12/31/19 New York
Set 1
A shredtastic, wah drenched Martian Monster opens the show, absolutely crushingly. Killer little version as ever.
And somehow they segue brilliantly out and into a raging Buried Alive! Talk about a 1-2 punch!
Solid Bag into the first major highlight of the night - a 12 minute
Halleys! Halley goes through several excellent sections of type 2,
before Trey basically ripcords them out and into an ill timed and
perfunctory Caspian.
Halleys is must hear! Thats a wonderful little jam!!!
Following that Caspian, Sparkle and Axilla, we get the lengthy
continuation of the Pan saga from the night prior. Much hilarity ensues.
The Maze that follows is very hot by 2019 standards. It wont blow you away but it totally gets the job done!!
Surprise segue into a pretty good Fluffhead as the penultimate track of
the set. This Fluffhead is loose around the edges but not totally
sloppy. Not as good as Charleston, but by no means poor. Good stuff!
Surprisingly, the final song of the set is honestly one of the biggest
highlights next to Halley!! Rise/Come Together turns in the smashing,
triumphant, heroic, hose filled, peak laden rendition the failed version
from Charlston could on dream of achieving. No, seriously, this is sick!!!
All in all this set plays way better than you expect and does not reek
of the warmup vibes that 12/31 first sets usually have. Halley and
Rise/CT are both genuinely must hear and the majority of the rest of the
set kept us moving and rocking very nicely for the most part!
Set 2
Set 2 begins with a very good but slightly flubby Punch. Other than one phrase, Trey basically gets it down. Solid version.
Wolfmans rages type 1 roc and roll, then comes a stupendous, 12 minute
Light. Light is MUST HEAR! Traveling seamlessly through several
different play styles peaking out in a tropical bliss peak, this sucker
just kills!!! Awesome!!!! Dont overlook this little Light! Its terrific!
But thats just the beginning! An 11 minute Twist follows and they kick the X Factor Magic into high gear! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST JAMS OF THE YEAR!!!! Going
deep and thick into a late night Moma style dark groove, at a snails
pace they increase the tempo until eventually they are shredding it to a
massive hose peak. Must hear! Must hear! Must heae! HOLY CRAP! THEY DONT MAKE TWISTS LIKE THIS NO MORE BOYS AND GIRLS!!!!
That X Factor Twist leads into a 7 minute Soul Planet that is so much
more essential than it has any right to be. The jam immediately drops
into a darkly aquatic and tenseful area and Trey does a lengthy and
extended solo building his waterfall delays....Its seriously bad ass. 4
or 5 of the best minutes of jamming of the year, again, I swear. MUST HEAR!!!!
Mercury is very well played but when it comes time to jam, Trey instead
leads them nicely into a ripping Possum to close this
better-than-you-think set.
All in all, go give this set a listen! The Light/Twist/Soul Planet
trio is genuinely must hear, up there with the best music of 2019, and
the rest of the set is a well played selection of high energy rock and
roll keeping the vibes UP! A much better listen as a proper set than it
has any right to be!!!!
Set 3
The fun begins with the band "talking amongst themselves" to the entire MSG crowd, lol.
The a capella Send In The Clones ushers in the insanity nobody was prepared for...
Musically, set 3 is nothing special. Of course its about the spectacle!
Everything is played fine but nothing really noteworthy. Ok, I lied -
Drift with the choir sounds amazing!!! 
This is definitely one gag you need to watch (the rising platforms),
what with Trey getting stuck and the clones running all around the
stage, etc. Visually its genuinely a great watch!
All in all, a pretty dang enjoyable show! It delivers enough
musically and the gag is definitely interesting. A winner in my book and
a great cap on an immensely underrated year of Phish!!!!! 
Light>Twist>Soul Planet!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment