To say Phish pulled out all the stops during their Baker’s Dozen run at Madison Square Garden might be cliche but the Vermonters just exceeded expectations and then some. The 13 shows that stretched from July 21st to August 6th at the world’s most famous arena included 237 songs and no repeats. Phish over-delivered on expectations with gimmicks, song rotations, enthusiasm, novelties, and helping pretty much every fan’s personal stats hike up several percentage points. Among the many highlights were three of the Ziggy Stardust/Bowie Halloween songs reappearing, extended jamming and improv (night 4), and a plethora of debut cover songs including new ones from Fleet Foxes, Tom Waits and Radiohead and long awaited returns of covers from Prince (“1999”) and Jimi Hendrix (“Izabella”). The band was even honored with a banner that was raised to the rafters prior to the encore of Sunday night’s (8/6) performance.
Each of the 13 shows was themed after a different donut flavor and all except the final night, paid tribute to that evening’s flavor as shown via the setlists below. Setlists courtesy of Phish.net.
Night 1 7/21
Coconut
SET 1: Shake Your Coconuts[1], Martian Monster, Timber Ho! > 555, Pigtail, Halfway to the Moon, Reba[2],Moonage Daydream, Walls of the Cave
SET 2: Tweezer > Seven Below > Billy Breathes > Sparkle, Everything’s Right > Slave to the Traffic Light > Suzy Greenberg, Coconut[3]
ENCORE: The Mango Song > Good Times Bad Times
Night 2 – 7/22
Strawberry
SET 1: Strawberry Fields Forever[1], Halley’s Comet > The Moma Dance [2] > Breath and Burning > Funky Bitch,Mound, Foam, Roggae, The Squirming Coil
SET 2: Down with Disease > Strawberry Letter 23[3] > Birds of a Feather, I Always Wanted It This Way[4] > All of These Dreams, Split Open and Melt > Down with Disease > Shine a Light
ENCORE: Peaches en Regalia > Cities, My Sweet One
Night 3 – 7/23
Red Velvet
SET 1: Sunday Morning[1], Axilla, Your Pet Cat > Back on the Train, How Many People Are You, Glide, Theme From the Bottom > It’s Ice > More
SET 2: AC/DC Bag > Wolfman’s Brother[2] > Twist > Waves > Miss You, Boogie On Reggae Woman, Wading in the Velvet Sea
ENCORE: Sweet Jane
Night 4 – 7/25
Jam Filled
SET 1: Sample in a Jar, Lawn Boy [1] > My Friend, My Friend[2] > Stash, Bathtub Gin
SET 2: Fuego > Thread > Crosseyed and Painless > Makisupa Policeman -> End of Session[3] > Tuesday >Cavern
ENCORE: Julius > Lawn Boy
Night 5 – 7/26
Powdered
SET 1: White Winter Hymnal[1], Cars Trucks Buses, My Soul, Roses Are Free > The Very Long Fuse, Gumbo,Yarmouth Road, Pebbles and Marbles, Farmhouse, Tube
SET 2: Carini -> Mr. Completely > 1999 -> Steam > No Quarter, Character Zero
ENCORE: Powderfinger[2]
Night 6 – 7/28
Double Chocolate Donut
SET 1: Chocolate Rain[1], Ass Handed, Free, Weigh > Undermind > The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony, The Dogs > Destiny Unbound, Divided Sky, Things People Do, Sand
SET 2: Have Mercy, Chalk Dust Torture [2], You Sexy Thing[3] > Mercury -> You Sexy Thing > Backwards Down the Number Line > Rock and Roll
ENCORE: Fee[4], Space Oddity
Night 7 – 7/29
Cinnamon
SET 1: Llama, Wilson > Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan > Ya Mar, Tela, The Birds > The Line, Water in the Sky,Vultures > Train Song > Horn, I Am the Walrus
SET 2: Blaze On > Twenty Years Later > Alumni Blues > Letter to Jimmy Page > Alumni Blues > Meatstick > Dirt >Harry Hood
ENCORE: Cinnamon Girl
Night 8 7/30
Jimmies
SET 1: The Curtain With > Runaway Jim, Waking Up Dead, Esther, Home, Brian and Robert, Nellie Kane, Colonel Forbin’s Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird > David Bowie
SET 2: Drowned > A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing , Harpua > Also Sprach Zarathustra[1] > Golgi Apparatus, In The Good Old Summer Time
ENCORE: The Wind Cries Mary[2]
Night 9 8/1
Maple
SET 1: O Canada[1] > Crowd Control, Sugar Shack, When the Circus Comes, Daniel Saw the Stone, Army of One, The Wedge, Guelah Papyrus, Maple Leaf Rag[2], Guelah Papyrus, McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters > Limb By Limb > Walk Away
SET 2: Golden Age, Leaves, Swept Away > Steep > 46 Days[3] > Piper > Possum
ENCORE: Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide
Night 10 8/2
Holes
SET 1: Way Down in the Hole[1], Buried Alive, Kill Devil Falls, Guyute, I Didn’t Know, NICU, Meat > Maze, Ginseng Sullivan, Waiting All Night, Heavy Things, Run Like an Antelope
SET 2: Mike’s Song > O Holy Night[1] > Taste > Wingsuit > Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley > Weekapaug Groove
ENCORE: A Day in the Life
Night 11 8/4
Lemon
SET 1: See That My Grave Is Kept Clean[1], Punch You In the Eye > Party Time, Big Black Furry Creature from Mars,Dinner and a Movie, Ocelot, Poor Heart, Winterqueen, Bold As Love, First Tube
SET 2: Dem Bones, No Men In No Man’s Land > Everything In Its Right Place[1], What’s the Use? > Scents and Subtle Sounds[2] > Prince Caspian > Fluffhead
ENCORE: Frankenstein[3]
Night 12 -8/5
Boston Cream
SET 1: Soul Shakedown Party, Uncle Pen, The Sloth, Gotta Jibboo, Fuck Your Face, Sunshine of Your Feeling[1], Frost,Scent of a Mule, Fire, Alaska, Plasma
SET 2: Ghost, Petrichor, Light > The Lizards, The Horse > Silent in the Morning > Quinn the Eskimo > Rocky Top
ENCORE: Joy
Night 13 – 8/6
Glazed
SET 1: Dogs Stole Things, Rift, Ha Ha Ha, Camel Walk, Crazy Sometimes > Saw It Again > Sanity > Bouncing Around the Room, Most Events Aren’t Planned[1], Bug, I Been Around, Izabella
SET 2: Simple > Come Together > Starman, You Enjoy Myself, Loving Cup
ENCORE: On the Road Again > Lawn Boy Reprise > Tweezer Reprise
Phish will take a month off before the return to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO for their annual Labor Day 3 night run.
