Time To Make The Donuts: Phish Opens Madison Square Garden Baker’s Dozen Residency – Recap, Setlist & The Skinny

And just like that, after a scorching hot day in Gotham City and a scorching performance by Phish in one of the most venerated concert venues in the nation, Night One of the “Baker’s Dozen” is now in the rear view mirror. As if nearly a half-year span of time wasn’t enough to build the anticipation after the initial residency announcement, the band continued to stoke the fire with the first five shows of the summer. With an almost unprecedented run of shows with jams lasting 20 minutes or longer, a slew of debuts, the impossibly fun performance of “Mr. Completely” which was dusted off after its lone performance 14 years ago, an all-time performance of “Simple” and zero song repeats – Phish had set the bar high for themselves coming into Madison Square Garden.

In medieval times, the baker’s dozen concept was born. With draconian penalties, even death, handed down to bakers to have been found cheating their customers, most bakers threw in the proverbial “13th” item to ensure that the customer received what they were paying for when buying a dozen of anything. If Night One was any indication, Phish likely could have dispensed with the “insurance” of the 13th show. And speaking of bakers, the band treated the arriving crowd to a lagniappe of a donut from Federal Donuts- something they will do for the entire run.

Phish took the stage just after 8:00 p.m., exactly 20 years ago to the day that their legendary 1997 U.S. Summer Tour kicked off when they “Destroyed America.” Twenty years later and many bands would be playing a “greatest hits” tour with one or two original members masquerading as the original band. Yet here we are, 34 years after the early Burlington, Vermont days, with the band delivering a smorgasbord of inspired songs, debuts of their own, first-time covers and fresh jams.

Right out of the chute Phish debuted the Junior Senior song “Shake Your Coconuts.” The lyrics, “Keep on dancing now, keep on having fun, this party has just begun!” was a perfect refrain to get the long summer party rolling, indeed one of the longest Garden parties ever. After the jaunty opener, “Martian Monster” proved that this certainly would not be an entire summer of no repeats. Extra crunchy sound effects paired well with the additions of the dynamic rigging and the extra lights being presented this summer tour to create a nice spacey effect. “Timber” followed, and while it started with a leisurely pace, the sound was lush, full and exciting and culminated with an early skosh of jamming. Undoubtedly an omen of not only what will be coming later in the show, but the next 12 also. The blissful and soaring notes of “Timber” from guitarist Trey Anastasio slowly gave way to bassist Mike Gordon’s “555.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TwEQkx-8aU

Trey quickly took the temperature of the room and hilariously asked the crowd if they “were tired yet?” The crowd responded with a raucous cheer. A quick re-start, an introduction of drummer Jon Fishman by Trey, and a comment that the brief bit played may have been their best composition yet preceded only the fourth time “Pigtail” had been played since its debut in 2010.

First set staple, “Halfway to the Moon”, came before what would become the second jam of the night, “Reba.” The crowd roared at the “coconuts and chloroform” lyric giving a hat-tip to the opening number. While it took a bit of sloppy playing, and like “Timber,” a slower pace to get there, “Reba” culminated in a sublime and beautiful jam with Trey leading the way.

“Moonage Daydream” came next for the first time since its Halloween debut as part of the Ziggy Stardust set. Unlike the faithful renditions of Bowie’s songs on Halloween, Phish took “Moonage” for a little bit of a ride – just crushing the riffs at the end with explosive energy. One would imagine most fans would stick “Moonage” on their “hope to hear again” list, along with other Ziggy songs if they also get the return Phish treatment like this. No first set breathers here as the band quickly kicked into “Walls of the Cave.” Again showcasing explosive playing, “Walls” packed energy in every nook and cranny to end a pretty rambunctious set. One set down, 25 to go.

For those that felt forlorn after picking “Tweezer” to open the 13-show run and whiffing on that, the “situation” was quickly rectified with the jam-titan kicking off the second set. And this was no ordinary “Tweezer” either. Right off the bat, ethereal musings, hypnotic drumming by Fishman, and a locked-into-the-pocket groove developed that almost felt like a guarantee that they’d be in it for the long haul. Silky-smooth, cohesive, blissful. Pick an adjective. Pick another superlative as well to your liking. Likely this “Tweezer” had it. While the 16-minutes didn’t end up being noteworthy in its length, there was not a wasted note and they packed quite a lot including some Type-II jamming before segueing into another jam vehicle in “Seven Below.” Like the “Tweezer” that came prior, “Seven Below” got serious quickly and again, wasted no notes. Awash in a rainbow of colors from the lights, the crowd gleefully swayed along to the psychedelic grooves. More major-key bliss continued for several minutes of glee before a soft and patient transition into the Madison Square Garden debut of the ballad “Billy Breathes.” It was perfect placement and setlist construction giving the crowd a breather before the spirited “Sparkle.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGHl3WqVq0E

Moving into the heart of the set, TAB’s “Everything’s Right,” which Phish debuted at their tour opener in Chicago, was up next. While not overly complex or inventive, Page was able to add some synthy fills and indeed everything did feel right so far inside the Garden. The always welcome, “Slave to the Traffic Light” followed. Like most “Slaves,” it is hard not to be moved by the emotion and peaks of Trey’s guitar, especially when all the notes are nailed perfectly. The classic rocker, “Suzy Greenberg” (almost) closed the set garnished with an extra dose of exquisite keyboard flourishes from Page who really shined all night. The apropos cover of Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut,” performed barbershop style, and yet another Phish debut, finally closed the second set of the first show of this historic run.

Phish playfully chose yet another song about a tree-fruit as their first encore, “The Mango Song” which had not been used in an encore slot since 2003’s IT Festival. Led Zeppelin’s hard-rocking, “Good Times, Bad Times” was another well-placed selection in this high-energy, cover-laden show. The packed house left the Garden jittery with energy and anticipation of the next 12 shows.

Plenty more will be written about this run. Many more songs will be played. One can only surmise what is coming next. The only thing that is clear is that something special is brewing. While there were no “all-timers” tonight, in its entirety one could not have asked for much more in this first show. Fantastic, focused energy, slew of great jams, the band engaged, in-the-moment and tuned into details. Even tiny details. Phish is on point. This is going to be fun. Anyone tired yet? (as Trey asked in the first set) Not a chance. Bring on Night Two.

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