PHISH
12/29/11
Madison Square Garden
New York, NY
Last Wednesday after work I drove to Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. I parked my vehicle in a familiar area where I knew it would be okay for several days. Then I walked to my friend Steve's apartment. That evening we watched the first night of Phish's 4-night run at Madison Square Garden. This turned out to be a fairly decent show. We watched the Chicago Blackhawks lose to the LA Kings during the webcast.
I was on my way to the Blue Line stop at Damen by 5:15 AM. It felt good to not have any luggage. I took the Blue Line to the end of the line beneath O'hare. With relative ease I was able to obtain my boarding pass and was through security. This was my first time flying since before 9/11. I flew Delta Shuttle from O'hare to LaGuardia. My terminal was full of Iowa State fans heading to New York for the Pinstripes Bowl at Yankee Stadium (which they ultimately lost to Rutgers). I was able to settle down but flying made me nervous. The combination of not being in control and my fear of heights makes air travel less than enjoyable for me. Also, the claustrophobic environment of the plane and having so many strange people in close proximity wasn't all that much fun. Before long we arrived at the Marine Terminal of LaGuardia which was quite removed from the main complex. The facility reminded me of Midway Airport.
From my Delta Terminal I bought an mta pass at the newspaper stand and was on my way to Manhattan via the M60 bus. In Harlem I transfered to the subway near the Apollo Theatre. The subway (much filthier than Chicago's L trains) took me to Penn Station where I exited to the street above at Madison Square Garden. It was fun spending the afternoon walking up 7th Ave. to Times Square. Fueled by several cups of Starbucks I walked around the surrounding area. For my preshow meal I had two slices of thin crust pepperoni pizza from a small restaurant. While walking around the Times Square area I talked to several football players from my alma mater Iowa State University. It was nice to chat with the people in the ticket release line. These were fans who were willing to stand out in the cold just to have a chance at getting inside. It was obvious that MSG was in the process of being renovated with scaffolding surrounding the arena facility. The 7th Ave. entrance basically looked the same as it had previously. My spot was about halfway up at about where center ice would be on the Page side. We had a good group of fans in our section.
Sloth opener is usually a good omen. Then when they dropped YEM so early in the first set the crowd erupted. They hadn't played YEM in Denver so I was happy to hear this quintessential Phish song especially in MSG. I liked the groove that Gordo had going but I don't think this version was as good as the one they played in Chicago back in August. Back on the Train and Moma Dance kept the energy going. Both were appropriate in NYC with the subways and the Museum of Modern Art. Funky Bitch was when it became apparent that Page was having a good night. Maze was a continuation of that with Page taking command during his solo. Roses Are Free was seasonally fitting with the references to tinsel on the tree. Trey burst a huge balloon during Halley's Comet with his guitar. As soon as they reached a natural jumping off point they immediately started up Antelope. This was a high energy set closer but it remained inside the box. That can be said of the entire show. It was clear they didn't do a lot of practice prior to the run so they were winging it. The results were them falling back on energy based performances that lacked risk taking improvisation.
Crosseyed and Painless stayed true to the main bassline until they broke into some brief noise that became Simple. I liked hearing this tune in Manhattan surrounded by skyscrapers. This also had only a brief bit of jamming at the end before dissipating into Lifeboy. I loved hearing that tune in the ballad slot of the second set. Unfortunately, the crowd talked through much of this poignant song. I wasn't wild about the selection of Guyute in that position. Mike's Song seemed to have a little extra energy on this occasion and was followed unexpectedly by Chalkdust Torture. The transition into I Am Hydrogen was awkward with Trey playing it at a faster pace while the rest of the band still played Chalkdust Torture. Weekapaug Groove featured some plinko action and was probably the highlight of the entire show. Show of Life worked as another ballad cooldown. Character Zero rocked the house to end the set. I predicted the Loving Cup encore as it worked with the general theme of the evening. This was a straight forward arena rock show in the world's most famous arena. I had a fun experience.
After the show I took the subway back to Harlem and the M60 bus back to LaGuardia. Early the next morning I flew back to O'hare. Then I took the Blue Line back to my vehicle at which point I drove home. Everything on this adventure went according to plan and I enjoyed myself.
