photo by Rene Huemer (via Phish From the Road on Twitter)

Phish returned to New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday night for the third of four shows, and the group filled the penultimate performance of their annual New Year’s Eve run with plenty of favorites, a debut for the band and a tune that hadn’t been seen in a Phish setlist since the mid-’90s.

The quartet kicked off the night by offering a rousing run of their classic pairing of “Alumni Blues” with “Letter to Jimmy Page” (last played at MSG during Phish’s 2017 NYE run), opening with a patient but palpable energy. Next up was “Mike’s Song,” and the bassist’s tune flowed directly into the first “Glide II” since May 18, 1995, marking just the second official appearance of the song in a Phish show (Trey Anastasio offered a solo acoustic debut of “Glide II” earlier this month).

Phish got the energy building with the ensuing “Weekapaug Groove,” which included a fantastic, crowd-pleasing transition into the band’s fan-favorite cover of Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed and Painless.” Anastasio then brought it down a bit by picking up the acoustic guitar for the Phish debut of the Billy Breathes tune “Bliss,” which he debuted during his solo acoustic tour. The latter half of the first set continued with the title track from the same studio album, “Billy Breathes,” with keyboardist Page McConnell stepping up for a short but sweet solo. The staple “No Men in No Man’s Land” was followed by a foray into “Tube,” with lighting designer Chris Kuroda bathing the crowd in pink and blue lights for a round of improvisation. The band then jumped back into “Weekapaug” before sending the crowd into a frenzy with the closing section of “Tube.” The set then closed out with “More,” featuring a visibly amped-up Anastasio.

The second frame of the night opened with a callback from Phish’s Kasvot Växt set this past Halloween, “Cool Amber and Mercury,” with some “faceplant into rock” audio samples. The band then launched into a singalong of “Everything’s Right” that stretched into a jam section and hinted at a improvisation-heavy rest of the set. After a run of “Plasma,” the night highlight of “Light” offered several anthemic peaks and topped the 20-minute mark.

Some moment of ambient interplay preceded “Wading in the Velvet Sea,” which took a U-turn into “Split Open and Melt,” which closed out the second set and saw Anastasio leading the way on a dark-sounding round of improv. Phish then returned to the stage for a four-song encore offering, kicking off with “Funky Bitch” and “Wilson” and rounding out with the bluegrass tune “Rocky Top” and a surprise coda of “Cavern” with another “faceplant” audio sample.

See the full setlist below, along with pro-shot video of the set openers via the band. Phish return to The Garden tonight to ring in 2019 and close out their four-night run.

Phish
Madison Square Garden New York, NY

Set I: Alumni Blues* > Letter to Jimmy Page* > Alumni Blues, Mike’s Song > Glide II^ > Weekapaug Groove > Crosseyed and Painless > Bliss% > Billy Breathes, No Men In No Man’s Land > Tube > Weekapaug Groove# > Tube > More

Set II: Cool Amber and Mercury, Everything’s Right > Plasma > Light > Wading in the Velvet Sea, Split Open and Melt

Enc: Funky Bitch, Wilson > Rocky Top > Cavern

Notes:
*Last time played 7/29/17
^Last time played 5/16/95
%Debut
#unfinished

Source: Phish.net