The Verdict:
Well, this show is decisively uninteresting. And, on a New Year's Eve, no less. You almost have to do that on purpose. 2011 has been a year where Phish can surprise you by dropping the best show in at least a decade during a nondescript, run-opening show in Chicago. But it's also been a year where they can totally not surprise you by dropping three sets of almost entirely uninspiring fare on what's meant to be the biggest night of the year, every year.
That second bit is a little unfair. I guess. The New Year's Eve show gets off to a hot start, actually. Pretty much everything in this set is fire, including the "Farmhouse" solo (Believe it!) and a "Pebbles and Marbles" played at mega-tempo with some interesting Fish beats thrown in throughout. The "Ocelot" > "Fluffhead" pair even got a grin from me.
The second set also gets off to a typically-strong second set start, with a "Light" -> "Golden Age" pair that includes a theremin jam and a straight-up '97 funk jam. Both are a bit too short, but that turns out to be quibbling in context since this is the only jam of the night. It's worth a watch, though, for sure (at 1:39:00):
The rest of the second set is a perfectly okay first set, and while the "Steam"-based gag is pretty visually awesome to start set three, and leads Trey to shred "Steam" more than he typically does, all we get after is an obligatory mini-jam tacked onto the end of "Disease" and then a run of jukebox songs until the "Wading," "First Tube," "Slave" closing sequence, throughout which Trey's guitar sounds so out of tune with the rest of the band I legitimately wonder if he was having tech problems.
Yay New Year's?
The Live Review:
12/31/11: AC/DC Bag opener.
12/31/11: So far, MSG run can't decide if it's stuck in the pre-Leg Two 2011-era or the post-Leg Two 2011-era.
12/31/11: Hoping for a Modern Phish show here instead of a Rebuilding Phish show.
12/31/11: You know I love some '09 and '10, but something happened in the middle of 2011 that makes everything b4 seem...not...as...good.
12/31/11: Well, 'everything b4' in 3.0.
12/31/11: Loose Bag jam unfolding here. Band sounds dialed in.
12/31/11: Solid opener > Wolfman's
12/31/11: This is way friskier than a two-slot Wolfman's has any business being.
12/31/11: SMELL MY MULE
12/31/11: Great solo from Page to start the duel section. Trey struggling a bit after, though they *are* at MEGA-TEMPO compared to usual.
12/31/11: Stealing Time is next.
12/31/11: Loose but high-energy affair so far.
12/31/11: By 'loose' I mean 'If you have a finely-honed flub radar, you've already shot yourself.'
12/31/11: If you just like Phish, though, it's pretty fun.
12/31/11: Obligatory MSG Lawn Boy.
12/31/11: Jibboo!
12/31/11: Farmhouse is maybe not the best follow-up to Jibboo. Lots of machine-gunning from Trey in Jibboo, though.
12/31/11: Nice Farmhouse solo from Trey!
12/31/11: if he laid down a Farmhouse solo like that more often, there would be anguished wails coming from the venue urinals.
12/31/11: Which is always what you want to hear at a concert.
12/31/11: Pebbles and Marbles. These days, always either a welcome bustout or a tremendous mistake.
12/31/11: WHICH WILL IT BE
12/31/11: I swear to god that Fish is playing a bluegrass beat right now.
12/31/11: Definitely playing a different beat than on the album.
12/31/11: Not super-different, but definitely more shuffle than jazz.
12/31/11: Considering the speed they just played that at, it was surprisingly tight.
12/31/11: Ocelot next.
12/31/11: Trey and Mike just whipped that Ocelot into submission. Nice.
12/31/11: This is another one of those instances where I will gladly put aside my typical Ocelot-inspired eye rolls and enjoy the jam.
12/31/11: > Fluffhead
12/31/11: I suspect that this is going to end the first set.
12/31/11: FLUFFHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD
12/31/11: That was a satisfying 10,000th tweet.
12/31/11: Auld Lang Syne tease during Fluff outro.
12/31/11: End set.
12/31/11: S2 starts with Party Time.
12/31/11: Never liked the song much, honestly, but it's still fun when they open a set with it. Sort of like a declaration.
12/31/11: Party Time a little more fleshed out than usual. > Light.
12/31/11: Arpeggio jam suddenly drops out. Band comes back in w/ Trey on pitch shifter.
12/31/11: Loops and space now.
12/31/11: I think Page may have just busted out the theremin.
12/31/11: Sounds like 8/5/11 in here!
12/31/11: Loops, theremin, and a crazy beat from Fish.
12/31/11: Spontaneous confab outside my office with coworkers complaining to each other about expensive things being expensive.
12/31/11: Sort of ruining the mood.
12/31/11: Great, slow -> Golden Age after a short theremin jam, though.
12/31/11: Band struggles a bit with Golden Age proper, but then immediately drops into a '97-style deep funk groove.
12/31/11: Groove winds up really quickly on a Page piano outro. Huh.
12/31/11: Long pause, then Theme.
12/31/11: THINGS ARE FALLING DOWN ON ME
12/31/11: Pretty sure Heavy Things is never going to make a set, but that was a hot version.
12/31/11: Ghost! Slow tempo Ghost!
12/31/11: A bit of satisfying noodling into some power chording. Liking this Ghost so far.
12/31/11: Brief little Ghost excursion winds back to the outro. Sally next.
12/31/11: Vocal breakdown.
12/31/11: Out of the vocal jam, there's a quick guitar drone, and then > 46 Days.
12/31/11: For most of this set (minus the Light), it's felt like a show with a rushed fourth quarter.
12/31/11: But we're in the first half of the second of three sets. What gives?
12/31/11: This is not my beautiful Phish!
12/31/11: That Light, though, brief as it was, was like a follow-up to 12/30's Piper jam.
12/31/11: Alright, it deserves mention that this 46 Days is about as good a Type I rock-out as you're gonna get from this song.
12/31/11: Suzy, Cavern. #hitparade
12/31/11: Sorry, that was Suzy to end S2 and Cavern to start S3.
12/31/11: NYE 'gag' based around Steam.
12/31/11: https://t.co/yPo1ulN6iP
12/31/11: Trey totally shredding Steam in a way he doesn't typically.
12/31/11: Brief noise-rock section now.
12/31/11: Steam > Auld Lang Syne > DWD. Disease is punctuated by the sound of hundreds of balloons popping.
12/31/11: Unexpected, neat little jam getting built on the end of this Disease.
12/31/11: But that's about it in the improv category. The Wedge, Alaska, Wading.
12/31/11: The most interesting part of this Wading is the balloons audibly popping in the background.
12/31/11: Fist Tube
12/31/11: FIST TUBE GONNA GET YOU
12/31/11: Major flub currently happening between Trey and Page.
12/31/11: Sounds like Trey was half a step down or something for a whole section.
12/31/11: For a moment there, it sounded like they were concluding the run with Show of Life.
12/31/11: When I regained consciousness from my rage-induced mini-stroke, I realized it was just a flubby beginning to Slave.
12/31/11: Whew!
12/31/11: It's sounded like Trey's guitar is falling apart for like 30 straight minutes now. What the serious fuck.
12/31/11: That's cool, though, just let Mike drive this jam.
12/31/11: He's doing a great job so far.
12/31/11: And that's NYE 2011. Welp.
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