Phish Breaks Out ‘Round Room’ On Opening Night Of 2024 New Year’s Eve Run At MSG

The first night of Phish's annual New Year’s Run is a really interesting date – usually the band’s first performance after an extended period of time off (in this case, nearly three months broken only by October’s Divided Sky Foundation benefit shows in Albany), they often need time to warm up and get used to playing together again.

That was the case last night as Phish strung together two song-heavy sets, falling victim to night-one rust and struggling to sync up at times, resulting in some sloppy play and baffling setlist calls. That’s not to say it wasn’t a really fun show – the MSG crowd, as always, was locked in from the second the lights dropped and buoyed much of the show with amazing energy and the joy that comes with seeing the band.

The show got off to an excellent start with “Simple,” guitarist Trey Anastasio letting loose smooth melodies as the jam began. Bassist Mike Gordon was the first to suggest some outside-the-box play, whipping up a murky cloud of effects underneath the guitarist’s vamping that was accentuated by keyboardist Page McConnell’s piano work.

Quieting briefly, the jam modulated into a bright major key space that developed into a blistering guitar-forward peak that took on the qualities of a “Bathtub Gin” jam, the band showing all the right signs of locking in early as they executed a smooth re-entry to “Simple” proper before jumping into “Free.”

Extra mustard continued to be present as Gordon let loose on a vicious synth effect in the jam, Anastasio and McConnell matching his energy with staccato funk riffs on their respective instruments through the first-set staple.

An odd call for “Farmhouse” early in the first set actually worked really well as a cool-down after the hot opening duo, Anastasio shining on some breathtakingly gorgeous melodies atop McConnell’s soft bed of Wurlitzer electric piano.

A sloppy start to a rollicking “Poor Heart” gave way to “Tube,” another reliable first-set vehicle. Sticking close to home, Anastasio and McConnell passed melodic ideas back and forth nimbly for a while before wrapping things up without going too far.

Calling for “Kill Devil Falls” next was a big move given the song’s excellent 2024 season, but the band opted to stick safely within Type I boundaries for the relatively short excursion. The third “Driver” of the year (marking the first time the song has been played that many times in a year since 2009) led into “Reba,” the crowd going wild for the classic composition.

A weird six-minute “Oblivion” came in as the penultimate song of the first set, the first call of the night that felt truly weird from the audience – it felt as though it was a disservice to the song’s jamming potential to cram it into a six-minute slot like this. “Run Like an Antelope” is always an excellent way to close a first set, but last night’s explosive peak felt almost as driven by the crowd’s energy as the band’s playing.

Read on after The Skinny for the rest of the recap and more.

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Returning for the second set, things got underway with an opening duo of “Back on the Train” and “Axilla (Part II),” what could have been the prelude to a huge jam within the ensuing “A Wave of Hope.”

McConnell and Anastasio locked in early under drummer Jon Fishman’s propulsive groove, once again passing ideas back and forth with practiced ease, Gordon joining the fray for some excellent hey-hole work. From there, things got moodier as the band headed for more exploratory territory, but it seemed as though ideas weren’t really clicking as the band returned to brighter pastures and hit a breezy small peak.

From there, McConnell’s Fender Rhodes and CS60 synthesizer work seemed poised for blast-off, but instead the band faded into a big bustout of “Round Room,” last seen on June 22, 2016. For fans of rare songs, it was a treat – and the “a garden that’s round” lyric finally getting a performance in MSG was great – but I couldn’t help but think of what could have been if the “Wave of Hope” jam had more time to expand.

McConnell took the lead on a blistering “I Always Wanted It This Way” next, delivering another small pocket of improv full of whirlwind Moog One synth work. The keyboardist linked up with Anastasio on a repeated motif that quickly whipped the rest of the band into a frenzied mode – which devolved into a maelstrom of sound to neatly deposit us in the opening to “Twist.”

Featuring some of the best keyboard work of the night, Prophet Rev2 synthesizer carried the band through a calm and ambient mode for a brief spell. A jukebox-y fourth quarter featuring “The Mango Song,” an exuberant “Blaze On,” “Cavern,” and a hail-mary “David Bowie” set closer rounded out the second frame.

A molasses-thick “Mountains in the Mist” began the encore before the band powered through some of their best playing of the night with a “Fuck Your Face” > “46 Days” combo to rip the roof off the Garden one last time to send us off into the night.

There are two aspects of last night’s show that I find really interesting – on a night where the longest song was the 13-minute opener and the band felt shaky, some (myself included) look at it as an off-night. However, one of the things that I was struck by was how the audience never let the band drop for a second – despite the slop or rough transitions, Madison Square Garden was brimming with excitement and gratitude for seeing our favorite band in our favorite place – and that alone is enough to cast a favorable light on last night’s show.

With the opening night and rust (hopefully) out of the way, Phish is poised for a HUGE Sunday show tonight as we head into the second of four shows to close 2024 – it’s been an absolute banner year for the band and I don’t think they have any intention of letting it end with anything other than a bang.

Webcasts are available for the remainder of the run via LivePhish.com.

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