On Saturday night, Phish continued the 2017 space odyssey with their third performance of the New Year’s Eve run at Madison Square Garden. Those still lining up and anxiously waiting on the “donut flavor of the day” may be slightly disappointed (despite the fact that, yes, it’s still “Lawn Boy”), but last night’s first set was as sweet and delectable as it gets. Although the bar was set impossibly high for Phish’s MSG Reprise 2017, the band is playing as calm and collected as ever, without an expectation or pressure in the world.

The first two shows of this run may not have been at the caliber as many of the Baker’s Dozen run shows, but last night’s Saturday soul-shakedown certainly shares the same depth and creativity that Vermont’s finest crafted during their magical 13-night escapade at the “World’s Most Famous Arena.”

Phish immediately kicked things into high gear with a meaty “Mike’s Song” opener, the Phish classic that dates back to the band’s early days of 1985. A relatively conservative “Mike’s,” Mike Gordon asserted himself as the space-captain of the evening, helping assist with his leadership in the band’s take-off process.

An elegantly placed “I Am Hydrogen” served as the fixins’ for the “Mike’s-Groove” sandwich, marking the only “Hydrogen” played of 2017, and it’s first appearance since played at last summer’s St. Paul, Minnesota tour opener. Following suite, the quartet hopped into a high-energy “Weekapaug Groove,” as the prince of music on guitar, Trey Anastasio, showed tenacity, hopping around his newly-revealed pedal board–one that would make any guitar aficionado drool all over the floor.

As Chris Kuroda tilted the light rig and brought planet-PH back to the Garden, the band reached into their back pocket to pull out a masterminded first set “Tweezer.” With the band relaxed and set, Page McConnell drove the jam into light and fluffy territory, as Trey locked in for the main-course jam vehicle of the first set.

After a short pause, the “Kill Devil Falls” that followed gave everyone a chance to reach for a beer and be glad that they’re here, as the band’s unthinkable 16th show of 2017 showed zero signs of fatigue or lack of creativity from the Phish from Vermont. A slightly longer pause followed, yielding Jon Fishman’s greatest contribution: a goofy and slowed down “Ass Handed”, as Fish invited everyone together to assist with the lyrics. The humorous cut would not have been complete without a loud “yewwwwww” shouted out by Fishman as the band brought the comedy show to a halt.

“Bathtub Gin” followed, as Trey soared through the fifteen-minute jam and got the shoulder-to-shoulder room spinning, with the help of light virtuoso, CK5. The biggest bustout of the run came next, as Phish’s pattern of slowing things down continued, and a funkified, half-tempo “Brother” popped out of the woodwork, for the first time since 2012’s Bader Field performance in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Last night’s “Brother” also marks only the second non-Father’s day rendition since Phish’s 2009 comeback. With Mike hammering away on the bass, Page picked things up on the synth, in turn bringing the band together. The Chairman of the Boards scooted over to his clav, and the party in the bathtub continued, as red and green holiday lights shimmered above.

“More” brought the first set to a close, leaving fans pulsating with love and light, and anxious anticipation for what was to come next. With easily the best first set of the run in the books, the band set the bar high for set two, and blaze on they did.

After returning to the stage, the familiar dark and grumbling watery-noises trickled out of Gordon’s bass, as Phish hopped into their second 25+ minute “Down With Disease” voyage of 2017 at The Garden. As the band quickly dove into type-two territory, Trey could not contain himself, bouncing around the stage before the band even hit the five-minute mark into a perfectly planned and completely insane “Disease.” As the band continued to accelerate, accompanied by mere knee-high kicks from Anastasio, Fishman helped chop the masterpiece up into a multi-faceted beast. With a slowed down drum-break, back into a bubbly groove, the band provided enough pause for every fan in the room to let out a few “woooooo”s. Unlike the Baker’s Dozen “Disease” that included a phenomenally executed “DWD” reprise, the band left this masterpiece unfinished and hopped into “Steam.”

Phish’s seamlessly smooth transition into “Steam” was led by “dark-Gordonic” bass bombs, leading way to Fishman transitioning over to the marimba lumina, giving Henrietta much needed time to catch his breath. Tinkering away, Fishman found the holiday-spirit with unique high-notes, mirroring a xylophone. With Trey pulling the big ol’ ripcord, the band fizzled into “Light”, before bringing the beast of a 5-song set to a close with “Farmhouse” into “Run Like an Antelope.” As if the band had not already set the gearshift for the high gear of their souls, Phish threw the Fishman-led “Sleeping Monkey” in the encore slot, before “Tweezer Reprise” brought the jam-filled Saturday night ripper to a halt.

With David Gallow Design announcing earlier this week that he once again masterminded this year’s New Year’s gag, and now with the mysterious “cosmic wristbands” on deck, one can only hope that Phish will place the biggest exclamation point on their 17 shows in 2017 at Madison Square Garden, that will inevitably be discussed in the jamband world forever.

Phish Fans To Receive “Cosmic Wristbands” For Tonight’s NYE Gag

Setlist: Phish | Madison Square Garden | New York City, NY | 12/31/17

I: Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Tweezer > Ass Handed, Kill Devil Falls > Bathtub Gin, Brother, More

II: Down with Disease[1] -> Steam > Light > Farmhouse, Run Like an Antelope

E: Sleeping Monkey > Tweezer Reprise

[1] Unfinished

[photo: Michael Jurick, using 28 photos from last night’s show and Photoshop]