Halfway Home: Phish Forgets The Rules As Special Madison Square Garden Residency Continues

Before a single note was played, last night carried with it more expectations and scrutiny than the typical Phish show does before curtain call. The night was four shows deep into Phish’s seven night Madison Square Garden residency, a feat that, in itself, remarkably does not seem that remarkable, given how many four-night runs Phish has masterfully pulled off in this building over the past three decades. And all of those legendary runs live in the shadow of the 13 consecutive no-repeat nights the band played when they moved into the arena in the summer of 2017 for a weeks-long event known as the Baker’s Dozen.

This is the first time since those Summer 2017 nights — and just second time ever — that the band has had a day off in the middle of a single-venue run (festival plays notwithstanding).

The going assumption for these “Lucky 7” has been that there likely won’t be a repeat, but Phish’s golden rule is that there are rarely ever any rules — and without the pre-planned song lists of the Baker’s Dozen, anything feels possible. It is entirely possible that at some point during these remaining four shows the band plays a repeat or two from this past weekend. Whether that’s accidental (because it all blurs together) or intentional (“Oblivion”) it is well within their right. The two days off over the course of the seven night residency — with some fans attending just one of those three innings – gives this summer tour closing stretch the relaxed feel of a house band right at home in their house. It hits a little differently than the Baker’s Dozen and has become its own history, still in the making.

As many fans understood going into it, Phish came into this home stretch approaching it not as a mini-Baker’s Dozen (they likely would’ve announced any special themes in advance, stoking fans’ anticipation rites while also helping to sell the remaining unsold tickets), but rather as just another seven shows on their 19-show summer tour (23 if you count Dick’s and 25 with SPAC).

The fourth night at the Garden continued this business casual approach, as the tour’s unique fingerprints and setlist trends continued, including extended jams in both sets, wild encores, and a throttled focus on new material. For the second show in a row — and the eighth time this tour — Phish debuted a new song, performing it with a command that felt more developed than many of their song reveals from years past.

But first …

Phish took to the stage with a show opening “Ghost” and dug in for 17 minutes of sport, hitting their first homer right out the gate. Almost immediately, Trey teased sounds from his synth-effect arsenal before emerging with a cleaner butter tone that he would use to great arena-rock effect throughout the night. His melodic lead pushed him out front for just a moment before he wove himself into the tapestry that Page and Mike were proposing. With a driving beat from Fishman, Page briefly traversed Zeppelin ground while Mike showed off bass lines informed, perhaps, by his time in Dead Camp.

Ten minutes in, Trey switched back to melodic licks using only slightly less notes than previous versions of Machine Gun Trey from “the old Madison Square Garden” that he remembers so fondly, packing the punch here with flowing ideas, triumphant micro-melodies, and a cascading note-fall as he moved around the fretboard with the relaxed ease of someone jamming in their friend’s studio instead of on the stage at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

So much in that “Ghost” set the tone for the night as a whole, including the impressive group-mind that made Phish such jaw-droppers in 1.0, moving as one from Type 1 to Type 2 and then landing smoothly back into the song. The night had many such moments, with the entire band in sync as they navigated improvisational landscapes and tightly composed architecture, traversing between the two realms with remarkable solidarity.

With “Reba” in the two-spot, the night was already dangling the payoff for those who made it out (or who tuned in from their home) on a Tuesday night in the Big Apple. Weaving their way through the composed sections with concentrated dexterity, the band had a cohesiveness early on in the night that is not always a given in the modern era.

Phish’s day-off the day before paid dividends, as they sounded fresher last night than they have been on some other nights this summer, Trey’s vocals also clearly showing the benefit, and an impressively tight “Reba,” by today’s standards, was topped with a well-whistled whistle-stop on the way to its conclusion.

And then, for any concerns about where the set could go from there, “Funky Bitch” took charge of the often-defining third spot, with the entire band eagerly and effortlessly displaying the extra pep in their collective step. The song stuck to its Type 1 roots, as it usually does, but with bonus gusto as Mike authoritatively sang this Son Seals cover which was played in the third slot of the first set for the second time this tour. Not quite a rarity, yet never really a standard, “Funky Bitch” has always enjoyed its independent status, even during longer versions when they took it out for longer drives. Here, they stuck to the script but with an in-sync tension and release ending punctuation that was, again, reflective of the night as a whole.

The “Timber (Jerry the Mule)” that followed was a surprise and it was either a clever or perhaps even accidental nod to Jerry Garcia on his birthday, via the name of the song’s protagonist.

Phish wasn’t quite ready to go into cliff jumping mode just yet (and the night was light on cliff-jumps overall), but nonetheless they jammed this “Timber” with the full intent to rock, and rock they did. Mike went straight for a synth effect and to great effect at that, adding some welcome bounce to Trey’s effect-forward axe wielding. Trey’s leads on this jam were clear and melodic and with fast and free flowing ideas, alternating between aesthetic bursts and athletic freneticism that ultimately took the jam right into major bliss territory. Moving as one (again, thematic to the night), the four explorers landed seamlessly back on the “Timber” runway, with the band syncing in a way that they weren’t necessarily during the nonetheless excellent opening weekend of the residency.

Trey’s fingers couldn’t help but to get out additional notes after the song’s conclusion, betraying his desire to PLAY.

The first so-called breather of the night was the breathtaking debut of “Broken Into Pieces.” The band had been workshopping this one to get it into show shape, with Trey and Fishman first trying it out on stage in Denver in June at the Trey Trio shows, and then all four Phish men working on it during tour rehearsal and through several soundchecks throughout the summer. It’s no surprise then that it arrived in fine first form; instantly likable and another winning debut in a tour ripe with them. Adorned in classic rock clothing and full of recovery-minded reassurance, despite the despair of its title, “Broken Into Pieces” is a welcome addition to the repertoire, a new first-set friend that works as a companion piece or alternate to “About to Run,” and from that general branch of Trey’s modern songwriting.

Sunday’s first set was such a major player, but Tuesday’s may have outdone it — not that it’s a competition. Nearly an hour into the unrelenting set, the band unleashed the third and likely final “Wolfman’s Brother” of tour. This longtime workhorse is one of the old faithfuls that rarely fails — it doesn’t always elicit excitement, due to its standard nature, but by the end of it, there’s usually a “holy shit eating grin” on faces across the audience. This one wasted no time, with Mike dropping into the song’s comfortable funk environs, answered by Trey who employed some thick effects to drip the funk with a pallet that matched.

Trey fired off some choice licks before getting chunky with the rhythm, augmented by Page’s support. A fill from Fishman allowed the band to subtly — not abruptly but somehow seamlessly — sink into a darker groove space. Mike’s synth bass shot out front, with Trey accenting with his own synth sounds and then riffing off on them while Page found the shelf beneath.

Fishman brought the band down to the bottom of the well, or rather, to the bottom of “The Well,” singing that new tune’s mantra — a refrain that could easily become the band’s next “still waiting” that they can weave a set around, in and out throughout.

Penny found, Trey began to lead the band on an ascent out of any well bottoms and back to a more lollipop land of sugar leads and booty bouncing funk. Kuroda rewarded the audience visually with linear shots of LED starbursts and comet trails, Page hammering his piano while Trey hit a distortion riff, adding delay to it and then, once established, entering a deconstruction jam that quickly gathered all four around the fire once more for some of “Wolfman’s” typical textured arena-ready slink.

And then the jam went right back into deconstructive zone before scaling back up again with Fishman’s drive pushing Trey into a creative burst of galloping melodic majesty — by the final build, it was nothing less than inspirational bliss with a return to the sugar tones and then, as with the first three jams of the night (“Ghost,” “Timber” and “Funky Bitch”), the band landed on the “Wolfman’s” runway with ease and the rare seamlessness of a band that has settled into their residency with remarkable comfort.

And from that soft landing, Page went to his Wurlitzer and found the unmistakable opening notes of the Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus.” A cover that Phish has only performed six times, it was last played during the 2021 Halloween run. Notably, the time before that was during the exact halfway point of the previous MSG residency — show number six of the Baker’s Dozen. That night’s theme was “glazed” and indeed glazed could just as easily refer to tonight’s sugar laced vibe, also at the run’s halfway mark.

Fishman even flashed a genuine smile as he stood at the song’s conclusion and Phish headed for the locker rooms for half time, exactly halfway through their Garden residency, guns still smoking as they put down their instruments and took mid-show bows.

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

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Opening the second set with “Sample in a Jar” brought back obvious Baker’s Dozen memories — and parallels. Both renditions were performed during the first Tuesday of the respective MSG residency, both to a slightly undersold crowd, and both of them blew the song — previously thought of as a by-the-book standard — wide open in ways it had never been explored before. The Baker’s Dozen version rewrote the song’s history and was, for many, the pinnacle and defining moment of the entire Baker’s Dozen residency — that moment when anything appeared possible and where, with one sustained note, everyone in the building instantly knew that everything they thought they knew was to be tossed out the window.

If last night’s longest-ever 17-minute “Sample in a Jar” wasn’t as earth-shaking as the 10-minute Baker’s Dozen version, that wasn’t a musical reflection. It’s that we now know damn well that they can jam this song and, in fact, opening the second set with it at the Garden carried with it that exact expectation from the start. It did not disappoint.

And whereas there wasn’t a single note that signified the intent here, as there famously was for the first-ever breakaway “Sample,” this one quickly went into the jam space and veered toward “On Broadway” terrain, melodically, then slunk deftly into deeper waters, Trey on guitar rock duties, Page on piano, the whole jam sliding into what felt like a potential bottom of a well … with Fishman ensuring the forward motion and Mike in charge of the foundation while Trey explored melodic themes. Page, now back on his Wurlitzer, kept Trey good company.

Trey’s single-note leads took the jam into a patient and confident landscape, and the band’s 4.0 mosaic jamming got a chance to breathe here … but don’t get too comfortable on that couch, because just as soon as they settled in, Trey masterfully raised his hand to hold the floor, exploring several casual themes and pushing their edges until he landed in a peak jam and the band, still miraculously moving as one, was all aboard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_mwN-I-OJU&pp=ygUFcGhpc2g%3D

Shapeshifting once more, with Trey on rhythmic wah scratches, the jam went briefly into Phish patented ambiance, Mike even dropped out for a moment to let it breathe, and the whole band drifted with its current for a moment of peace before launching into a surprising second set, second slot “Kill Devil Falls.”

It’s not usually a jam tune but, like “Sample in a Jar,” there are a few historic examples that would argue otherwise, including one from earlier this very tour. And, much like the set-opening “Sample,” it’s placement here led somewhat correctly to that very expectation.

Although the ensuing jam might not chart, it kicked off with an extended lead, Page moving from his Wurlitzer back to his piano while the band searched for their next move. A rare drop-out by Trey while he adjusted his in-ear monitor led to him picking up the lead right where Page led him, while Mike’s wandering exploration encouraged the whole band to enter a swirling jam zone amidst a low-hanging light ceiling, courtesy of Chris Kuroda, who brought rows of light down directly over their heads. Trey took the reins again with the whole band getting quieter and quieter, the spaciousness allowing room for a texture-build. Trey switched over to chordal rhythms while Page played beautiful piano. At Fishman’s encouragement, Trey took on silky leads, a mellow shade of frenetic, sustaining notes in understated peaks while Mike concentrated on the groove.

This gave way to an abrupt and possibly premature segue into “Golden Age” — rarely a disappointment, “Golden Age” continued to not disappoint just by its very presence, entering the jam as a unit as if it were written in the sheet music. Page took up the Moog on one hand (his other still on the Wurlitzer) while Kuroda created shapes over the stage, and the jam found its way into Type 2 waters, as the vibe shifted into a darker mode, Trey now having his say with sharp licks that fell halfway between the song’s anthemic hues and Page’s more science fiction direction.

Kuroda created shapes over the band while the band themselves shape shifted into another chunky classic rock jam that found its way back to the “Golden Age” theme.

A breather following that frame was necessary and the band chose “Shade” for the service.

The “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley” that followed recalled its initial comeback and famed first appearance in this building — an event that is still embedded in the song and in the memories of 1.0 fans like myself who were present that night (December 30, 1997).

Trey immediately added a presence and intent as his body bounced through the verses, the band nailing it as they have all night, Trey’s vocals perhaps the strongest they’ve been since the tour kick off. The song’s near vocal jam gave Page a nice moment on the Clavinet, while Mike laid down the song’s proper funk bed. Trey took rhythmic stabs that gave way to soaring, clear headed leads amid a slow build and a cinematic peak that gave way to the “Twist” intro.

Opening the Santana section of the song with inquisitive plucks from Trey, Mike still firmly twisted around as Trey reached for the Como Va, with Page on Hammond. But like some of the songs that preceded it in this set, the jam never quite left the runway, although that’s not to say that it didn’t still feel “all there” — it did.

The band could’ve gone “Hood” or “Slave” from here to close out the final quarter, but instead they surprised all with YEMSG’s requisite “YEM.” The third of the tour so far — at one point that would’ve indicated that it was under played, and in recent years, over. But its appearance here was perfect, with the band still finding ways to explore and push boundaries even in its sharply defining intro, with Trey and Mike stretching their musical legs before embarking in earnest, Page’s gorgeous composed piano parts leading the audience on this familiar journey.

Trey showed off his rail rider worthy dance before a vocal jam that quickly went into rhythmic and melodic glossolalia bringing the set to a close.

Phish has shown a renewed interest in encores this tour, opening the summer with a five-song dream encore that featured the fan-favorite and uber-rarity “Icculus.”

Tonight’s encore started standard enough with “Wilson” (featuring apparent gong samples from Fishman) before proving to be a four-song, fourth-night delight that went into “Sanity” (another fan-favorite, uber-rarity), then a form-contained “David Bowie,” complete with some Allman Brothers inspired playing from Trey while the band provided a much different landscape for that exploration and some tension developed in the textbook tension-and-release masterpiece. With a certain look from Trey, the song momentarily devolved before the band realigned to collectively slam into its composed grand finale.

But wait! There’s more! “Character Zero” sent everyone home on a fist-pumping note.

Only Phish could take a bow at 11:40 pm on a Tuesday night and confidently and correctly tell the audience, “We’ll see you tomorrow night.” Yes, you will. And we can’t wait.

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Phish’s Madison Square Garden residency resumes tonight, Wednesday August 2. Watch livestreams of the MSG shows and the rest of Phish Summer Tour 2023 via LivePhish.com.

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