TL;DR - Hot damn! That was a great show. Major bust outs, amazing energy, great complementary jamming. Must hear songs are Mike's > Secret > Groove, B&R, Melt, Meatstick, Makisupa, and Hood.

The boys open the night for the second show in a row with an a capella tune, dusting off Sweet Adeline and then hopping into another great bust out in Peaches! The crowd was going crazy right away.

Mike's gives us our first bit of improv and it's a great one. Trey leads the way with great melodic soloing and then they segue nicely into Secret Smile. It's starting to seem with all the bust outs that the boys know they're close to breaking a record for unique songs on the year. Secret Smile settles beautifully in the Mike's Groove.

The jam out of Groove is not to be overlooked, featuring outstanding interplay between Trey and Fishman. Great stuff.

The rest of the set features a long overdue Roses and a nice punchy 46 Days before closing out with Split Open and Melt.

Melt was awesome and gets really growling. Dark, dirty, psychedelic shit. Killer way to end an excellent first set.

After the break, Trey shreds the living hell out of Down with Disease. The jam doesn't go anywhere out of the ordinary for disease, but Treys guitar work is inspired.

What's the Use kills in its home as a jam landing pad and gets teased in a typical, but high energy, Fuego.

Meatstick is great. Slick and fun as hell. Trey experiments with some minor arpeggios in his first solo and in the jam later he and Page hook up for some really great complementary leads.

Twenty Years Later presents a breather AND hilarious antics when they sandwich a Kung into the ending.

Makisupa was fun and has a great drums jam with Trey on Marimba Lumina and Page and Mike on Fishman's kit.

They bring the show home with a majestic, soaring Hood. Trey builds it to an enormous and ferocious peak, sending us all home hosed down and in pure bliss.

I am here in defense of this Hood. While it is by no means exploratory, it IS a fucking powerhouse display of the band when they are LOCKED IN to peaking the fucking shit out of a straightforward jam. Page and Trey seem to be sharing a brain that crescendos to a peak of pure (yet unrestrained) bliss and then they peak it twice more for good measure in almost '94-esque fashion. Listen to this with some headphones on and tell me this doesn't deserve to be called 'noteworthy".

I'm rightly using the same same sentence as I did for last night: This show had it all- well executed busts outs, long jams, short jams, flubs, great phans (as always), some silliness, and a rocking encore. Alright, you got me, silliness is a new addition.

How can you not love these bust outs! Sweet Adeline, Peaches, Secret Smile, and Roses (I feel Roses, sadly, is not played enough and so I consider it a bust out). Sure Peaches & Roses were first set shorties, but a ton of us can take those great songs off our 'never heard list'. All these rarities were intertwined with a bunch of rocking/jamming songs. Very cool. Trey lost his focus on the segue out of Theme, which seemed to shake him a bit as they quickly jumped into SOAM. We're all human, so hiccups like these are no biggie for me. I had jobs requiring me to be in front of a bunch of people, so I know how it feels when you have a brain fart in front of a crowd. All you can do is shake it off and move on.

There were some special moments in Theme and DWD, though it seems Hood stole the show as most were commenting about it afterwards. Probably because of the (now viral?) 'Hood Peak Kid'.

Can't go wrong with Meatstick and Trey's trickery made this version fun. He takes what seems to be a slip on a note and rides out the off key in a small lick (do we still use that guitar vernacular?). It's pretty cool and a great way to handle the situation.

I could take a Twenty Years every show, so a Twenty Years/Kung combo, come on now!

Moving on, who doesn't like Maki-man and its antics. It's a shame Mike bails on an opportunity to lay out a Makisupa bass jam, though we did get a little before the drums kicked in. Phish' drum jam brings back memories of the waste time on Space>Drums at just about every Dead show. Lucky for us Phish's drums are short and done occasionally. So they're nice to get. It's funny, writing about GD drumming reminds me of the drum circles in the lot of Dead shows. Why didn't these make their way over to the Phish lot in larger and sustained amounts? We should get that going; Who's with me?

Hood was great and the 'Hood Peak Kid' does what most of us are feeling. Sure, Julius is a standard. But it rocked and that's exactly why we come to shows.

Well, as I've said many a time and I'll definitely be saying say it again right now- best show ever!

Though I loved this whole show, this review is focused solely on the Melt.

Where the Star Spangled Banner the night before might have been a moment of coming together, Melt tore a massive whole into the end of 2016. New Years shows should be a joyous celebration of what was and what will be, but they should also provide catharsis for the negativity that has accumulated during the year. This year has been a tough one for many, not just those who are upset about the political future of our country. The great artists and leaders we've lost alone is enough to make 2016 one for the record books of lousy years.

The Melt jam at this show confronted the negative energy of the year, coaxed it out into the open and let us all face the darkness. Just as the song's title suggests, Melt can break open a hard exterior, the shell that protects our innermost joys and sorrows, and melt pain and pleasure into one. No matter who we are or what we believe, I think we all needed the collective release.

Phish exorcised the demons of 2016 with the dark, discordant tones a superb Melt that truly defines and is defined by its time and place.

Another solid night at MSG, I think I prefer night one slightly more.
That Wolfman's/Golden Age/Simple will be tough to top. My favorite moments were the last 5 minutes of SOAM, noisy discordant beauty. I sat there with my eyes closed, rocking back and forth taking it all in. The Disease-what's the use was a very nice second set opener and the whole second set was top notch. I loved the slow groove they get into during 20 years and to sandwich Kung was a nice a surprise. The Makisupa rhythm part was also really cool, and the Meatstick was fun. I drive a Jeep with a ripped top courtesy of a transient person, hope that's not too stereotypical but Meatstick is a fun song and basing it off of the way the crowd responded it seemed like everyone loves it. The Hood was going along pretty standard but Trey lit it on fire for the last couple of minutes, and the Julius encore got a nice little walk too. Page's work on Poor Heart and Beauty were also highlights, I'd give it a 4-4.5 type of night.

Another solid night at MSG, I think I prefer night one slightly more.
That Wolfman's/Golden Age/Simple will be tough to top. My favorite moments were the last 5 minutes of SOAM, noisy discordant beauty. I sat there with my eyes closed, rocking back and forth taking it all in. The Disease-what's the use was a very nice second set opener and the whole second set was top notch. I loved the slow groove they get into during 20 years and to sandwich Kung was a nice a surprise. The Makisupa rhythm part was also really cool, and the Meatstick was fun. I drive a Jeep with a ripped top courtesy of a transient person, hope that's not too stereotypical but Meatstick is a fun song and basing it off of the way the crowd responded it seemed like everyone loves it. The Hood was going along pretty standard but Trey lit it on fire for the last couple of minutes, and the Julius encore got a nice little walk too. Page's work on Poor Heart and Beauty were also highlights, I'd give it a 4-4.5 type of night.

Really awesome, high energy show with some great jams in 1st and 2nd set. The crowd was into it from the get go and peaches really got a reaction. Nice first set Mikes. Some sloppiness but they really made up for it in the jam segments. They jammed a little in almost every song where A jam was possible. Hot 46 Days. Nice Page song in Beauty. Loving Page songs more and more these days. Theme had some extra in it. Not a huge Melt fan because the different time signature usually throws off my groove but they seemed to slow a bunch of songs down tonight, including Melt. The last 4 mins of Melt got really cool and weird. Everyone was sucked in. Tractor beam. Because they slowed a bunch of stuff down a measure or two (or whatever it's called to measure time in music), they were able to be patient and find some excellent spots for all members to fill in the gaps. Kung had everyone going and I could've sworn Trey threw in some "you're not alone" quotes from Trey but maybe that was just in my head. I don't like 20 Years Later much either but this version was top notch. I know jaded's are down on the marina lumina thing but the drums in Makisupa was an excellent part of the show. One of the highlights for sure. The Hood was unreal with Trey adding some extra peaks for shits. I love Julius. This was my favorite show that I've attended since Magnaball. All that talk during summer tour of the band breaking up seems even more ridiculous now. They are tight even after two months off. Been to Phish at the garden like 20 times and this was my first time on the floor. I thought it would suck and be overcrowded but it was incredible. Space to dance and everyone was real chill. Looking forward to a crazy Friday show. And they definitely played star spangled banner night 1 because of all the craziness of the past year with everyone hating some candidate. Who cares, it was a cool moment that the band used to bring the fans together. Fuck it, whoever you support, Phish is a great way to get away and not think about life. Embrace it.

A cappella song to open, as would be the trend this Run. Peaches makes a welcome return, as does Secret Smile (I really love Secret Smile.) Weekapaug must be heard to be believed; not an exceptionally long version, but extra mustard has already been broughten, nonetheless. Split Open and Melt succeeds in its goal of reinvigorating that song's jam, IMO; 3.0 versions have generally not impressed me quite as much as 1.0 or 2.0 versions. DWD opens the second set (you can see that coming nowadays, but okay) and mostly treads pre-established territory. Makisupa has a nice "Drums" segment, but it doesn't hold up that well on the recording, IMO. This is pretty much an average-great show, whether you ask me or not.

Not much to report…. Mostly a canned / brief type I jams show, with the notable exceptions being:

Cool seamless segue from DWD > What’s The Use

MEATSTICK. I f*ckin’ LOVE this song!! And this is a slightly stretched out, excellent version. Might be the best Meatstick I have. Did I say I f*ckin’ LOVE this song? GREAT version.

Twenty Years Later has a VERY COOL Kung vocal overlaid with the outro. A very fun, in-the-moment improvisation. (Now I wanna go back to see which one of them initiates it…..) Not a true mashup since the music stays 100% TYL.

Makisupa is fun, with a witty vocal exchange, but devolves into a percussion jam, and you know how I feel about that.

this show was "ok". I was expecting more than I thought! Makisupa Policeman and Harry Hood was phenomenal! The first set was just back in forth with slow songs, then Fast songs! Like mikes into secret smile into weekapaug. I know thats what phish does but the second night could have been better in my opinion! Lets hope for a good one tonight!!

Ok, I'm gonna bring everyone back to reality... The show was hit and miss.
I had amazing seats, sec 107, lots of room to dance and had a great time... But... It was hit and miss.
Accapella start, meh, its cute I guess, then Peaches came on and I was like "Oh yea", Mike's was sweet but they ruined the combo w Secret Smile... I don't care if it's rare or not, sucks lol
Rest of 1st set was all over, Roses is always good and 46 days was decent.. but too many bathroom breaks overall ... But they ended it nicely w a good Theme and a sweet SOAM.
2nd set was better. DwD was good, nothing crazy. WTU was OK, Fuego is Fuego (I'm not a big fan, but it's OK while I'm there)... Then it got really good. Took a while but they always know how to leave a smile... 20 years later isn't that amazing but throwing out a KUNG in it was siiiick ... The Makisupa was really good w the drum/miramba jam and Hood was great.
Could have taken another song after or before Julius, but Julius was played solid.
Overall... Fun night w a hit and miss song selection played well.