MSG4 RECAP: MESSAGE RECEIVED
New Year’s Day is known more for restraint than indulgence, but I’d like to indulge in a little departure from the norm. Usually I tackle these recaps in a pretty linear fashion, as that’s the way shows tend to unfold for me, and I feel that descriptions of what the band played and how they played it are typically the best way to synthesize a performance.
But last night’s show was different. You felt it whether you were there or whether you were streaming it in your living room. I don’t believe most Phish shows spell something, or have a point to make apart from communion (which is point enough). I don’t listen between the notes for life guidance, nor do I imagine that the band wants me to. But last night was that rare bird: a statement show.
In part, as others have noted, it was the culmination of a cheeky, 4-night rejoinder to those fans who held their breath until they turned blue, browned their pants, and went floppy in the cereal aisle when Phish decided to debut new originals on Halloween instead of donning a musical costume as per tradition. The wisdom of answering a tantrum instead of ignoring it can be questioned, and I would question it here were the statement not something grander.
The grander statement was not one of defiance, but one of surrender. To mark the end of its triumphant 30th year, the band elected not to punch the warp drive on Spaceship Phish, but to power it down, step off, and feed itself whole to its fans. They set up a tiny stage dead smack in the middle of the room with nothing to hide behind - no road cases, no cabinets, no stacks, no racks, no pedals - and stripped themselves naked but for the gnarly armor of their songs.
Very few arena bands would ever intentionally put themselves in such a vulnerable condition, but then again very few arena bands have even a pitiful fraction of Phish’s repertoire. Their business model, their showmanship, their musicianship, and their improvisational talents are all wonders to behold, but Phish’s crowning achievement is its canon. Period. And this Madison Square Garden stand put it all on display - nine sets and (let’s say) thirteen hours to trot out three decades of ambitious compositions that command a vast array of genres and styles while remaining unmistakably Phish.
It was their songs that endeared us to these performers. It is their songs that birthed this proud nation of nerds, wooks and weirdos. When we think of what we’re grateful for, at or near the top of the list is the fact that we are among those beings whose seratonin centers are activated by Phish songs. We know that many are not so lucky.
That’s why I don’t want to sit here and write a play by play. It just feels wrong. I don’t want to talk about vintage gear, I don’t want to talk about the flubs in “Fly Famous Mockingbird,” and I don’t want to talk about how “Fuego” got ripcorded. Mostly because I’d sound like an asshole, and my New Year’s resolution this year is to sound less like an asshole.
What I’d rather write is a mash note.
My wife and I brought our daughter to her first Phish show on the 29th. She is 12, and it was her first proper rock show, and we were both a little apprehensive that she would be overwhelmed, or bored. She has been listening to Phish since she was a wee blastocyst, and she loves it all, but you never really know what can happen when you introduce someone to this experience - the energy, the chaos, the yin of it all. What if it was just too much? What if it didn’t click?
It clicked. Hard. The kid danced her face off from the first measure of “Moma Dance.” Later, when Mike vibrated the room with that monstrous bass note during “Down With Disease,” she grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face her. Her eyes were as wide as saucers behind her glasses, and I could see through them into her epiphany. It was the same epiphany I’d had 25 years earlier in Hampton Coliseum at my first Grateful Dead show, during Jerry’s final plaintive verse of “I Know You, Rider.” That moment changed my life forever, and in so many important ways; I quite literally would not be who I am today, or have the family that I have today, were it not for that moment. It was the night before my 20th birthday, but in a way, it was the night of my birth. To witness a similar awakening in the person I love most was a gift beyond price. I’m spilling tears down my shirt just writing about it.
And so, since we know now that the band is listening to the internets, I’d like to say just two things for their benefit.
First, we’re gonna need that second jam in “Mike’s” back. No, really.
Secondly, and more importantly: thank you. Thank you for working so hard to become so consistently and inspiringly great at what you do. Thank you for writing songs that speak so eloquently to the somewhat maladjusted, and that invite us to get so blissfully lost. Thank you for picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and starting all over again. Thank you for this most extraordinary year, and for the 29 that came before it. Thank you for being the Phish in the world. Thank you for all of it.
A glad, safe, healthy, and prosperous 2014 to all!
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Phish.net
The Mockingbird Foundation
I think you blew your Resolution.
I can't wait till my three little ones get IT as well -- now, to them, it's just "la música de Papi" (Daddy's music -- my kids are ESL on purpose but that's another story). Tbey're curious, but they like Mommy's music better (radio pop). I can only hope to share an experience like that with them some day. Maybe at the 60th anniversary shows when they're my age? I hope it doesn't take me that long to make my first MSG NYE show...
Thanks Phish, phish.net, @bertoletdown -- and Happy New Year everyone!
Phish also informed my life and own (non-musical) philosophy in the 90s by their uncompromising dedication to hard work, high quality and "continuous improvement", as well as in the economically bleak recent years of this era forcing me as well to reinvent myself at at age I would have previously considered "retiring" and "picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and starting all over again", as you put it. It's been a wild ride.
Thank you, Phish, thank you friends, especially my touring companions over the years and each of my wonderful friends and colleagues who make the Mockingbird Foundation and this web site tick.
A happy and healthy New Year to all!
Your synopsis was very well thought-out, even if was done so on the subconscious level. Absolutely agree with every single sentence. My first Dead show was in Providence some 35 years ago and I share some of your life story. Except my wife hates Phish. I still love her even though she has no taste.
I want to say that I'm greatly impressed by the band's decision to play nada covers for the run. Yes, I miss Crosseyed & Painless and Drowned and many others, but I didn't miss them these last four nights.
Also the second set of this show could be the most entertaining set of Phish I've ever experienced. The setting, the songs, the venue.....just amazing.
Even though I couched the whole thing and couldn't be there live it was a stunning, riveting, deeply emotional experience.
I hope to thank Mike in person when I go seem him this spring at Higher Ground.
Thanks again for a terrific write-up.
That 30th anniversary movie montage last night, especially the part about the festivals -- we attended all nine and every Halloween except this years -- brought back a lot of memories.
NYE was majestic. The idea for Set II was a stroke of genius.
Let's hope the "message" resonates.
Nice work
Fast forward 365 days. 4 shows, no covers. Halloween, no cover set, but a set of new songs. The connection might only be in my head, or is it?
Yay music.
Thank you! Here's to another year!
Having been at the first 3 nights and streaming NYE at home with our 2 year old - I found myself thinking for a moment - How am I not there? This night of all nights?
That thought quickly turned to "I am so psyched to be HERE... and I feel just like I am there" - the power of that show came right through on the stream - and we were enjoying it with the little one we love most - who most likely wouldn't exist without this band and my wifes needing a ticket to a show being the reason we met.
Like the old days - the reason we love Phish so much - plus - the last three nights were pretty f-in awesome in retrospect.
Sidenote to Reviewer - Those Hampton '88 shows were my formal introduction to the scene too - and when they busted that "Quinn The Eskimo" encore the second night of Hampton this Fall - just like Jerry did our first year - it brought a smile and a tear to my eye knowing the power of so many songs would continue to carry on and across to generation after generation.
I didn't realize people were upset with them for playing Wingsuit on Halloween. I thought it was freakin genius and incredibly brave. The phans who didn't make it must have been the ones bitching.
No covers and a basic set up for an entire set. Come on these guys are amazing musicians. They have proven it over and over again.
I have nothing but thankfulness for Phish and the whole organization.
Sign'd. Well written.
Thank You!
If by 25 years ago, you're referring to 3/26/88, then your birthday show the next night was one of my favorite Dead shows I was ever in-house for.
At least they picked it back up a few minutes later in Light.
Great night overall.
Before that, though, you did package a couple assumptions about Phish and their mindset, and issue a handslap (whether loving or not) to a chunk of fans, including me. You take for granted that the no-covers (other than Auld Lang Syne) policy is a rebuke to fans who were miffed or unsatisfied by the Halloween "Wingsuit" mis-direct, and that this rebuke is indeed welcome—as opposed to weirdly ungrateful and divisive, implying that the "fans" repeatedly thanked onstage by Trey are only the ones who agree with Phish's every move—and that the only mitigating factor is whether Phish should have even acknowledged what you term a "tantrum."
I really don't see why fans can't have reasonable objections to something the band does, without it being held up as an example of why we are somehow outside of the core of real fans, not getting "the message"—essentially a hurdle that Phish is able to leap in their pursuit of a great Run. It makes me feel "outside" of the accomplishments of the run, as if I'm not included because I happen to think 10/31/13 II was a huge swing-and-miss and had the temerity to say so publicly.
It would be great if we're able to just say this is a great run without finding hidden messages indicating that it was great *in spite of* some fans.
Currently crying, thanks!
I have been going to Phish shows for around 15 years, but have always gone to only 2-4 per (non-hiatus) year. This year, I was at 8, including an incredible run at Hampton, because honestly, I couldn't stop myself. The fall tour/MSG run was too good not to be there. For me, NYE was a celebration of: the best tour I've ever witnessed in-person, the first 30 years of a band that has contributed so much to my, and so many people's lives, and the vibe, culture, and community that makes you feel like you've come home every time you get to a show.
Happy 2014!
i was fortunate enough to attend all four of the nyc msg shows and retuned home wanting for nothing ( other than to collect and download all the shows so that i can revisit and continue to enjoy the excellence of the past four days )
On this night i had a pretty good vantage point as to what was happening at each juncture. the second set transition to the center of the msg floor was among my most unique and memorable phish concert experiences. it does not surprise me at all that each band member adjusts instantly to the simplified stage setting because they evolved in this setting and individually play out in smaller settings and with other musicians on an ongoing basis.
it looked like... they were having a lot of fun up there on that truck and in the center of it all. and the video progression leading into it is my new favorite music video.
despite the fact that newer songs were played throughout ( ocelot, halfway to the moon, fuego, light, and twenty years later ) the dominating impression of my overall concert experience was Phish - old school. The end of set 3 with bouncing around the room and you enjoy myself is classic familiar excellence. the vocal jam light show was gorgeous and i recall ck5.
i never got to see Phish in the early 90s and it was a joy to be there and experience the return to the beginning with some friends who know and love these songs from back in the day. set two was a real gift to any early Phish enthusiast as well as a newer listener like myself who had never heard any many of these songs before. I had never heard or heard of that song F*** YOur Face before. somehow that just went over my head when it was recently revived. i won't be forgetting it any time soon either.
this show was a most perfect retrospective and i feel like i got my time's worth out of every second of what happened the other night.
thank you berteletdown for sharing your insights and memories and your experience of 12/29, your first show with your daughter. it is a most happy new year indeed!
I think Trey basically fell over himself thanking the fans in attendance on Halloween night, knowing full well that they had indulged the band patiently.
I've been silent on the subject, but I thought the Halloween show was horrible. The songs were too complex to warm up to on such a sudden, undiluted level and the whole experience felt like a grade-school musical, with nervous tension everywhere.
I don't criticize the band for it, though, as I thought it was heartwarming and endearing that they trusted their fan base enough to pull something like that. Very risky.
Again, I don't think Phish had any hidden motives here....certainly not "revenge" or something similar. I think they're way too busy trying to create the best possible experience to be all-too-focused on negatives, worse, perceived negatives.
The band would never have made it this far if they were that hypersensitive to every negative comment that floats around. We can trust they're quite a bit more professional and thick-skinned than that.
I am so very lucky to have lived with Phish in my heart for so long. Now that we are into 2014, I am 9 months away from my 20th anniversary, 21 years since the first night I heard Reba playing at a cabin card game. Thank yous from the original message speaks my gratitude. I am looking forward to unveiling more together!
Lovely reflection, on the whole @bertoletdown, though @J_D_G makes a great point: this masterful no-covers run can be taken as an anniversary celebration of the band's music without reading it as a rejoinder to those unmoved by 10/31 & "Wingsuit."
"It was their songs that endeared us to these performers. It is their songs that birthed this proud nation of nerds, wooks and weirdos. When we think of what we’re grateful for, at or near the top of the list is the fact that we are among those beings whose seratonin centers are activated by Phish songs. We know that many are not so lucky."
This is wonderfully said: there is an outsider's assumption that it's "all about the jam" for fans, but I've always felt that if the songs weren't good, we wouldn't care so much whether they were jammed out or not. Whatever one's take on First Sets these days, I've noticed that they often tend to be ecstatic sing alongs for many fans, because these songs mean something for all us.
Happy New Year, netters!
Looking forward to a great 2014 filled with incredible music.
cheers-
i attended the the AC shows and my first halloween show with Phish was a most refreshing music experience. i do not understand who the people are who might be complaining a lot because i do not read the forums, but everyone i have encountered in person with whom i discussed Wingsuit shared positive feedback. i was there and i could feel some magic. everyone i have talked with about Wingsuit has at least two new song favorites.
since the halloween show, i have listened to Wingsuit as a record, as a whole, at least once each day. i love it. perhaps some people are mostly comfortable with the familiar and going to a new unexplored space is a conceptual stretch... i don't know.
i do not hear the comments from Trey and Fishman as anything other than vast appreciation of a great an attentive audience. i love Wingsuit and i am looking forward to the release of the studio recording in it's completion. i am also looking forward to the future with Phish and Wingsuit was a literal turn in that direction.
artists have to do what inspires them most at a given time. they cannot force themselves to follow a tradition for the sake of following tradition because it will come off as hollow. it seemed to me that the band Phish was very inspired with some new compositions they are working with and it was appropriately conceptual to release these songs for us on halloween, rather than spend their time before the shows learning and practicing someone else's music.
i was not disappointed. not at all. it was a happy halloween - in my world.
Glad you had fun on Halloween. I wasn't there live. I thought, other than the Wombat spectacle, that it was a painful experience from the couch.
Page = Page McConnell is not an original band member, having joined the troupe some 2(?) years or so after they formed. He replaced Jeff Holdsworth, original member and guitarist/songwriter.
All I care about is the music. I honestly don't care about your experience, nor do I care about your kids experience, all I care about is the music. It's great that you had a good time, but who doesn't have a good time at a phish show? Aren't we going to Phish to hear music? It's why I go, and it's why no one will ever talk honestly about the quality of the music at this show.... and the reason for that is because despite the set list, the show was very average in terms of the playing.
It's awesome that Phish gave the fans what they wanted after the Wingsuit show, but it is what it is. The tapes do not lie. Ever.
Furthermore, I honestly found the music to be very average and feel that the bigger message was the fact that phish has changed so much that it really showed in playing a show like this. It's my opinion, I am completely entitled to it, and the more people try to call honesty "being a hater", the more people will stand up and voice their honest opinions louder and louder.
( ac Halloween night wingsuit set )
as I recall that night in ac people were rivited and listening as each note and lyric is new to the ears.... the audience reactions are yet unscripted. sometimes time and progression create these things.
as an example, Harry Hood evolved over time with the audience participations. it is organic and spontaneous. one cannot judge the wingsuit release by the lack of audience reaction or participation when listening to the live shows or watching a couch tour broadcast. if you listen to the wingsuit recording from ac Halloween, you wil hear the applause of enthusiasm at the conclusion of each new song.
also, I think it is important to note: couch tour cannot compare to being at the concert. I have tried couch tour of west coast shows on east coast time. I fell asleep each time. I would be unable to fall asleep at a phish concert in any time zone.
I will say I enjoyed the songs much more during this run as they were mixed in with everything else, which was my point.
Nothing is negative for me at this point with this band. They are the best, period. Even when the playing is very average, which it was on NYE. The second and third nights were clearly the best shows, musically. NYE was an EVENT, which was beautifully captured by @bertoletdown.
If you click on my username you will see that I've contributed lots of recaps to this site. If you peruse a few of them, I think you will find that I consistently call them like I see them, and that I more often than not take a "0s and 1s" approach, in contrast with the meta take here. I mean, you can glean as much from the first paragraph of my recap. I specifically told you before I indulged that I was begging your indulgence.
I did it because it felt like the right approach. A different approach to describe a different sort of show. I had something inside of me I felt the community might appreciate more than my description of the 0s and 1s. By and large it seems like it worked for most people, but I certainly don't expect it to work for everyone, so I'm cool with your criticism.
[However, I will say that if you find yourself sickened with this recap, you may want to avoid PT.]
Cheers and have a great 2014.
I tried to be clear in the piece that I don't think that Phish played no covers solely as a rejoinder to fans who slammed AC. I think that was part of the reason it worked, and based on Icculus alone, I have no doubt that it was part of the reason they did it. But the larger reason was to celebrate their own songs, which are the framework of their identity and history. It's sad to have to restate it, but there you go.
Still don't think the "message" had anything at all to do with anything other than a cute way to introduce the song Icculus. But I will agree to disagree on that. You and @J_D_G can duke out the rest.
As for @harlemcracka, well, sir, you and Wingsuit are a tad out of line here, I think. NYE was a rather unique event and circumstance, and I'm really uncomfortable with the callous and utilitarian manner in which you are communicating your point. This is not the New York Times editorial page, it's a fan community.
Perhaps an actual music review of the show alongside the sonnata would be appropriate and appreciated, I grant you, but I cannot do anything but applaud @bertoletdown for what he wrote.
Sally
Cities
Jesus left Chicago
Would be 3 of mine
The most annoying thing about it is it gives more ammunition to fans who do believe that people who speak any ill about Phish whatsoever are traitorous bastards. But they're gonna think that anyway, so whattayagonnado?
Also, and again, just an amazing recap, CB. Very well may be my favorite ever.
If you make fun of a n00b for digging on !st set Divided Skys, if you role your eyes when the second Mike's jam doesn't happen, if you're looking for the "note perfect" concert(which has never happened), if you're in it just for the jam...you're not getting the message.
Great article.
Wingsuit FTW!!
Truck set FTW!!
Phish FTW!!!!!!
Happy New Year!!!!!!
::fondly remembers 7 y/o daughter's last minute Bangor decline to play on the beach while eagerly anticipating her 'yes let's go to the show'::
I am no expert about the background of Icculus and when I heard it while in attendance at dicks 2013, I was completely puzzled as to why my friends were going crazy as it started. I didn't understand the airplane in the sky with the message either. ( I thought the airplane was sponsored by a local church or something ) I had never heard the Icculus song before. and I enjoyed the entire experience completely.
as I enjoyed the second set at msg from the floor just below the truck and heard trey shout out about some of you people are.... not getting the f***ing message! I heard it as, some of you are missing the moment, the now. my interpretation is... some of you need to f***ing enjoy what is happening here and the band is here to make it so. you and your friends do this - be happy. we are all at a big party and not at work. this band phish is here to facilitate your auditory and visual enjoyment. and let what will be - be.
don't overthink it. don't compare notes, don't analyze things until the fragments are tattered. be present. be here now.
that is the message I heard in trey's voice on 12-31-2013, but I also felt I was not one of the people missing the message. and the two brothers dancing next to me, one of whom was enjoying his 26th birthday, I could tell they understood the message.
this recap @berteletdown message received - exactly describes the point.
cb is at the 12/29/2013 - in the moment. seeing how his daughter definitely gets it. she embodies the message because at 12 years old she has no expectations or ideas of how things should be at a phish show and her enjoyment of the experience is pure. and cb was locked in that moment with his daughter. he got it.
who is a critic to tell a 12 year old what music should be and not be when it comes to a live phish experience? get it? and if someone out there is miffed or angry because something in a live show did not happen as they think it should happen, they don't get the message.
it is so simple it is almost difficult to understand, so don't overthink it.
and again happy new year 2014!
Amazing.
Thanks Phish!
Entering the Phish scene at a time with so much hype of their return and a new album, prompting excitement from many and overwhelming disappointment and hyper-criticism from others, I was privy to many polarizing opinions regarding the band and the state of their music and performances. This situation motivated me to develop an individual opinion of the band and become an attentive listener and fan.
The beauty of music, as with art in general, is it's power to induce feelings, convey messages, and allow the listener to interpret these. We have the right and responsibility to be analytic and judging of any art, including Phish and their live performances, minding the line between criticism and whining.
It is evident that this past year has been the best in terms of performance caliber since the band's '09 return and significant in their development as musicians and artists.
To me, by putting themselves in the middle of the world's most famous arena, away from their lighting and typical equipment, away from the theatrics of past gags, for the most anticipated show of the year is the band's way of sharing and showing as best they can why they are here now, have been for 30 years, and will continue to be. This is powerful because it is the same reason why we are fans now, and will continue to be. For us fans, Phish provokes thoughts and feels as Chris attempted to convey in his recap. These are unique for each of us, but are unifying in their existence, if nothing else.
I really do hope they're sincere with the Save the Date 30 years from now. I will be there if I am alive still.
<3
Not every show is going to have some special meaning but to deny specialness to that the few that do seems unfair. There aren't many that have much meaning beyond the show itself. This one did. And I am don't really agree they played all originals due to peoples Wingsuit reaction. I mean, maybe they did but I don't think they come on here and read what we say. I think they thought "hey, how cool would it be to celebrate our 30 years than by playing 9 sets of all originals without a repeat. How many bands can do that?". That in itself is pretty awesome.
Even those that say they only really care about the music would find that if they really thought about it, they could probably think of a couple really special shows to them that might not have been A+ playing but they still elevate for one reason or another.
I've just been told my general optimism toward my fellow humans will undoubtedly be my undoing....Crap.
On a side note - I'm one of the near-lifers. Seeing this band live steadily since '87. Not extensively, just steadily (maybe 70 shows???)
Halloween wingsuit - though I was nervous coming in the door and getting the playbill - was absolutely beautiful! Can't wait for the release (save HttM and YR). Few of the second plays at MSG, however, were played as well as at AC.
Trey was downright sloppy this run. Had me wondering at first about sobriety...
Other than the Truck set, set 2 night 2 was the highlight of the run.
I really like people.
on behalf of phish listening club, euro division, we humbly mention our proud though humble hope that, owing to decreased cost associated in hauling by mode wingsuit, that, in new year of 2014, phish men will proudly don wingsuit in our many humble old world countries, as well as wearing their wingsuits for transportation on the way there! we of euro phish listening club division feel confident air cleaner and filtration elements will be custom, and very clean, leading indeed to many several of happy vehicles!
To me, they played all originals because they were reflecting on 30 years of playing together. However, since I don't know anyone in the band personally, I am guessing.
More realistically, I think this was a good opportunity for the band to put the spotlight on the compositions it has written and presented to the world. No heavy message, just a reminder of the depth and quality of their catalog developed over the past thirty years. Nicely played, Phish!
.... what second jam? ive been to 20 shows since my first in 2001 and i'm not quite sure what part of mikes song your referring to? the second jam as in how they jam then do the last verse and then jam AGAIN into Hydrogen? the last Mikes I caught was at Bader Field AC summer 2012 and I don't remember a missing 2nd jam. or do I?
#1st - Forbins> Mbird
#1st - Icculus
#1st - FYFace
The only down side is that there are no more phish original songs that I'm still chasing. Phish just 86'ed their entire original catalog for me after 86 shows since MSG97. For a 4 show run with no covers, that's a little ironic, don't you think? Phish get out of my brain!
Thank You Phish from the Bottom, the bottom, the top, the bottom, the frothem of my heart!
As we usher in the Chinese Year of the Horse, it’s as good a time as any to reflect on the whereabouts of our trusty steed this past year. No, I don’t mean that four-house carriage that gallops us through city to city and delivers us to ever more distant horizons of musical bliss. For Phish, 2013 was a year of bounty, sharing with us heartfelt music, compassion, gratitude, and joy. But among this spoil of riches, there was one conspicuous absence: “The Horse.” Despite the reasonably consistent presence of its “Silent in the Morning” companion in the song rotation, not a single Horse was trotted out during 2013. The last time they “slung the basket off” was on NYE of 2012, and keeping this old friend in the stable last year couldn’t have been more fitting.
The night of the “Garden Party,” moving into 2013 and their 30th year anniversary, Phish proclaimed that they were “going to please [themselves].” The phans who weren’t happy with who Phish is, as a band (or as those phans would say, “has become”), could leave the party if they wanted to. 2013 was the year of not trying to meet someone else’s expectation, but the year of owning and appreciating your own. For Phish, 2013 was a celebration of Phish. We saw it at Northerly Island during Harpua, when we all learned that only Phish does Posternutbag “the right way”; we saw it on Halloween, when Phish stamped their own name in the lineage of celebrated classic artists; and we saw it during the MSG run, when not a single note (besides Auld Lang Singe) was produced that didn’t have its origin in the creative ensemble standing before us—the same ones who had been standing there for the past previous 29 years.
2013 was a year of clear vision and direction. Maybe NYE of 2012 was that turning point, when the guys unburdened their horses and set off in a new direction. One thing’s for sure, they haven’t had to do it again since. Whereas “The Horse” relates one man’s decision to turn away from a relationship turn asunder by a significant rift, there was no turning away last year. As we all know, Phish has broken up with themselves, and us, before. But, there was no moment in 2013 when it seemed time “to set a different course.” The course was set, the path was clear, and Phish followed it through to the end. 2013 was a celebration of the unique relationship between Phish and the phans and the thirty years we’ve spent together. There was no waiting “until [their] dying day to confess what [they] have seen.” They confessed it directly to us in the vast catalogue of songs they’ve authored, in their visits to old haunts, in the set-break video surveying the relics of days gone by, and in the acknowledgement of their humble beginnings at the center of MSG. From that vantage point, I’m sure the course looked incredibly clear, both from whence they came and to thence they go. If Phish never sets a different course again, I won’t be disappointed.