Marathon XXX - Sandhills Marathon, Brownlee, NE - June 3, 2023

For my first Nebraska marathon, I chose a tiny race in a tiny town, way up near the border of South Dakota.

How tiny was the race?  There were 22 runners.

How tiny is the town?  The sign read, "Welcome to Brownlee, population 15 or so".

How close to South Dakota?  Gloria had breakfast over the border while I was running.

There is almost nothing in Brownlee.  Nothing, that is, except the beautiful Sandhills for which the marathon was named.  The race course was on one road, out and back, past the hills and ranches of this town where the cows exponentially outnumber the people.

The packet pickup was in the neighboring (and larger) town of Valentine - some 45 miles north of Brownlee - at Young's Western Wear.  Could this event get any more country?  Wait, put a pin in that.

At packet pickup, the gentleman admitted they were not very good with their communication, but I already knew that.  Their website had not been updated in years, their Facebook page provided minimal information, and the two emails I received prior to the race did not mention much more about the course except a vague instruction of where to meet ("in Brownlee") and to watch out for snakes (yikes).  But we did eventually find out from the guy that the race would be entirely on Seneca Road (the first time that road was ever mentioned).

We stayed in a little town called Mullen at the Glidden Sandhills Motel - some 40 miles south of Brownlee and just far enough west that we ended up in the Mountain Time Zone.  I had to set my alarm for 3 a.m., which was really 4 Central Time, so we could leave at 5 CT to be at the race by 6 and start at 7.

We actually drove the length of Seneca Road to get to the start, but we could not actually see the course as it was pitch black - the kind of dark that you can only get with no street lights and no light pollution because there is not a damn thing in sight that is illuminated except your own headlights.  Freaky.

The race started with little fanfare and I stayed near a cluster of runners for the first mile (8:46) but even though that pace would have comfortably gotten me a sub-four-hour marathon, I felt the need to go faster.  Big surprise there.

So I pushed it a bit, but not too much, keeping it in the low-to-mid 8s, which felt great.  We were very fortunate to have an overcast day because if the sun was out, it would have been relentless, with no shade anywhere.  Instead, it was a great morning for running.  Plus, I was completely calm knowing I could not miss any turns, since there were none.

I happily enjoyed the scenery of the countryside - the miles of hills, and the cattle grazing and roaming - for the next few miles (7:46, 8:06, 8:16, 8:06, 8:21).  There was mostly silence except for the roving port-a-potty that drove past me and the volunteer on a bicycle checking in with me (as they would do for every single runner throughout the race).  I was in a solid third place with big gaps ahead of me and behind me.  There were no water stations, save for some coolers with water and Gatorade every few miles, and no spectators except for the aforementioned cows.

Despite the soothing nature of the serene atmosphere, silence is dangerous for me because it allows me to get inside my own head.  So I put my ear buds in and started Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony 36 in C Major as I ran up some small hills, in a slight total ascent toward the halfway point, through the next three miles (8:36, 8:34, 8:08).  I followed that with Mozart's 29th Symphony into the halfway point (8:21, 8:19, 8:10, 8:13), reaching the turnaround.

With an elapsed time of around 1 hour and 48 minutes at the halfway point, I started thinking. And doing math.  Which is what always gets me in trouble.  The way I figured it, I only needed to keep going at an 8:24 pace to get a negative split, which had been the goal of all my runs for the past several months. 

Time for Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" to get me through the next few miles.  I cautiously forged ahead, hitting 7:52 for Mile 14 and waving to the school bus full of half-marathoners on their way to their start at the turnaround point. After a few more miles (7:59, 8:04, 7:59, 7:57, 8:10)., not only was I heading into a negative split, I was creating a nice little cushion, too, for the inevitable slow-down at the end.

Next on my playlist was Dvorak's Symphony 8 in G, which I figured would get me through Mile 23, after which I had the full nine-part suite of Pink Floyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" at the ready to take me to the finish. I felt so good at Mile 20 (8:05) that I texted Gloria, "Mile 20.  Hoping for a 3:35 finish."

Mile 21, 8:00.  Mile 22, 8:21.  Nailing it.

Mile 23, 8:38.  OK, that is why I have a cushion.

"Shine On" had begun and I hit Mile 24 with a 9:05.  Uh-oh.  Why am I suddenly falling apart?

Mile 25, 9:22.  My energy is sapped.  "Shine On" is more than half-over.  I am reduced to a slow trot.  My 3:35 and negative split got away from me.

Mile 26, 9:35.  Richard Wright's elegant keyboard outro to "Shine On" has long faded away and I am left shuffling toward the finish.  A runner passed me by.  Ugh, I hate getting passed so close to the finish. 

Gloria was near the finish line and, in addition to cheering me on, she let me know that another runner was gaining on me at the last second.  So I pushed just enough to cross the line ahead of him, but it turned out that both he and the previous person were half-marathoners.  My third place standing was still, somehow, intact with a 3:37:00.

Remember how I said the race could not get more country?  Well, instead of a medal, I was handed an engraved boot spur for my finish.  Now, that's country!

If only I had cowboy boots.

Oh, and no snakes.

The Sandhills

Start line - That's me in the blue shirt.

The home stretch

Me approaching the finish line

My boot spur trophy

Marathon XXIX - Eisenhower Marathon - Abilene, KS - April 29, 2023

Training for a June marathon, I needed to do some long runs in April and May.  Since the catalyst for my recent move to Kansas was my experience at the Eisenhower Marathon 14 years ago, I could not resist going back to Abilene and using it as my long run.  But since it was a training run and not the actual race, I set one ground rule for myself - take it slow; nothing but 8+ minute miles.

The course was a bit different than the one from 2009, and I studied it as best as I could.  It was a lot of loops and out-and-backs.  First, it was a mile loop around the block with the plaza with the Eisenhower resting place, statue and library, at a 7:56 pace.

OK, too fast.  Broke the rule already.  Slow down.

But it was a chilly morning and I was wearing shorts and a lightweight long-sleeve shirt, so maybe I was chasing warmth.  South on Buckeye Avenue for two miles...8:00 and 7:52.  Slow.  Down.

A turn onto 2000 Avenue and then Hawk Road before turning into Brown Memorial Park, my biggest hope was that there would be enough volunteers and signs in the park to point the way through the twists and turns of the path.  Thankfully, there were plenty of both, so all I had to do was focus on the run, with a 7:53 fourth mile and, after a turnaround in the park, an 8:04 fifth mile (finally!).

Out of the park and back onto Hawk, heading south, with an 8:01 sixth mile, there was a turn onto 1900 Avenue and a turnaround at mile seven (7:58).  Approaching the turnarounds, I kept seeing the 3:30 pacer and I had to resist the urge to catch up and join him and the group of people around him.  

This is NOT that kind of race.  It's not even a race - it's a training run.

So I backed off a bit and hit an 8:03 for the eighth mile going back north up Hawk.  Then it was into the park again for another loop, and a 7:49 and 8:00 ninth and 10th mile. Out of the park and north again on Hawk and onto 2000 and Buckeye toward town, I started thinking about how almost all of my training runs have been negative splits.  

Maybe, if I slow the next two miles down even more, that will give me a cushion to make this marathon training run a negative split. So it's not really racing, right?

I felt great about the 8:10 and 8:14 splits in miles 11 and 12, and at the 13 mile mark, approaching the halfway point, I hit a 7:53.  Elapsed time at the half was around 105 minutes.  To negative split it, my end result would have to be under 3:30.

Alright, then.  It's go time.

I had to run the exact route again...and faster.  A 7:25 14th mile had me feeling like it was do-able but the sun was out now, and it was starting to get warm, so I needed to be a little more measured in these early miles of the second half.  I did so, with a 7:57 and 8:05 in the 15th and 16th miles.

For the 17th and 18th, I hit a 7:38 and a 7:44.  At the park turnaround, I noticed that the group of people around the 3:30 pacer, who was still ahead of me but with a smaller gap, had dropped off.  A 7:57 for mile 19 and an 8:12 for mile 20 had me rethinking if the 3:30 was still possible.  With an elapsed time of around two hours and 39 minutes, it was still feasible to do the final 10K in 51 minutes.  I had built up enough of a cushion that if I kept the pace in the low 8s, I would have it made.  At the turnaround on 1900 Avenue, I told the pacer, "I'm going to catch up to you!"

Into the park one last time after mile 21 (7:44) and passing a few people, I managed to do just that. We talked for a bit as I did an 8:00 22nd mile and learned that his name is Matt O'Reilly from Lawrence and that he had just the previous week run the new marathon in Jersey City, N.J.!  But talking took a little bit out of me and I fell behind him with an 8:25 for mile 23.  

The elapsed time was around three hours and three minutes - I needed to do the last 5K in less than 27 minutes.  I knew I only needed sub-9s to make it under 3:30 but I pushed to catch up to Matt again before turning onto Hawk Road, with an 8:10 24th mile.  He asked me if I wanted to get in under 3:30 and of course I said yes, and all he did for the next 17 minutes was give me encouragement.  

Matt rallied me, coached me, and kept my mind strong even as my body was telling me that this was not what I had come here to do.  Yet there I was, doing it anyway, with an 8:15 on Buckeye Avenue and the finish line within reach.  I dug deep...8:04 for mile 26. 

Turning the corner toward the train station and the Old Town area where the finish line was, Gloria was there cheering for me as Matt let me cross the line ahead of him for a 10th place overall finish and a final result of 3:28:53.  A 7:58 total pace, a negative split, a second-place age group win, my fastest marathon since 2018 (when I almost beat the personal record that I had set at this race in 2009).

So much for a training run.  This was the marathon I had been hoping to run for the past five years.  Whatever happens at Marathon XXX in June will merely be the icing on the cake.

(Click here for a video of my finish!)

 

El Dorado Half Marathon - April 1, 2023

One of my top priorities after moving to Wichita, Kansas, from New Jersey was to find a marathon in a neighboring state.  And halfway through marathon training in Hal Higdon's Intermediate II program, the instruction is to run a half-marathon.  For that, I found a race in nearby El Dorado, a cute little town that we had visited when Gloria and I came to check out the area in 2021.

On the evening before the race, I went to El Dorado to pick up my packet and bib and to drive the course; or at least as much of it as possible, as some of it was on a trail in El Dorado State Park.  In addition, I used the course map to write down every turn, just in case things were not marked well.

I felt pretty confident on race day.  I had no plans for a PR or anything too crazy, but a solid sub-7-minute pace was definitely on the agenda.  There were 70 half-marathon runners (as well as 37 5K runners), so I planted myself in the front, expecting to end up behind most of the people around me but at least going out strong before settling into my pace.  

We started on Third Avenue near the train station and then proceeded North on Main Street to 12th Avenue and I hit a 6:38 for the first mile.  Excellent!  I could even slow down a bit, right?

Oh, you know me.  Off the road and onto the trail leading to the park I did another 6:38, putting myself in the top 10. Some turns along the path led me over the small river and into the park proper with a 6:27 third mile and a 6:38 fourth mile.  The fifth mile brought me to a road beside the lake and a legitimate hill.

A hill!  Here in Kansas!  It had been months since I had run on hills - something I had left behind in New Jersey - and here I was running up a 100-foot incline.  Back in Jersey, that was something I could do with no problem, and maybe I could have mustered up the muscle memory to do it here in Kansas.  But there is one thing in the Midwest that I had not gotten used to yet - the constant, relentless wind.

My fifth mile was 6:59.  Continuing up the hill, I hit a 7:17 for mile six.  A turn onto Myers Road to head out of the park (with a beautiful vista of all the nothingness that I love about Kansas) kept the wind and the hill coming, giving me a 7:16 seventh mile.  

Finally turning onto Main Street after a descent and a 7:02 eighth mile.  Though I had briefly gotten myself into third place, I had now secured a spot in fourth.  But more importantly, it was time to do some math.  With a 54:59 elapsed time, I suddenly felt like just finishing with a sub-7 pace (which would put me at a 1:31:33 finish time) was not enough.  I wanted to finish in less than 90 minutes.  That meant I had 35 minutes to run 5.1 miles.  

Every mile had to be several seconds under seven minutes and the flat straightaway in mile nine gave me the chance to kick it back into gear.  Catching up to the third place runner, 20-year-old Paul Cornwell, I made up some time with a 6:34 as I told him, "I'm not trying to make a move to pass you," because I knew damn well I could not, "I just want to get in under 90 minutes."

I had about 28 minutes to go four miles, so all I needed to do was keep them at sub-7.  We turned onto McCollum road and did a bunch of turns throughout the residential neighborhood.  I clocked a 6:53 for mile 10 and 6:50 for mile 11.  Paul was long gone ahead of me, but keeping up with a guy half my age was not the goal.

Turning off of Country Club Road onto 12th Avenue with a 12th mile of 6:46, I got back on Main Street, pushing with all my might to get that sub-90 finish with time to spare.  I hit mile 13 with another 6:46 and an elapsed time of 1:28:50, leaving me well over a minute to do the final tenth of a mile.  I turned the corner onto Third Avenue and finished with a final time of 1:29:19 (6:48 pace) and a fourth place overall finish.

Photo by Brandi Lake

It was my first public half-marathon since 2017 and my fastest half-marathon since 2018.  I won my age group and I met some great Kansans and a Coloradan.  Sure, there are no more PRs, but there are some amazing things that can still happen for me at races.  I am excited to see where that takes me in my new home state.

Photos by Daniel Galioto

Visit eldoradohalf.com for the full results and lots of photos.

Phish on Jan. 4, 2003 - Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

Oh memories, memories

Here is what I actually remembered from the show before listening to it again recently: I was happy to hear the new "Anything But Me" (love those "Round Room" ballads!), "Saw It Again" rocked out hard, "What's the Use" was gorgeous, and I had fun walking through the coliseum's corridors during set break. Twenty years later, that is the entirety of my memory of a show that was the longest commute for the shortest return on music. 

Unfortunately, my more vivid and lasting memories had a lot less to to with the actual show. But I will get to that.

A ticket stub in your hand

When Phish announced their return from a two-year hiatus with the New Year's 2002-03 run, I submitted my early ticket requests for all four shows and received one for Jan. 4. When the tickets went on sale on Ticketmaster, I got nothing.

It made absolutely no sense to drive to Hampton, VA, from Parsippany, NJ, for one show, but I did it anyway.

I arrived at Hampton Coliseum and was wowed - it really did look as cool on the outside as the pictures on Phish's "Hampton Comes Alive" album portrayed. Unfortunately, I got stopped at the gate and was told that the parking lot was full and I should park at one of the nearby shopping centers.

Rock and roll 

Hearing the show now, I am once again put off a bit by Trey's crunchier guitar tone that feels not quite right for some tunes, but the first set is a good, if not quite essential, listen (save for the aforementioned "Anything" and "Again"). "Split Open and Melt" is interesting because you can hear the seeds of the hot messes of 3.0 era "Melt", though it does stay more rooted in the actual song for much longer.

So do "Rock and Roll" and "Mike's Song" at the beginning of the second set, but they do rock pretty damn hard, with Trey's new, fat guitar tone working to his benefit.  The latter, however, eschews it traditional ending - and though it gets pushed into the key of F, where "Simple" would have been the expected segue - the song breaks down to quietude and segues instead into "Mountains in the Mist".  Four shows in, the 2.0 era is showing that unusual song selection and a penchant for not properly ending songs are among its oddities.  A heavy duty "Down With Disease" jam ends in a similar manner later on.

"Weekapaug Groove", which fades upward from Trey playing the main riff and eliminates Mike's bass intro starts at a medium pace, but Fish picks it up, and by the middle of the jam, there is some great interplay between Trey and Page that is worth checking out.  And just when you think it is going to come back around to the chorus for the end, Trey finally gets his chance to play "What's the Use".  

After a silly ending to the set at the conclusion of "2001" after some heartfelt words from Trey, the encore drops one more new song, "Friday", a 'Round Room' ballad that vaguely recalls "New Age" by Velvet Underground.

On the whole, it was decent, but it was after the show when the real debacle began for me. 

Bummed is what you are *

In the parking lot, I met a guy that was looking for a ride to New York.  I told him I would get him to a train station in New Jersey.  So, we walked to the shopping center where my car was parked and....no car.  Sure enough, there was a sign that I did not notice on my way in to this lot in which *I was told to park* indicating that cars would be towed. There was a phone  number to call for the towing company, but these were the days before it was standard to include the area code. I had a cell phone, but a seven-digit number in an unfamiliar area code did me no good since these were also the days before smartphones and I could not simply look it up. 

We found a store that was open and found out the area code, called the towing company and sure enough, they had towed the car and told us where it was impounded.

I honestly have no recollection of how we got to the place or how far away it was. But I do remember that when we got there, there was a long line of Phish fans in the same predicament, each having to pay a hundred bucks to get his car back. 

My long journey home

We finally got on the road sometime around maybe 1 or 2 a.m. and now I had to drive through the night after being up since the early morning. My passenger fell asleep in no time, and eventually, so did I. 

Being jarred awake after drifting off the road and into the dirt is a scary experience. I was lucky there was no guardrail or other obstacle into which I could have collided. My passenger woke up, too, and I assured him everything was OK, trying to make it seem like I had been fumbling around with the CD player and not falling asleep.

After that harrowing experience, I somehow mustered the energy to keep it together through the long winter night, finally dropping my guest off at the Harrison PATH station sometime after sunrise. I got home to Parsippany, around 9 a.m.-ish, if memory serves. 

I had been up for more than 24 hours, minus however many seconds I had slept at the wheel. I had commuted 14 hours, plus a couple of hours dealing with the towed car. All for one decent but unremarkable Phish show. Was it worth it? 

*thanks, aLi!

Phish on Jan. 3, 2003 - Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

Usually, nothing indicates a throw-down more than a "Tweezer" opener.  Usually, if both "Tweezer" and "You Enjoy Myself" are in the same set,  you are in for a wild ride.  But 2.0 was anything but usual.  

Why they chose to play "Tweezer" at a tempo so glacial it makes the 2022 performances seem speedy is beyond me, but I guess that is a testament to the unpredictable nature of the era. Just as oddly, it never picks up, wandering around at that tempo until it segues into a similarly-paced "Theme From the Bottom". 

Trey is always most excited to play his newest songs, so even though an adequate "Foam" picks up the pace a bit, it is "Pebbles and Marbles" that finally injects some needed energy. But it is quickly deflated when "YEM" begins so disastrously that Trey calls it off and restarts it just as badly. Blowing their signature tune was such a major low point that it was what I remembered most vividly about this holiday run, 20 years later. Which is a shame because the jam ended up being a rocker.

The "Birds of a Feather" opener for the second set helps to wash away the stink; as does the "Wolfman's Brother" that spends some time as a battle of the wah-wahs between Trey and Page before finally breaking into a traditional jam for the final few minutes.  As will continue to be the trend for the next year and a half, the song eschews a proper finish ("Twist" does the same) and leads into a very weird "Makisupa Policeman" (or is that redundant?).  Another new song, "All of These Dreams" is dropped into the set and I am reminded of how much I love the 'Round Room' ballads.

In the encore, the band has a little bit of fun with stops and starts in the middle section of "Contact", which is a unique change, before closing it out with the "Tweezer Reprise" bookend.  This is a wildly uneven show and I still cringe at that "YEM" opening, but there are bright spots that should not be overshadowed by that.

Phish on Jan. 2, 2003 - Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

Upon their return from a two-year hiatus, Phish flipped the New Year's run to start with the Eve and play through the beginning of January.  Also for the first time for the holiday run, they did the bulk of it at Hampton Coliseum in Virginia.

After taking New Year's Day off, they come out swinging on Jan. 2 with "Chalk Dust Torture" and "Bathtub Gin" and right away, the 2.0 jamming style is cemented.  Straying way out of the confines of its typical jam for a solid four minutes in the middle, it is almost miraculous that the former somehow found its way to the ending of the song.  The latter stays more within the "Gin" realm, but combined they take up the first half-hour of the show.  Later in the set "Stash" provides another rager, and for those who think that it took until 3.0 for "Back on the Train" to become a surprisingly fun jam vehicle, look no further than this first version of 2.0.

The rest of the first set keeps it closer to the old formula with shorter, tighter songs from its 1989-1999 period, including a rocking ending with "Character Zero" (that starts with Trey not quite hitting all the right notes on his guitar); though the band does toss in one new tune - the title track to "Round Room" with all its Mike Gordon-led odd-time-signature rhythm.

Continuing to sprinkle new songs into the shows, the second set features the quiet "Thunderhead", but starts with the rocker "46 Days" that, like the previous set opener, runs so far away with itself that by the time they get nine minutes in, it has shed the skin of the actual song.  Somehwhere around the 14-minute mark it becomes almost an entirely different beast that eventually breaks the 20-minute mark with no return in sight.  So Trey swerves into the key of F and blasts into "Simple", which gets quiet after about seven minutes but still also manages to break 10, meaning that the first two songs once again ate up a half-hour.  

Elsewhere in the set "Limb By Limb" and (especially) "Run Like an Antelope" provided such raucous climaxes (not to mention the reliable I-IV of the encore - new song "Mexican Cousin") that my inclination to poop on the 2.0 era seems unfounded.  This is all quite a bit different from my memory of the era.  There is definitely a different vibe from where we left off in October of 2000, but this is still a band that is pushing boundaries and creating excitement.

Phish on Dec. 31 - 1992, 2002, 2012, & 2022

12/31/92 - Matthews Arena, Northeastern University, Boston, MA

The "Buried Alive" opener is much more suited to Phish '92 than its '22 counterpart. They throw down the gauntlet and start knocking you out with hard and fast jams in "Maze", "Foam", "The Divided Sky" and a set-closing "Run Like an Antelope" that makes the 12/30/22 version sound sad. Make no mistake, though - these are guitar jams, and all the momentum lies in the capable hands of young Trey. Stay for Fish's last vaccuum solo of 1992 in "I Didn't Know" because the audience is clearly being goaded into cheering at random spots, to the puzzlement of those of us who were not there to see what was going on.

The second set picks up right where the first left off with a "Runaway Jim" that not only has Trey soloing hard, but has Page providing some excellent counterpoint on piano.  "Stash" is another winner, with the jam getting briefly dark while Trey fires off machine gun 16th notes.  For some fun, how about Trey's narration in "Fly Famous Mockingbird" that features two of what seem to be Trey's favorite subjects for such occasions - flying and transmogriphication (the audience congealing into rock) - and the controlled chaos the "Big Ball Jam" that comes out of "My Sweet One".

New Year's Eve is all about the third set, of course, and this was the second-ever three-set NYE show.  The countdown commenced during a hot "Mike's Song" jam, which tumbles into "Auld Lang Syne" which then neatly segues into a "Weekapaug Groove" that kept the party going.  For more fun, there is "Harpua", with another storytime segment that covers the usual dog/cat fight in great detail and incorporates Fish's "Kung" chant, and a special appearance by the Dude of Life singing "Diamond Girl".

The a capella "Carolina" in the encore is an impressive feat - getting the 6,000+ crowd to quiet down to let the band sing barbershop without microphones - and "Fire" puts the exclamation point on the evening. 

12/31/02 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

A very different Phish came onstage at Madison Square Garden 10 years later.  This Phish had upped the ante every year through the 1990s, culminating in the almost unbelievable Big Cypress NYE show in 1999.  Now, after a two-year hiatus, they return to play their first show of Phish 2.0 on the most special night of year, inverting the four-show concept so there would be three shows after NYE.  The opening "Piper" speaks volumes about this new era - they get right down to the jamming and it is darker, deeper and thicker than before...and it clocks in at 16 minutes.  And yet, for a band that is finally announcing itself to the new millennium, with a new album in tow as well, the rest of the set stays firmly rooted to the '80s and '90s and for a while, it feels like the old Phish again.

The second set opens up with the new "Waves" and Trey's new guitar tone (crunchier, dirtier, more bitey) serves the jam section well (as it does for "Carini"). But not so much for "Divided Sky" and "Rift", songs that need a lighter tone.  Also, some rust seems to show in the composed sections of these tunes, as well as "Harry Hood".  Had Trey forgotten how to play them?  Did they not practice enough?  Does Trey <gasp> just kinda not care?  He had spent the better part of the past two years with a 10-piece band that was fully capable of picking up his slack (and he seemed to have spent a lot more time conducting them than playing guitar solos) and now he is revisiting these old songs like a stranger.

The cracks continue to show in the third set with the underwhelming "Sample in a Jar" opener (as well as an offputting "Taste" which revealed some listening issues among the band as Trey tried for a solid minute to steer into "What's the Use" to no avail), but all is forgiven when the debut of "Seven Below" ushers in the new year. The "Runaway Jim" jam that follows quickly abandons all sense of the song and wanders through different ideas until Fish locks into the drumbeat for Little Feat's "Time Loves a Hero", played only four times before (thrice in 1988 and in 1998) and not to be played again until 2010. 

Phish ends the set with the excellent new "Walls of the Cave", which could have brought some awesome power to the finish, but the jam got oddly mellow.  This would be another harbinger of what would come in 2.0 - the long jams that spiral outward, losing all sense of the song, trying things for the sake of it and letting them stew until you realize 15 minutes have gone by and not much has really happened even though it feels like you had been on a strange journey.  

12/31/12 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

With a golf theme already evident, Phish opened the night with Rick Nelson's "Garden Party", appropriate for the venue and for the stage which was dressed for such an occasion (but hopefully not its sentiment). After that one-time performance, this solid set touched on a little of each of the band's three previous decades, with other fun covers like "Roses Are Free" and "Walk Away"; as well as some big energy in '80s classic "Mike's Song" (which, along with "Weekapaug", had been played at 10 previous NYEs!) and '90s rockers "Sample in a Jar" and "Character Zero".

Apart from the "Ghost" that stays in mellow territory, riding a groove that is largely static even as Trey occasionally drops some pretty cascading notes, the second set is filled with upbeat jams like "Birds of a Feather", a "Piper" that remains more grounded than its counterpart from a decade earlier before bursting into a big climax, and a "Light" that stays fully danceable (and includes the "Auld Lang" tease usually reserved for the previous night). And if you still have your dancing shoes on, stay for the "2001", too. After all that, there is still room for "You Enjoy Myself". None of these jams are extraordinary, but they all play out quite well for a great listen.

Then, of course, there was the third set.  After teeing off with a fun "Party Time", they do the "Kung" chant, which mentions "a runaway golf cart marathon" and that seems to be what we get as golf carts start crisscrossing the stage, which now has two levels. Dancers hop off the carts in full cheesy golf regalia, and swinging clubs with their choreography as the band rocks "Chalk Dust Torture" into midnight for "Auld Lang Syne" and a wild "Tweezer Reprise" with big choir vocals and insane flashing lights. 

After that, they leaned so hard into the golf theme that the rest of the set list consisted of song titles that could be construed as golf references. "Sand" and "The Wedge" were both played excellently, with focused jams (nothing lasting more than nine minutes); Steve Miller's "Fly Like an Eagle" (another first and last for the band) was a nice surprise; and "Lawn Boy" as a barbershop quartet brought a new, fun spin on the tune.  

Even the encore continued the theme with "Driver" (with a false start due to Trey seeming to confuse it with "Summer of '89") and the first- and last-ever true performance of "Iron Man" (the one previous rendition was performed by a marching band on NYE 2003).  

At the end of 2012, Phish was at its most rock solid since the '90s in its ability to execute the technical stuff, jam with purpose and direction while also branching out in interesting musical and sonic directions, and bring silly and engaging ideas to the party.  This four-show run is a prime example of all those things.

12/31/2022 - Madison Square Garden - New York, NY

The band's 14th NYE at MSG (and a whopping 76th total at the venue) starts with "Tweezer", setting the stage for what was to be a much better night that the previous. The jam stays melodic and focused throughout, settling into a groove and decidedly pushing no envelopes.  The segue from "Halley's Comet" into "Set Your Soul Free" is as absolutely seamless as can be; and though the latter song ends up in pretty much the same Everyjam (thanks, Ali) territory that "Tweezer" did (and then does again when it returns later in the set), it is still a pleasant listen.  "Mike's" returns for yet another NYE appearance, with Fish playing extra authoritatively, especially into the closing section; and a well-executed "I Am Hydrogen" gives way to a dragging tempo in "Weekapaug", the best part of which comes when Trey holds a single guitar note for a solid 45 seconds while Page hammers away on his piano.

In retrospect, we might have been getting teases of the third-set time machine gag throughout the first two sets. In the first set, there was "Tweezer", "Mike's" and "Weekapaug"; and in the second set, we got "Say It to Me S.A.N.T.O.S.", "2001", "Mercury" and "Drift While You're Sleeping". All of those songs were played at or around midnight at previous NYEs, and they all brought a special energy to the show. The only extended jams of the set were "Kill Devil Falls" and "Light", and though neither will make any best-of lists, both were interesting and entertaining musical excursions.

The Time Machine gag in the third set was an impressive presentation, using "Ghost" as a through-line as they zig-zagged through the wacky gags of Phish's past. Some were only visual, so watch the video on YouTube to see Kasvot Vaxt, Sci-Fi Soldier, the Famous Mockingbird, golfers, clones and more. Musically, the medley mash-up that referenced NYEs of 1996, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2010 almost sounds like the band is gearing up for a Phish Revue residency in Vegas, but there is a certain charm to it now that the band has been around nearly 40 years. In 2004, Trey insisted on breaking up the band to avoid becoming a nostalgia act. To hear him being so comfortable with it now is actually quite endearing. 

That is not to say there were not some fresh jams in the set. After re-introducing "Tweezer" yet again, the band used a surprisingly engaging "Prince Caspian" to launch a segment of fine jamming through "Crosseyed and Painless" (among the many welcome covers in the set!) and "Piper", which were so energetic that the come-down of "A Life Beyond the Dream" felt truly earned. 

In fact, the whole thing felt earned. A band that has been around for 40 years (minus five in the middle) has a right to acknowledge its past; even a band that has always been as forward-looking as Phish. How many other long-standing artists not only continue to make new music, but also believe in that music enough to play all the songs on their new albums live in concert, many of which delight their fans every bit as much as the classics?  Neither Springsteen nor McCartney nor Metallica can do that. 

So why not indulge in a little bit of nostalgia?  Looking back at 40 years of Phish turned out to be a great way to look forward to the future that lies ahead.