This show was night six of Phish's Baker's Dozen run at Madison Square Garden and consisted of a chocolate donut theme. Donuts with a dark chocolate glaze with chocolate cookie crumb were given to fans arriving at the venue and the show featured the Phish debuts of Chocolate Rain and You Sexy Thing. Chocolate Rain was performed a cappella and featured Page on a midi controller keyboard. Chalk Dust Torture was unfinished. Fee featured Trey on megaphone. Fee's lyrics were changed to "have a chocolate donut and catch your breath."
Debut Years (Average: 2002)

This show was part of the "2017 Summer Tour"

Show Reviews

, attached to 2017-07-28

Review by n00b100

n00b100 Set 1: Good clean fun - love the song selection; Free luxuriates in its jam for a few extra minutes Dayton '17 style; The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony pops up unmoored from Suzy or Bag for one of the few times outside, like, 1990; Chocolate Rain is an inspired opening choice; Divided Sky gets past some rough opening flubs to give us a lovely version; Sand steps out for a few blissful upbeat minutes before returning home a bit more abruptly than one would like (it almost certainly would've gone on longer earlier in the set). Who doesn't want Destiny Unbound and Weigh in a set together?

Set 2: A sweet Have Mercy gives way to an absolutely mammoth Chalk Dust Torture, one of the finest of the modern era (and believe you me when I say this is high praise indeed). They drop down to a lower gear almost out of the gates, Page on electric piano and Mike doing the damn thing, then Fish kicks the jam back into high gear as everybody meshes together in delightful harmony. Fish gets a brief "solo" as a warm, low-key groove emerges, Trey hitting on a cool repeating pattern and Page matching him on piano, then Page returns to piano and some stabbing chords lead us to grimy rocking out. The woodblock pops in as Mike takes control, then the jam tears itself briefly apart and rebuilds around some Echoplex-y playing, before Page's synths lead them to a new segment (the band is just shifting from mood to mood on a dime, it's unreal). A driving Page-led groove emerges, then shifts gears again as Page returns to piano and some really motorized riffing from Trey adds energy to the proceedings, and then the band magically builds to what many consider a Harry Hood-type peak (it's pretty close, I gotta say) before winding to a close.

Hot Chocolate's You Sexy Thing (!) comes next, Mike singing it with every last bit of vocal ability he has left, and (as was normal with the BD) Mike shifts the music to a darker minor key, with some more Echoplex-y playing and Page abusing the ol' clavinet as only he can. The band stays in this dark and gruesome zone, Page's synths and weirdo effects floating around as Mike and Fish hold things together, and then as the jam dies away Mercury steps up to the plate (it's really made its bones as a Set 2 vehicle, IMO). They shake off some early flubs and give us the usual luverly Mercury jam, and Page gently suggests major key, with the rest of the band following him for a brief section of joyfulness, before Mike catches onto the bassline to You Sexy Thing (!!) and they segue back into that song in genius fashion (giving us a genuine You Sexy Thing sandwich), Trey takes a nice solo, and they quickly head to a close. Number Line and Rock & Roll close the set proper, and a chocolate donut-referencing Fee and Space Oddity end another tremendous show.

Final thoughts: The CDT > YST > Mercury -> YST run is possibly the finest of the entire Baker's Dozen, and that's saying something. Yet another absolute skullcrusher of a show.
, attached to 2017-07-28

Review by fhqwhgads

fhqwhgads The phun continues at Madison Square Garden for night 6 of the Baker's Dozen! The Phish debuts of Chocolate Rain and You Sexy Thing are the thematic elements of the night, but I'd like to focus on something else: namely, Trey's improvement since the last few shows. One can hear him really pouring it on in Divided Sky, Chalk Dust Torture, and Rock and Roll, in particular. Divided Sky especially sounds like it could've come from a 1.0 show. I find the Echoplex perhaps as fascinating as Trey does, but I love when he "shreds," as they say. The big jam of the night is Chalkdust, which ranges over a lot of very interesting territory, but it's also rewarding to hear Mercury having come into its own. I also like Sand as a Set-I closer and Have Mercy as a Set-II opener. And, humorously, the band pretty much stops in between You Sexy Thing and Backwards Down the Number Line, precluding the fabled "ripcord into BDTNL," LOL. I rate this show 4 out of 5 stars, and believe that Phish is really raising the bar over this series of shows.
, attached to 2017-07-28

Review by nesta

nesta Duders, the boys were having fun that night. Page messing up during Thing People Do, Trey giggling during Chocolate Rain, CDT and practically every other song. I was watching this show the other day with my wife, and kids (9 and 6yr olds) and after ChocolateRain, my wife asked what the hell that was and my 9 yr old boy chimed in... "its a song about diarrhea, mommy." Then Ass handed came on and the kids peeped their pants laughing sooo hard. This show was good clean FUN. My wife commented on Mike singing "You SexyThing", at least he is having fun she said. Yeah, and so are the 20,000+ other phriends.
Thank You Boys. that was a fun night in NYC.
, attached to 2017-07-28

Review by Tennessee_Jedi

Tennessee_Jedi Not a review, but a reply to the good Ewok above me. The element repeated during the CDT climax was the "Happiest Days of Our Lives" theme from Pink Floyd's The Wall aka the intro to "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II." One of the all-time triumphant moments in modern music, superimposed over an equally triumphant moment during the show. Frank Zappa would have been proud of this sort-of xenochrony.
, attached to 2017-07-28

Review by ejones642

ejones642 My first show where I was paying attention; was only 8 years old at my first show in 2010 and really had no clue about Phish at the time, although I've heard stories about frantic dancing during "Sparkle". Back to this show—Free is one of my favorites, so I was so excited when they hit the opening chord. Divided Sky may in fact be may favorite Phish song (though you know how these things can change on a weekly basis). The Chalkdust was amazing, and this show was my first time hearing BDNL, which was definitely fun. Loved Fee and the a capella Space Oddity.
, attached to 2017-07-28

Review by themayor

themayor Hello all, I am a new phan as of a year ago. The last few weeks I have really been getting HEAVILY into Phish. But for the past year I have on and off been enjoying their shows. But I keep a journey spreadsheet of all the shows I've listened to. I am journeying through the Baker's Dozen. Here we go with N6. I am fully on board at this point. I am loving this. These shows have been great.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Set I opened with a Phish debut of Chocolate Rain by internet legend Tay Zonday. Meme referencing in the best late dad type of way. I bought this song on iTunes back in the day.

We then go into Ass Handed which is a crazy Fishman 1 minute jam

>Free. God I love Free and that riff. Composed section is bliss to my ears as usual before jumping into some funky jamming over the Free groove. Some great early set jamming that doesn't go too hard too early. Around minute 8 it transitions into a more rocking jam with Trey meaningfully soloing. It peaks back into the "free" refrain and the main riff.

Weigh comes in next grooving hard out of the gate. It doesn't stray very far from the Rift album version at all, but hey, I love me some Rift. Trey sounds particularly beautiful on here.

Undermind went into quite a little funky jam there before going back to composed.

It then broke into a cute little Oh Kee Pa with a >The Dogs

>The Dogs from Oh Kee Pa. It was energetic and had the dogs.

Destiny Unbound is a song I am unfamiliar with. It was a pretty fun ride to listen to. It didn't stand out too hard, but I enjoyed it.

Divided Sky. Oh shit. Other than YEM, it's like the ultimate Phish song. Let's do this. This is an EVENT. It was really sloppy and eerie at first, and then it plopped into place in that groove. The melodic section before the first applause was flawless. Then the quieter melody comes in, and then the song speeds up. Trey flawlessly plays notes playing the Divided melody with all of his heart. 9 and a half minute mark has that resolve note. Its perfect. After the melody is over, is goes into a great energetic type 1 jam. It then goes back into the resolved melody. Gorgeous. Flawless version. Surely that's set closer.....

Nope here's Things People Do. A rarity. Its strange. Take it or leave it.

We then get Sand, a Farmhouse favorite which went into a mellow jam at first, but took off towards the end. It was a great set closer.

SET II
We open with a cover of The Mighty Diamonds' song Have Mercy. It jams a little bit on a reggae groove before they bust into CDT

CDT opens a little slow. Fantastic jam that feels really jovial. It went really long with many parts. It is a must listen as far as the Baker's Dozen goes.

We then hear a cover of the group Hot Chocolate (hidden theme reference), You Sexy Thing. Mike doesn't sound perfect here, but the groove is undeniable. It ends up going for a 6 minute jam. It progressively gets more and more lowkey until we're just hearing Fish in space. Super cool jam.

We get a quiet ">" into Mercury. Mercury grooves right away. Another great Sigma Oasis song that was around for years before the album. Its a great straightforward chill jam. They break back into a Mercury refrain and then jam with more space. It gets really upbeat after a ->You Sexy Thing again with a nice little peak, and then it goes abruptly into Backwards Down the Number Line.

BDTNL is upbeat and very nice to hear. The jam goes pretty long and super upbeat. Towards the end we have an explosion of passion and shredding from Trey. The energy is extra high. In the last minute we get the song outro. NIce cap on there. That is a great tune.

Boom into Rock & Roll. I have never heard Phish do this before, and whenever I saw it on setlists I always assumed it was the Led Zeppelin song. But this is honestly a much better fit for the band. This song is super fun! Very upbeat jam section to close Set II

Encore started with Fee complete with the megaphone. It goes into a short 2 minute mellow jam at the end. We then go into Space Oddity the legendary David Bowie song. Great acapella. Great show.
, attached to 2017-07-28

Review by art_vandelay

art_vandelay Nothing to complain about set 1, but other than a groovy version of Free, it's in the "solid but not spectacular" category. Set 2 is another story, with nearly every song getting an extra splash of hot sauce. The Chalkdust is one for the ages, and the band makes just about every minute count... several times I'd thought they reached the appropriate stopping point, only to build things to a new level. The peak of the jam, wow just wow, they definitely dug their heels in and blew the crowd's head off. We're talking any era, not just 3.0. I didn't know they still had that kind of game left in them, lol...

Between 3 and 3.5 for set 1, and a definite 4.5 to 5 in set 2.
Add a Review
Setlist Filter
By year:

By month:

By day:

By weekday:

By artist:

Filter Reset Filters
Support Phish.net & Mbird
Fun with Setlists
Check our Phish setlists and sideshow setlists!


Phish.net

Phish.net is a non-commercial project run by Phish fans and for Phish fans under the auspices of the all-volunteer, non-profit Mockingbird Foundation.

This project serves to compile, preserve, and protect encyclopedic information about Phish and their music.

Credits | Terms Of Use | Legal | DMCA

© 1990-2024  The Mockingbird Foundation, Inc. | Hosted by Linode