I'm gonna steal a tweet I saw posted last NYE run. The headlines in the Times today should read "MIKE GORDON DROPS BOMBS ON LOCAL HOCKEY ARENA. CROWD REJOICES"

After Wednesdays better than expected opening night to the run, I was, to say the least, excited to see what the boys had in store for us on night 2. Needless to say, they came out, guns a blazin, with Sloth and YEM, letting us know they came to play. The YEM was killer, and I knew it could only bode well for the rest of the night. BOTT was a nice little interlude before Mike dropped bombs on us all with Moma and my highlight of the first set, Funky Bitch. This Funky Bitch was absolutely filthy. A dirty Phish funk party at its finest. I was pretty sure Page was going to pull his B3 apart during his solo. Also, MIKE GORDON DROPS BOMBS. Maze and Halley's kept the funk flowing around a pretty standard though high energy Roses (isn't EVERYTHING in MSG high energy?) and Antelope sent us into setbreak completely elated with a monster of a first set. Before tonight, I'd been talking a lot about how first sets in 3.0 have, save for some exceptions, sort of gone by the wayside. I'll STFU now, that put all that to rest.

I'm going to add the disclaimer that first set I was behind and above soundboard with an incredible view of Kuroda's handiwork, and 2nd set we moved up into the 300s Fish side, a bit further back than I'd like to be, and a different energy up there. Second set started off thumping with a driving though standard version of CE&P into a very beautiful Simple, with one of those jams that makes you well up a bit inside. Mike was playing simply beautifully during this jam. Then Lifeboy, which is one of my preferred mellow/slow Phish tunes. I love these lyrics, and this was a beautiful version out of a beautiful Simple. Guyute was standard, nothing to write home about, but fun. Mike's then got the funk going again, and the CDT segue kept MSG rocking as hard as it had been all night. Then, the segue into H2 was simply gorgeous. Well worth a listen, it's one of those moments that is why we see Phish. The boys took a minute to get Weekapaug together and actually "share" in the groove, but once they did it was very tight, and the building was again raging. That's when they dropped Show of Life on us. I'm going to preface the rest of this review by saying I know how lucky I am to be here and that they're playing for us at all, so please forgive my gripes, know that I am grateful.

So until the Show of Life/Char0 set closer, I'd have given this show a sure 4/5 stars, but Show of Life may just be my least favorite Phish song. Char0 I don't have any problems with aside from the fact that it guarantees the end of a set. That really bothers me sometimes, because that song has such an amazing build and such killer energy that it hurts to know the show is ending. I'd love to hear what kind of energy would flow out of a Char0 opener! The Loving Cup encore was fine, standard and pretty short but sweet, but they boys had taken the 2nd set to 11:30, and as far as I know, MSG has an 11PM curfew, so no complaints from me for the short encore.

All in all, this night blew the first night out of the water for me and I can't wait to see what else our fave 4 have got lined up for us.