When the first show of the year is on the first day of the year, I consider myself a lucky guy, and when it turns out to be a quality show instead of a comedown from New Year's Eve, everybody wins.
Unfortunately, my seats way up in section 418 were pretty terrible. On the plus side, we had a good view from behind the stage, plenty of room to boogie, and some easy breathing space. On the minus side, the sound was absolutely awful. If someone tries to sell you that bullshit line about how every seat at MSG has good sound, tell him to sit in 418.
Nonetheless, the "Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan" opener got this New Year's Day show off to a raging start, and although I heard some groans about "Heavy Things" following, it was a great tune with good placement. The set was stylistically herky-jerky, but Phish excels at that, making the most out of the huge climaxes of "Stash", the Pink Floyd-esque "Wingsuit" (though I have heard much better versions), and a soaring "Run Like an Antelope" set closer, while also chilling things out with "Ocelot" and "Lawn Boy". The funky groove of "Undermind" gets me all charged up every time (it took me six years to finally hear it live, so it is still a novelty for me) and "Rift" is still "Rift" (that is a good thing). As Mike Gordon songs go, I am all for the new "How Many People Are You", and I hope it eclipses "Yarmouth Road" as a go-to Gordo tune (though the return of "Sugar Shack" would be even more welcome, provided Trey Anastasio can actually play the lick). The already playful set was made that much more-so with teases of "Stash", "Stealing Time" and "How Many People" in both "Undermind" and "Antelope".
A "Down With Disease" set opener is always a wonderful thing, especially on a New Year's run and clocking in at more than 15 minutes. Jams were definitely in order for the second set and the delivery kept coming with a big "Fuego", a bigger set-closing "Slave to the Traffic Light" and an huge "Light" (17 minutes), the latter being the standout of the night. The middle of the set dialed it down, but not too much - "Dirt" is still lovely balladry and the mid-tempo "Halfway to the Moon" had some fine lead vocals by Page McConnell and solid backing vocals by Trey and Mike. I am a little burned out on "Theme From the Bottom", thanks to listening to the entire Fall 1995 tour, but it was solid.
So what was up with the "Farmhouse" encore? If I had to venture a guess, I would say the band saw that it was 11:25 and they needed to be done by 11:30. It was a strong enough performance, but a disappointing end to a show that deserved a better finale.
Setlist:
Set I: Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Heavy Things, How Many People Are You, Stash, Undermind > Rift, Wingsuit, Ocelot, Lawn Boy, Run Like an Antelope
Set II: Down With Disease -> Dirt, Halfway to the Moon > Theme From the Bottom, Light -> Fuego > Slave to the Traffic Light
Encore: Farmhouse
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