Last night, we celebrated Earth Day on New Year’s Eve in April.
Phish delivered one of the finest gag sets in recent memory to cap off an already-strong show for the third night of their MSG return.
Opening the show with a strong Everything’s Right, the band continued to lean heavily on bliss themes as the jam stretched past 15 minutes. Moving through relatively standard versions of Tube, 555, Back on the Train, and Army of One, Phish then ripped into a hot Axilla II.
Despite it being played multiple times last year, the opening lyric of “summer, sitting out by the pool” provoked massive cheers from the crowd. When CK5 obliged Trey and stopped shining that thing in his face by dousing the lights, the band launched in to the darkest jam of the weekend (so far at that point) for a solid couple of minutes before returning to the main theme to close. The set then closed with a blazing pairing of Bathtub Gin and Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
Let’s talk about that second set.
Opening with a sprawling Set Your Soul Free, Trey led the band through a bright and funky groove highlighted by Page’s Rhodes and B3 work as the jam drove to a soaring delay-drenched peak. Moving into Light next, the energy continued unabated as yet another fantastic jam developed. Trey pushed the jam into a rocking theme and another great peak before fading into Fuego.
Fuego has been a bit hit-or-miss for its eight-year career with the band. Sometimes (see some early summer 2014 versions and 7/28/18) it can deliver some truly inspiring jams, but much of the time it ends up acting as a breather song mid-set. I am overjoyed to report that last night was the former. Beginning to depart the song structure around 11 minutes in, the jam quickly grew dissonant and dark for a few minutes of serious growly jamming. Finally giving us the weird Phish we’d been waiting for, Trey hinted at the third set with some whale call-ish themes that combined with Page’s synth washes and Mike’s deep and effects-laden bass to create an incredible dark motif.
Phish closed the second set with an energetic Backwards Down the Number Line, played for Trey’s daughter Bella for her birthday.
Within seconds of the end of the second set, the stage was swarmed by crew as the band’s gear was packed up and moved off in preparation for the third set. Based on the setup that replaced their normal one, my Sci-Fi Soldier theories went out the window and I was left with a guess that maybe it would be something Earth Day-related. After some initial stress about the raised platform at the beginning of Free, I immediately was awestruck by what was happening. Lasers from a lighting rig around the jumbotron shone across the space as the canvas below the band’s platform displayed shimmering textures of blue to simulate our underwater journey. After an energetic romp through A Wave of Hope, Trey gently strummed the intro to Waves. As the jam began, blow-up dolphins with drones attached began to lazily “swim” through the air in the arena as CK5 continued to dazzle with bubbles and light effects to make it seem like we were immersing ourselves in the bottom of the ocean.
As the massive blow-up whale rose from side stage to join the dolphins, Trey called out to hit with his whammy pedal and took the Waves jam to a spooky place. Reaching the ocean floor, the sea creatures returned to the ground and the band delivered an absolutely spectacular Sand. Driving into a blissful and insistent groove, Trey and Page displayed more of the incredible interplay they’ve had throughout the run. Hitting on an aggressive ascending progression, Page introduced some light synth work as the groove continued along steadily before Trey smoothly introduced a progression not unlike the Mind Left Body Jam.
Returning in earnest to the bottom of the ocean, the band closed the final set of the night with an absolutely absurd Split Open and Melt. After a pretty well-executed composed section, the band jumped into the jam with intention, diving headlong into the dissonance and evil darkness they have resisted in most jams through the run. Even dissolving into a formless dark cloud of evil toward the end, Phish absolutely nailed the closer to an incredible set and one of the best segments of the weekend in Waves > Sand > Melt.
A jamless It’s Ice encore among sound and visual effects of crackling ice sent the capacity crowd off into the New York night overjoyed – while we did not get a proper New Year’s Eve countdown or Auld Lang Syne, we were treated to one of the most well-crafted and well-executed gags in the band’s history.
One more night remains…