My eighth and final Phish show of 2022 was the night where I entered the arena with the least expectations. The previous night (posted here) had been such an outstanding performance, that I felt like this show was basically a “bonus”. But man, did Phish disagree. 12/30/22 is currently at the top of the yearly statistics as the highest rated show, and for good reason. This show smoked from the opening notes of crowd favorite opener “Down With Disease”, and continued throughout the first set including a tight “Reba”. But the highlights of this show for me weren’t the “hits”, but rather the two songs that opened the first forty minutes of the second set. “No Man’s > Golden Age” were so well jammed and veered off into such interesting territory that I lost track of what tune what actually being played. But it didn’t matter. This was Phish 4.0 at its best, and like all three of the New Year’s week shows I attended, I felt lucky to be there to see it.

I recorded this set as I had the 12/29 set, with the Neumann hypers from an advantageous position in the first row of the taper’s section, and the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Phish
2022-12-30
Madison Square Garden
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Tapers Section at Soundboard

Neumann KM-150 Hypers > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (post production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1 [Total Time 1:26:41]
01 Down with Disease
02 The Moma Dance
03 Pebbles and Marbles
04 Theme From the Bottom
05 Reba
06 The Howling
07 Foam
08 Run Like an Antelope

Set 2 [Total Time 1:27:53]
09 No Men In No Man’s Land
10 Golden Age
11 Sand
12 If I Could
13 I Always Wanted It This Way
14 [encore break]
15 Chalk Dust Torture

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Of the eight Phish shows I attended and recorded this year, the second night of this week’s New Year’s run was my favorite. The first night (coming soon) was very solid and raised expectations that these four shows could be ragers, and this second night confirmed that. From the opening 22-minute “Fluffhead”, Phish were locked in and delivering the jams. There are at least four highlight segments in this show where the band just let go, stepped out, and peaked. Phish 4.0 is renowned for choosing the unexpected songs to stretch out and on this night it was an exceptional “Ruby Waves” where the band allowed the music to create the moment. This recording is one that I’m going to come back to often, and it is nights like this that keep me coming back.

I recorded this set with the Neumann hyper cards from a head-high stand in front of the lighting booth. The advantageous position and mic choice combine for a really bright and clear recording and we repeated this combo the following night based on the superb results. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream the Complete Show:

Phish
2022-12-29
Madison Square Garden
New York NY

Digital Master Recording
Tapers Section at Soundboard

Neumann KM-150 Hypers > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (post production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1 [Total Time 1:16:12]
01 Fluffhead
02 Your Pet Cat
03 Bathtub Gin
04 hey stranger
05 Tube
06 Slave to the Traffic Light
07 Blaze On

Set 2 [Total Time 1:49:37]
08 David Bowie
09 Everything’s Right
10 You Enjoy Myself
11 Ruby Waves
12 Lonely Trip
13 Back on the Train
14 Character Zero
15 [encore break]
16 Guyute
17 Possum

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With the onset tonight of the four-night Phish New Year’s run at Madison Square Garden (I will be attending the first three nights). I was reminded of the last time I saw three consecutive Phish shows, during the tour last July. The first of these three July experiences began in the beautiful Bethel Woods venue, on the site of the original Woodstock.

This was the second night of a two-show stand in Bethel, and while reports of the first night were so-so, this show started out with some nice energy that built up throughout the first set, capped by a nicely executed “Divided Sky” and a set-ending relaxed and well jammed “Ghost”. But it was the second set Caspian/Crosseyed “sandwich” where this show really leapt into the stratosphere. We enjoyed the entire second set as the band was locked into some juicy jams. The extended encore segment was great for the smiles, and ended this super show in true Phish fashion — with a nice Hendrix/Woodstock tribute.

I recorded this show with the outdoor-friendly large diaphragm Neumann mics from the first row of the taper’s section and the sound quality is superb. Enjoy!

Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]

Stream “Ghost”:

Phish
2022-07-23
Bethel Woods
Bethel NY

Digital Master Recording
Tapers Section 1st Row Behind Soundboard

Neumann TLM-102s > Sound Devices 744t > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge (post production) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)

Recorded and Produced by nyctaper

Setlist:
Set 1 [Total Time 1:14:56]
01 Evening Song
02 Turtle in the Clouds
03 Vultures
04 My Sweet One
05 Undermind
06 Fast Enough for You
07 Divided Sky
08 Suzy Greenberg
09 Ghost

Set 2 [Total Time 1:33:35]
10 Prince Caspian
11 Crosseyed and Painless
12 Miss You
13 Set Your Soul Free
14 Crosseyed Reprise
15 Prince Caspian Reprise
16 Twist
17 Carini
18 [encore break]
19 The Horse
20 Silent in the Morning
21 Fuck Your Face
22 Buffalo Bill
23 Fire

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