Phish 2016 New Year’s Run At Madison Square Garden: Night Two Setlist, Videos & The Skinny

On Thursday night Phish returned to Madison Square Garden to play the second of four consecutive concerts at the historic New York City venue. The band’s annual New Year’s Eve Run continued on the heels of well-received and well-executed opening night. Once again the setlist was devoid of selections from their recently issued album Big Boat but did feature several bust outs across the two set performance.

Like they did Wednesday, Phish once again started night two sans instruments, opting to for an a capella performance of “Sweet Adeline” – their first since 2011 (a 200 show gap) and only second since 1999 – to kick off the first set. Another bust out cover came next in the form of Frank Zappa’s “Peaches En Regalia” being played for the first time since 2012 (a 164 show gap). The lively instrumental quickly shifted to bassist Mike Gordon’s long-played original “Mike’s Song.” After the concise “Mike’s” burst of energy, things slowed down as guitarist Trey Anastasio pulled them through his ballad rarity “Secret Smile,” which was last played in 2013 (a 141 show gap). Drummer Jon Fishman set the bouncy rhythm of “Weekapaug Groove” as Anastasio, Gordon and keyboardist Page McConnell got to work stretching out the enthusiastic rocker.

The opening notes of “Roses Are Free” marked Phish’s first performance of the beloved Ween tune in 2016, which they followed with Gordon’s bluegrass ditty “Poor Heart.” Trey was in command of the trailing “46 Days,” starting with restrained wails from his instrument that gently built the song’s jam to a hard charging peak. Next came the first rendition of the year of the sentimental “Brian And Robert” and McConnell leading the quartet on his rarity “Beauty Of A Broken Heart,” which last made it into a setlist in 2014. “Theme From The Bottom” and “Split Open In Melt” each delivered intensely structured climaxes, Page weaving attention grabbing piano lines throughout the set closing pairing.

A wash of sound emitting from Gordon’s bass signaled “Down With Disease” would start up another second set. The jam vehicle was taken for a spin around The Garden as the foursome embarked on a multifaceted improvisational journey filled with intricate twists and turns. Trey hinted at the ensuing segue into “What’s The Use?” before seamlessly dropping into the powerful instrumental. A straight-ahead take on “Fuego” kept the second set rolling into another short-lived improvised digression. A lighthearted jaunt through “Meatstick,” which was incorporated into the New Year’s Eve gag at MSG in 2010, elicited plenty of smiles from the musicians on stage. In the midst of the subsequent “Twenty Years Later,” Anastasio began to layer over the words to the epic “Kung,” which was last played as part of the NYE gag at MSG in 2012 (a 156 show gap), while the band continued to play “Twenty Years Later.”

By playing “Kung” for the first time this year band reached 252 different songs performed live in 2016, a record for the most in a single calendar year. More smiles graced the faces on stage during a joyous take on “Makisupa Policeman” that referenced going to Fish’s house and vaping. Trey jumped on Marimba Lumina during a reggae breakdown in “Makisupa” that eventually featured Fish joined by Page and Mike for a drums jam. Hitting all of its typical soaring peaks and emotional highs, a satisfying rendition of “Harry Hood” brought the second set to a close. A pepped up run through “Julius” held down the encore slot to bring and end to night two at MSG.

Phish returns to The Garden Friday night. A live webcast is available via LivePhish.com.

Watch official footage of the first song of each set in the two videos below:

[Sweet Adeline / Peaches En Regalia]

https://www.facebook.com/phish/videos/10153987697471290/

[Down With Disease]

https://www.facebook.com/phish/videos/10153987957331290/

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