but again, too short. No complaints about "Halleys," but "Camel Walk" brought what I thought was the first stunt of the run- the PA system cut out, as has happened previously at MSG, and none of the boys could tell except Page. They remedied the problem quick enough but it still left me scratching my head. My one friend yelled out "Whatever you're doing, I don't like it!" I agreed.
The set seemed to pick up with "Maze," but while "Driver" is a great song, it wasn't right for the time. This was followed by my set highlight, "Bathtub Gin" cleaverly paired with Little Feat's "Fat Man in the Bathtub," a selection from the cover on Halloween I wouldn't have guessed they would keep. "Timber" is one of my favorite songs and they ripped it apart as we got closer to the end of the set, but like the begining, each song was punctuated prematurely. "Golgi," "Character Zero," wham, bam, thank you phans. And that was the entrance through which our magical weekend begun. I give it a B+.
The "Tweezer" opening for the second set was pretty outrageous, but the transition into "Light" I felt wasn't all there. Not everyone was moving at the same point, although props to Page becuase he seemed to be most on it... though isn't he always! (Page Side Rage Side? All Day.) Then came the low point of the evening- a totally messed up from the begining and abandoned "Theme from the Bottom." Not even all thr way through the first chorus, Trey pretty much gave up on the song and rushed through to the end. "My Friend, My Friend> Axilla, Fluffhead, Boogie" were pretty spot on a really held the night together for me. No major bummers and four excellent choices to have back to back. But then we get to this bogus "2001" that was not that accurate and less than 7 minutes long. Who has ever heard of such a short "2001????" Not me. And I hope not to hear it again. That song needs time and attention and nurturing. You cant just throw it in with all the others. Sigh, if only Phish read my blog...
Unfortunately the "Suzy" closer didn't make up for it, nor did the "Antelope>Tweprise" encore, though both were pretty great.
Though this may seem like a very unfortunate review, I don't mean it like that. I loved it so much and had such a wonderful time.. I really couldn't have asked for much more considering what the boys brought to the table the next two nights. And naturally, like most of us, I think, I am being over critical of our phine phriends. They're just humans after all. Super humans, though...
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