2023-12-31 New York City, NY

 Onwards to night 4 of New Years at MSG, aka 12/31, Gamehendge Deluxe

This is gonna be long - 4 hours and 10 minutes according to the LivePhish files.

To preface, from the start, the vibe in the room felt WAY better than on 12/30 and right from the get go you could tell this was going to be an "ON" night for the band. I'm guessing the impending 2nd and 3rd sets had them hyped, haha....

Everything's Right - I was stoked to get one of these finally. A very fine version, nearly 12 minutes long. Honestly, it set the vibe perfectly. Everything's right, indeed! Getting this as the opener felt like the ultimate personal validation for myself. Awesome stuff. Trey's voice sounds a little fried on this. Kinda rough in that regard. But yea, "this long night's over and the sun's coming up" has never rang more true to me than it did on this night. Fantastic. Right away, the song drops into a funky, chill kinda wah-pedal groove to begin with. Fiery and relaxed at the same time. The guys are playing patiently - this does not feel rushed at all. Around 8:30, this shifts slowly back into a more "standard" sounding rock and roll jam, complete with loads of killer peaking from Trey and the guys. An absolutely fabulous little ER!!!! Not every X Factor version needs to be 25 minutes long! Go seek this out pronto! FANTASTIC!!! LET'S GO!!! I. AM. SO. PUMPED!!!!

No. Seriously. This thing is a damn BEAST!

Tube - Rough start on this one. Again, Trey's voice is fried and the band sound hesitant for the first 30 seconds or so, but thankfully they quickly pull it together. Awesome moment around 2 minutes where Page and Trey are soloing together for a while before splitting off again. Sick stuff. This is a terrific little Tube. Probably won't be on any best-of-the-year lists, but for the short run time, they cram in a lot and it really packs a huge punch. Wonderful bliss-funk in the back half!!! Killer! Don't sleep on this! No, seriously, it's way better than I'm making it out to be. Definitely belongs on the best-of list for this 4 show run.

Ether Edge - Probably the new song I enjoy the least. It's good but sounds like a re-write of Evolve, which is only now coming into it's own anyways! Still, was glad to hear it, but it felt like it sucked the energy out of the room a little bit. To be fair, this is played excellently, and sounds the least "awkward" of the few versions played so far. I would say this is likely the best version yet played, but that's not saying a lot.

Reba - Fishman is going nuts on this. Blew my mind that I was seeing my second Reba in only 6 shows!!!! The setlist gods continue to shine their light on me! Thankfully, tonight Reba is basically flawless. Sounds practiced and tight! Well, almost - Trey butchers the first 20 seconds of the "out of sync" portion, but otherwise it's spotless. Super nice solo on this. Very laid-back and patient but never sounding lazy. Then the rest of the guys start increasing the intensity and slowly they work it to a majestic peak. As expected. Not an all-timer or anything, but a strong "normal" Reba for sure!!!

Taste - This is fantastic. Every version this year has been - truly the comeback year for Taste (more versions this year than any year since 2009!!!). Also, my partner was with me at this show and he is not, musically, a Phish fan. He couldn't stop raving about this performance and loves this song now, so thank you Taste for being a gateway for a non-fan!!!! I don't think this was the best one played this year, but it was probably in the top 3 or 4 of the bunch!

Ruby Waves - Worth a highlight, but not the finest moment of the set. Only about 10 minutes, it feels a bit rushed and the jam gets going good, but unfortunately lacks the time needed to really take us out there. If this wasn't cut short, this had the absolute potential to become a monster. What's here is killer, there just ain't enough of it!!
This was the only part of the set that felt "rushed".

A Life Beyond the Dream - Love this song, but this felt like terrible set placement to me. It still feels that way upon this relisten. It's like they played it just to say "yea, the sets almost over". To be fair, this is a phenomenal version with an outstanding peak. If they played it like this every single time, nobody would complain. Worth a highlight.

Character Zero - Yup, sets over. Great as always but C Zero is C Zero.


All in all, a very strong set, but in the back half it felt like they were beginning to worry about time. Still, Taste, ER, Tube and probably ALBTD are all genuinely must-hear. Warm up sets have certainly been far worse than this!

 

12/31/23 New York City

Set 2

Down With Disease - A strong version, if cut short for the gag. This was great - they come out and launch into Disease to troll us and make everyone go "oh, no Gamehendge", ya know? Nothing special in the long run, and barely 7 minutes, but what's here is great. No, seriously, they play it as tight as they ever have all year and it almost sounds like 1.0 playing it again for once. Hell yes. Short but OH SO SWEET!!!! It even gets a jam going!!!! A+ short Disease!!!!!!

HARPUA - HARPUA HARPUA HARPUA HARPUA HARPUA HARPUA HARPUA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You've never seen more people lose their collecting $h!t than if you were in the room for this. Incredible. Jimmy on the bed rising from below the stage. Annie Golden as the grandmother....and Jimmy's "gaslight @$$hole" of a father.....We are heading over the cliff.....

WELCOME TO THE REAL STORY OF....
GAMEHENDGE!!!!!

Honestly, no joke, I cried when Harpua began. I still didn't expect Gamehendge - I figured Harpua itself was the gag. And then the damn rhombus arose from the stage and my head exploded....what about you @Islands ??
My god, Annie Golden was so perfect, lol.....

The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday - I'm calling this the TMWSIY overture or something. They don't play Alvenu Malcanu and it's more background intro music than anything, but of course we get to check this off of our "another song I'll never hear ever again" list!!! Sounds great, of course! Colonel Forbin can't resist temptation any longer and steps through the door into Narnia Gamehendge.

>The Lizards - Absolutely incredible in person. 50 people in Lizard costumes roaming around the stage, everyone singing and cheering along! Fantastic. The "Skippy the Wondermouse" part made me cry again, seriously. Musically, with the extra vocals and the extra synth strings and whatnot, this version feels like a genuine all-timer reading of the song, if you can even say such a thing. Genuinely terrific.

Punch You In the Eye - Narration time! Colonel Forbin is in Gamehendge and learns of King Wilson then sees the ship with the Wolf on it....etc. Punch sounds darn good tonight! Love the explosions and "prepare for battle!!!" cries during the main intro portion of the song. Fantastic!!!! The rhombus was red, white and blue during this and looked SO badass! They do have to slow down the Landlady section, but they hit all of their notes (and sweeps, haha). A great Punch for the modern era if a tad on the slow side. Totally highlight worthy.

AC/DC Bag - 19 minute Bag and the only jam of the Gamehendge set up next. This is so long due to the Multi-Beast puppet needing to slowly make its way from the back of the crowd all the way to the stage. Obviously, I know Bag is a GH song, but I can't fugure out for the life of me what it has to do with the story. Can you guys help me out? The jam in Bag begins around 5 minutes. Gets kinda chill to start, but by 7 minutes things are getting hairy. Some darkness starts to creep in - rubbery bass, extreme sustained notes....we are in Type II by now!!! Then come the dark space snythesizers!!!! By 10 minutes though, the darkness has been subverted and replaced with a quais-majestic kind of feel! Slow and steady, the whole band moving this thing like a vehicle together!!!! Then at 11 minutes we descend into outer space darkness once more!! Super angry and dark playing, space synths abound, Fishman annihilating the kit! THIS IS POWERFUL STUFF! From here, they evolve it back into a slow-burn rock and roll jam. MACHINE GUN TREY IS OUT TO PLAY, MELTING FACES LEFT AND RIGHT!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!!! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!!! WE ARE MELTING!! WE ARE ALL DEAD!!! WHAT IS THIS BAG!!!??? THIS IS THE GREATEST BAG SINCE....EVER?! After 6 or 7 minutes of this, they lay back and let the MultiBeast get to the stage. They keep tearing it up, but they have already peaked and moved on. Slowly, they continue to rage hard and pour lava in our ears, hopefully building back to another peak to close...

^^^^That Bag is beyond incredible and I feel blessed to have witnessed it. Jam of the friggin run. Probably a top 15 or so jam of the entire year (that's saying a LOT!). The definition of must-hear.....

Tela - GOAT TELA. Period. End of story. How the hell do you beat this?! The dancers and the girl flying 30ft in the air....one of the absolute highlights of this pure-highlight set. Incredible.

Llama - AND THE HITS KEEP COMING!!! Lizard man shooting tshirts into the crowd with a bazooka! Headbanger's paradise - GET IT TREY!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!

Wilson - GOAT WILSON. Period. End of story. Ok, maybe not, but it's gotta be in the top 5, no? Wilson is Wilson, but having The Wolf prowling the stage, singing along with Trey, all the crazy smoke and near-pyro going on around the rhombus...this one can't really be topped. A damn treat. I mean, just check this pic I took of the overhead screen, lol. Epic or what?!

The Sloth - Up next is The Sloth. This was hilarious. Even Trey was cracking up throughout. Some guy in the dumbest looking sloth outfit slooooowwwwlllllyyyyy crossing the stage to attack Wilson, only to miss when he actually gets close enough to strike, lol. Meanwhile Wilson is just looking at his watch, sitting and yawning, etc. Hysterically stupid in the best way.

Divided Sky - DS is DS. Excellent version. Everyone nails their parts. Whatchu want me to say?!

END OF SET 2

Set 3

McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters - Oh man, you had to see the animatronic/puppet McGrupp they had running around the stage. So perfect. "Was Tela a spy?!" "WASN'T SHE?!". "I'm not telling, grandma!" LOL

Colonel Forbin's Ascent/Fly Famous Mockingbird - First since 2021, only 2nd since Baker's Dozen! This featured one of the coolest things ever, like the whale on the Earth Day show, they had a drone-powered Mockingbird flying around the arena!!!! I honestly teared up again during Mockingbird. It was beautiful to experience. As for the music, it's not flawless, but it does sound practiced. For a song played only once every couple of YEARS, it sounds about what you'd expect it to sound like.


>Auld Lang Syne - Is ALS. No balloons...

Split Open and Melt - And Gamehendge comes to a close with The Lizards dying a molten death in the volcano. :'( Poor lizards! 14 minutes on this sucker, it goes deep and nasty as expected. A fantastic way to end Gamehendge, though slightly "anticlimactic" in a "that's how they are gonna end it all?!" way, haha.

You Enjoy Myself - Great version. Nothing to say.
Loving Cup
Possum
Cavern
First Tube
Tweeprise

Nothing really to say from YEM onwards. The rest of the set/show is just a kickass victory lap. Nothing to say really. This was an unbelievable and unique experience. I will treasure the night for the rest of my life....