Phish - MSG New Years Run (12/28,29,30,31) setlists

Phish - 12/28/2012, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Set 1: Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, The Moma Dance, Funky Bitch, Army of One, Tube >Stash, Nellie Kane, Kill Devil Falls, Free, Wolfman’s Brother -> The Little Drummer Boy -> Wolfman’s Brother
Set 2: Tweezer -> Maze, Twist^[1] > Theme From the Bottom -> Fluffhead, David Bowie
Encore: Bouncing Around the Room, Good Times Bad Times

[1] Little Drummer Boy teases and quotes
Notes: The Little Drummer Boy was played for the first time since April 16, 2004 (187 Shows).  Twist contained multiple Little Drummer Boy teases as well as quotes from Trey, referring to Fishman.
(ed.) Official setlists have overlooked the real significance of their teasing Little Drummer Boy. To my knowledge Little Drummer Boy was played for the first time on 12/28/94 the first night of that years holiday run (the second in existence) in Philadelphia at the Civic Centre.  I recall having attended all the shows on the run.

Phish - 12/29/12 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Set 1: Crowd Control, Mound, ACDC Bag, Rock and Roll, Sugar Shack, Reba, Halley's Comet, Limb by Limb, Velvet Cheese, Bathtub Gin

Set 2: Golden Age* > Waves > Prince Caspian , Boogie On Reggae Woman, Suzy Greenberg, Bug, Cavern, 46 Days

Encore: Coil, Grind, First Tube

* TV On The Radio cover

Phish - 12/30/12 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

1:Runaway Jim, Cities, Divided Sky, Back on the Train, Ride Captain Ride, Ocelot, YaMar, Horn, My Friend My Friend, Run Like An Antelope

2: Down With Disease > Twenty Years Later > Carini* > Backwards Down The Number Line, Julius, Slave To The Traffic Light

Encore: Harry Hood, Show of Life 

* Download.  Rated by Mr. Miner #6 top jam of 2012

Phish - 12/31/12 - Madison Square Garden

Set 1: Garden Party^[1], Possum, Roses Are Free, Rift > Sample in a Jar, Alaska, Mike's Song > Walk Away, Weekapaug Groove, Character Zero
Set 2: Birds of a Feather, Ghost > Piper > Light^[2] > Also Sprach Zarathustra > The Horse > Silent in the Morning, You Enjoy Myself^[3]
Set 3: Party Time, Kung > Chalk Dust Torture > Auld Lang Syne > Tweezer Reprise^[4] > Sand > The Wedge > Fly Like an Eagle^[5] > Wilson, Lawn Boy^[6]
Encore: Driver, Iron Man^[7]

[1] Phish debut.
[2] Auld Lang Syne tease
[3] Birds of a Feather tease
[4] With backup singers.
[5] Steve Miller cover, first time played
[6] a capella
[7] First Phish performance in full.
Notes: Arena floor and stage appear to be covered by a green lawn of live grass. Preshow webcast shows fans playing garden sports like badminton and mini-golf.

Third set song selection seems to reflect golf and the overall theme of a Garden Party: Sand, Wedge, Fly Like An Eagle, Wilson, Lawn Boy, Driver, Iron Man.   They did everything short of a 'Top Flite' jam in the middle of Piper.  Notably absent is the ultra-obscure Dog Log which contains the notable lyrics 'walking cross the lawn lawn lawn lawn'.  Perhaps if the song were called Dog Leg.

More to the point does a New Years celebration- built as it has been on an extended 3 set concert typically laced with obscure fan favourites and extended ultra-psychedelic and funk improvisations- with a golf motif seem a little bit middling?
 

Perhaps Phish in it's 3.0 configuration (same core membership several hiatus and one actual retirement later) is truly a renaissance act- a Phish cover band. As always the tapes and tales will tell.  Although staging a Runaway Golf Cart Marathon onstage at MSG was an adventurous enough idea and one that tipped the cap to their own lyrics and collective madcap history.

For a band that began the New Years Run tradition in Boston in 1993 with a flying hot dog containing the band that 'rode' around the venue a setlist built around golf motifs seems to be two things; entirely age and lifestyle appropriate for the band and most of its members and a good reflection of the median income of its core adherents.