What a wonderful way to start the summer! (I haven't listened to the show yet, just wanted to record impressions from last night.)

Heartening display of patience, focus, and empathy from the whole band, all night long. No single 'jamming style' seemed to take precedence -- nothing resembling the 'Storage Jam,' only a moment of those addictive staccato polyrhythms (cf. 2/26/03 Stash, 12/28/10 Hood), the occasional textural Hendrix-inspired 'space jam' riff from Trey recalling those antarctic late '97 nights. But we did get an unusually high dose of old-fashioned funk grooves -- Moma was, as I felt the need to point out to some poor tolerant bastard standing next to me near the stage, 'some prehistoric shit right [t]here.'

Torn and Frayed is a heartbreaking song, coming from Trey.

Rift was muted, Bitch and Moma were *nasty*, Ocelot(!) and Possum(?!) were early jamming highlights.

Page didn't flag for a moment all night. None of 'em did -- though I wanna relisten to Fish's performance. He sounded a little different from his usual sprightly self. Last year he was at peak performance. For some reason I had the impression that he'd lost a step over these six months. Maybe it's nothin'.

Beauty of a Broken Heart should be played at every show. I say this with love: I wish Trey were putting as much work into his arrangements these days as Page put into that one. On the other hand, I thought If I Could was subtly reworked(?); it was devastating, regardless. Trey writes incredible four-cornered tunes for guitar/piano rockers and I wish he were building songs of that complexity now.

Maybe there's more to come tomorrow, I dunno.

You had to figure the band would take Carini for a nice long ride, given its prominent placement starting the summer's first set, but its sweet MLT/WTU-esque ambient jam was an unexpected delight, and segued gracefully into what felt like a slowed-down Taste. Which Page proceeded to demolish, though Trey was anticlimactically sloppy in the backstretch after a strong start.

Definitely one of my favourite Carinis -- and that song's been no slouch since the band came back!

Ghost > Boogie > If I Could: Trey let Mike carry on and on and on during Boogie, then hopped in to complete the two-chord hose jam that Ghost, in a kinda scattered (though still awesome) version, hinted at but never quite reached. Carini through If I Could was an amazing run of tunes that flowed organically on the night, even if Trey called for Boogie On just for kicks after Mike switched on the ol' filter.

I mean it about 'scattered,' by the way, though this Ghost's gonna have a lot of fans and I'm one of them. It really did feel like Boogie On offered the Forget/Suzy-like orgasmic I-IV jam that Ghost never quite generated, that they were (or Trey was) still looking for release at that point. Trey was throwing a LOT of stuff at the wall during that Ghost jam, and not all of it stuck; I remember thinking to myself, 'this is a preview of everything to come this summer.'

Maybe it was actually more coherent than I'm giving it credit for. Hard to trust one's judgment on such a night.

Well, so anyway.

Two sets filled to bursting with energetic, creative playing, and an hourlong run of unexpectedly rich, multifaceted jams to open Set II? That's a good portent for summer. A damn good show, top to tails. The only important detail is this: Phish came to PLAY last night, and if you've learned anything at all since George H.W. Bush's presidency, you know that a focused, determined Phish is pretty much the best rock'n'roll show what am. Thinking of seeing a show this summer? See a show this summer.

Okay, so just a bit of background, I did not attend this show, but I did Couch Tour from the stream along with many other people. Being able to get the SBD of the show early in the morning is a real blessing, and I’m really enjoying being able to write this review with the recording playing in the background.

Anyway, last night’s performance at DCU Center was absolutely smoking. The band in general sounded better than I have ever heard in 3.0 (sound-wise). One of my main complaints with this era of Phish was always Trey’s “squaky” tone, from his Ocedoc guitar. As far as I can tell, the “screech and squak” is totally gone. Either I’m crazy, or he really wants to lay back a bit this summer. His playing in general is also different. Gone are the “race to the peak” jams from the last 3 years. One might wonder if this is some kind of fluke, and we’ll be back to 8 minute Ghost’s next week. But the way the approached their songs tonight, and the enthusiasm they showed for experimental jamming, makes me very hopeful. Anyway, enough n00b fluffing and on to the show...

Buried Alive opener serves no purpose other than to tell everyone that this show will rage face. Runaway Jim comes in as a more “official” opener, and is played very well. Nothing terribly out of the ordinary here, but again, very relaxed and mellow playing from Trey, which makes this a great Jim, for the 8 minutes it exists. Torn and Frayed ups the rarity factor for the set, and allows the band to rock out a bit and get the energy up in the set. Next up comes Funky Bitch. Nothing to see here folks, except for the fact that Page makes his solo, well, his Funky Bitch. Moma dance continues the Funky theme but doesn’t go anywhere interesting, other than the fact that there was a bit more wah wah in the intro, which I always like. > into Rift continues the energy from the band. The show takes a bit slower turn with Nothing, which is a song I’m not to fond of, but it works well in this mellow set. Ocelot comes up next, and while some despise this song, even the most jaded 1.0 vet can’t complain about this version. Slow and groovy, Trey really shows his newfound patience here. In my opinion, the highlight of Set 1. Then comes Beauty of a Broken Heart, while not exactly the most face melting song out there it’s nice to get some solo Page songs. Then comes a weird-o Possum. Like, “Table for one in the middle school cafeteria” weird. Then Rocky Top! closes set one. Overall, strong set, little jamming, not much to go back for other than one of the best Ocelots ever. Nice Flow, and good rarity factor. On to set II.....

Carini Opener. Brace yourselves folks, this Carini goes Type II instantly in the jam. They really stretch this one out there, and get to some interesting places in 12 minutes. This is no Essex 2011 “Dark to light” jam either. This is a deep, throbbing, jam that moves through many emotions and unique rhythms. VERY improvisational. The last few minutes reminded at least one person of the Siket Disc instrumental “My left Toe”. As it should, this jam is very “Siket-like” Then comes one of the smoothest segues of 3.0 into “Taste”. This wonderful Taste is a perfect addition to the set, and Phish does a fantastic job of matching the tone of the Carini jam. This Carini -> Taste is more than worthy of some bold type on the Jamming chart. Then comes the Ghost, which features a great, smoooooth intro, which contrasts the way Phish usually “stumbles” into the song. Even the little silent part before “I feel I..” is unique. Now describing this jam to you is tough, because it is all over the place. Definitely Type II, and changes keys twice, and ebbs and flows magnificently. One of, if not the best, Ghosts of the era. It’s only competition might be the 12/31/10 Ghost, which wasn’t anything too out of the box to be honest, and the Albany ’09 Ghost, which is longer I believe, and very good also. Anyway, you have to listen to it to decide yourself. Mike takes over in the end and throws us headfirst into Boogie On. This is fantastic. Mike absolutely dominates this jam, and he and Trey build this into an absolutely face-melting, body grooving, baby making peak. MUST HEAR.
If I Could calms things down perfectly, and is far better a choice than “Farmhouse” (a la The Gorge 2011) Quinn comes in to remind us that Phish has no plans to play the expected songs like “Bug” and “Julius” after huge jams. Then comes an excellent, mellow, non peaking Hood, then they close the set with Cavern> Buried Alive, which is really the cherry on top of this Phish sundae. Loving Cup encore is the second ‘Stones song of the night, and while some are sick of it, well, too bad. Phish obviously likes the song, and was making a statement that they loved the show also.

Overall a fantastic show, certainly one to silence the critics, and will most definitely boost some of the ticket sales this summer!

Funky second set... AMAZING Quinn the Eskimo and Cavern... Standard encore... Great time and cannot wait till tomorrow!!!

@waxbanks has it pretty well summed up, particularly with regards to the inverted Ghost> Boogie On pairing, which is the first thing you should be listening to if you're an impatient fellow. A strange Ghost to be sure. Actually both it and the Carini should make for some interesting listening back, if for no other reason than to decipher whether the band was experimenting through fog, or communicating over our heads. Either way they were obviously looking to try out some new shit instead of just rock up the ladder, which I'll take any day of the week. I'm not sure I heard any of the Siket Disc or Guy Forget nods that some seem to have, but I haven't listened back yet. Regardless, the Boogie On went to pure hose territory.

I think I've seen three consecutive Loving Cup encores.

As a 3.0 Noob, this is hands down one of the best shows I've ever been to (the only other one that compares is 6/8/12). Buried Alive definitely started the show off on a great note and the high energy of the song match well with that of the audience as Phish opened the tour screaming. Other set 1 highlights were the Runaway Jim, a real funky Ocelot, and although not great, a rather interesting Possum. It seemed like Trey was trying to slow that Possum jam down like the '11 Blossom version but the rest of the band never really took the bait. Now onto the second set, which quite literally blew my mind. Carini jam went really dark and really deep before it made a rather surprising but natural segue into a great Taste. As taste ended, the band started playing some interesting ambient funk, and as soon as I recognized that Ghost riff start playing over I nearly freaked out. I immediately knew that we were in for a funky, more pre-3.0 esque Ghost. And it became exactly that as Ghost went into an amazing dark funk jam. The Boogie on jam after that was phenomenal after that and brought the energy back up after being brought to subterranean depths with Ghost. Those were the main highlights for me, and I'm glad to say I've finally experienced a pretty awesome show.

Amazing run of songs to start the second set, especially Boogie on Reggae Woman. Phew, Boogie was Hot!

So much funk! what a tour opener! Reba tomorrow?

What a tour opener! Boogie On brings it, and I think has a Guy Forget tease as well.

Carini>Taste and Ghost>Boogie Near Hour of amazing music. Both almost like one big song

'Carini' through 'If I Could" was amazing! They continually took risks and were rewarded. IMO could be the best run of tunes of the 3.0 era.

AMAZING!

Wonderful night of patient, creative explorations. Ghost>Boogie On>If I Could was the highlight, but really the entire second set hung together. Great song placement, focused playing, and best of all a sense of musical togetherness, shared by all. At a certain point everyone started to realize that Boogie On had opened into a big time funk jam, and the excitement and appreciation was deep. A great way to start the tour.

All I really want to say is: Phish is back!

What we saw in some of the better shows of 2011 was topped during the first night of Worcester and the herky-jerky style of the NYE run was long forgotten. Very fluid jamming and barely any rushing from Trey, which at this point in time seems like a revelation. Energy in the building was through the roof and I thought the whole show was very enjoyable. I'm listening to the soundboard now and it comes across well on the Hi-Fi. A real fan pleasing show.

What do we want?
-Recurring theme (Buried Alive) throughout the show a la Worcester '98 CHECK
-Deep Funk CHECK
-Type II CHECK
-Segues CHECK
-Bustouts (albeit minor) CHECK

One of the more solid tour openers I've heard. I was thinking of bringing a song request sign that read "JAM," but thankfully I didn't have to. The 2nd night was good too, but will definitely be overshadowed by Thursday. I haven't heard the Bonnaroo show yet, but I am a little alarmed that they repeated 12 songs from the Worcester shows...however, if playing fewer songs per tour is what they need to do at this time to play at the level of 6/7/12, then I'll cautiously accept our phate.

Rating out of 3.0 = *****
Rating out of all time= ***
Average= ****

p.s. I thought there was a Shafty tease in there somewhere...

Boogie on was called by Mike. I saw it pretty clearly.

Never give up on your favorite band. That's what the incredibly inspired two night stand at DCU shouted loud and clear.

my 9th show and my fav so far , i cant put into words how great Boogie was , it was the first time i was ever completley sucked into a jam like that , great show from start to finish + Torn & Frayed is my fav Stones song and i got ny first Runaway Jim so overall certainly one of the best for me and i have seen 4 shows at MSG

wow,cant believe this 2nd set hasnt been touched,imo of course!

Carini->Taste->:short ambiant jam:->Ghost->BoogieOn->IfICould

thanx for turnin the hose on for the toor opener

Just play Norwegian Wood! You are killing me The Phish. Torn n Frayed, Nothing, Buried Alive(by funk), Called Carini, and Hood.
Practice.

Out of the many shows I've seen, I've never felt more Mike-impact. Unbelievable run of cohesive funk. Freakin' bringin' it to Worcester!!! The whole night was a collection of EPIC song combinations. Thought the first set was going to shine, but the second delivered. After Possum, everything was icing on the cake!

it`s been said already, but that second set was intense. they wasted no time launching carini into deep space, a shape-shifting, evolving space that didn't seem to stay in one place for more than 30 seconds yet every move was the right move. it felt almost composed.

ghost jammed out longer than i've seen in a while. it went out into a dark, dissonant space, held together by a thread by the funk. the transition into boogie on was a little too quick, but that was quickly forgotten as they raged it.

quinn rocked the house and hood was brief but beautiful.

overall, first set was just a rarity spiced warm up. set 2 has me salivating over the posibilities of phish 2012

Great Hood with big time glow stick war

Welcome Back! Only Phish can make me feel good the impending doom that is summer in Florida.

Only through Possum right now and they are especially coherent sounding so far. Have thought to myself when reading critical analysis, specifically their resistance to enter the spacier jams of past, "I'd rather these guys be around for a full life then encourage them to enter those places that have been at times a near death trap." Be healthy and reggae on!

whats up with Kuroda? he was teaching this gut all during the 1st set...thats why at some points the light were not in sync.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/705/cksand.jpg/

-4? Even I'm surprised by that. I was touting the skill in which Phish built up by practicing.

Awesome Show. First tour opener I have made and 1st time in woosta... Crowd was feeling it and so was the band. Mike's bass was extra funky and everyone else followed suit

Trey has mastered that new Languedoc. Thats a big part of it. That an Page killed it both nights. Once Fish gets going.....
Enjoy the summer.

that's totally my left toe coming out of carini & should be noted in the setlist

After missing all of the 2011 shows, I was excited to see this. Since it was the tour opener, I was expecting a straightforward show without much improvisation and experimentation.

The first set was solid. Buried Alive is always an awesome opener. I'm not going to spend any time talking about the first set because it was what it was. A great opening to Phish tour.

The second set started with Carini, which was a surprise for me. They really jammed this one out into a spacey, mellow area. It reminded me a lot of when they were at SPAC in 2009 and opened the second set with BDTNL.

The Ghost was different than anything I have ever heard before. Specifically, the opening to the song. It was very slow, very chill, and almost deliberate.

Everything else was pretty standard Phish. I don't mean that in a bad way, it was an excellent show...and equate "standard Phish" with excellence.

saw 9 this Leg 1 2012; heard all that i missed digitally - still trying to figure what are the best stand alone sets. Got to say DCU 1 Set II is pretty darn beautiful, patient, spacey, tight, fun phish. download this show and notice the Carini>Taste>Boogie>Ghost go to your charts. see you out west!

For all you kids with short attention spans, here's the cole's notes summary with recommendations:

I think I can summarize the tour opening Worcester shows this way: “patiently risky with a little something for everyone.” At any rate I had a blast and really dug these shows (#44 & #45 for me back to ‘97). Like other .net regulars have said, the most important thing my ears noticed was a clear and noticeable exercise in patience from all the boys and a willingness to take risks (some extended jams and natural segues). It didn’t always work but I’m happy to see a continuous musical thought such as the (near) hour long Carini -> Taste > Ghost > Boogie On > If I Could, hopefully that trend continues. I’d still like to see a bit more deeper improv, for example, that Boogie On really could have gone way out there. But like I said, they did a wonderful job over two nights in Worcester of giving two wonderful shows that had a little something of everything “Phish” offers for all types of it’s fans. I left wishing I could go on tour for a few weeks. Well done boys!

Recommended listening:
Carini-> Siket jam-> Norwegian Taste > Ghost > Boogie On > Guy Forget jam-> If I Could

Honorable mentions:
Nothing, Ocelot, Beauty of a Broken Heart, Possum, Rocky Top

For the rest of you that TL;DR does not apply to, here you go:

Worcester – Night 1
Great opening sequence of Buried Alive > Jim > Torn and Frayed. Energy was off the hook in the Centrum. I couldn’t help be reminded of the infamous ’98 Wipeout show (in which Buried Alive opened the second set Wipeout madness) and of course the hour long ’97 Runaway Jim. Torn and Frayed was most appropriate and the crowd seemed to catch reference to the line: “on stage the band has got problems, the guitar player’s a bag of nerves on first night”. Anyways, I always like hearing songs for the first time, and this was my first: good fun. Funky Bitch kicked off the next segment in strong fashion followed by standard fare Moma Dance and Rift. By mid point of Set I, everyone has had some vocal leads … I always like to see that balance in a show. I thought the final segment was set I perfection. Nothing, Ocelot and Possum were all played with a similar feel as the Runaway Jim … just felt like they were totally on the same page and really listening to one another. They felt like they could go anywhere. I liked what another reviewer wrote: these songs were early jam highlights. I couldn’t agree more. To me, they solidified (especially after the short but sweet Jim) that special things were going to happen in the second set. Beautiful vocal work in Nothing. Ocelot has been a fav of mine since hearing the debut at Fenway. I liked the slightly slower than usual tempo, it just sounded great and had a slick laid back jam and nice playing from everyone, but Mike and Trey especially. I initially thought the Page tune Beauty of a Broken Heart was Halfway to the Moon (similar bassline at the start) but anyways they did a good job on this one. I was hoping for a debut original song over the two nights, which I didn’t get, but the relative bust out of this song (which at the time, I had thought was the first time played by Phish) was enough to satisfy me that they had spent some time learning something. I had a couple friends attending their first Phish shows in Worcester and I had hoped they would get a killer Possum and they sure did! It’s not Blues Brother MSG ’97 good but it’s got some great peaks and seemed a bit more elastic than normal which I’d attribute to the obviously patient playing they exhibited all night. I’ve always been a sucker for the bluegrass, so to go into setbreak with a Rocky Top was just golden for me!

The second set was really good. I saw the wonderful Providence ’10 Carini and have always enjoyed the song, whether it is a 5 min rocker like Rochester ’99 or a launch pad as it has often become the past few years. This Carini was great as well and it sure sounded like we were in Siket jam territory (What’s the Use/My Left Toe) for a while before they segued quite brilliantly into a great “Norwegian Taste.” As was the case the last time I saw it (Roggae -> Taste at Amherst ‘10), Taste is much stronger IMHO when used as a landing pad rather than a stand-alone tune … Fishman’s groove is just so smooth and effortless. As they wound down the jam and started what I thought was going to be Steam, I was more than pleasantly surprised by a Ghost. This one started out extra slow and quite awkward but they were taking a true risk on that segue/startup of Ghost so I’ll applaud them for that even if though they didn’t really nail it the way they were probably wanted. Regardless, I really loved the slow groove, patience and playing off one another, it really brought me back to my last show at the Centrum and that wonderful Ghost -> Low Rider (’03). Didn’t notice it at the time but on re-listen it sure seemed like Trey fixated on the chords for Don’t Fear the Reaper during the jam (or “more cowbell” for all you Bruce Dickinson/Will Ferrell fans out there). The envelope filter on the bass started towards the end of Ghost and Mike drove us into the Stevie Wonder tune in superb fashion. I had Boogie On down on my show wishlist and this might have been my favorite jam of the night. It’s not long before Trey taps the hose and then Page slips in the chords to Guy Forget and they unload a can of funky whoop-ass. I had mentioned to my buddy CW during the jam that they were pretty much jamming on Guy Forget without singing it, your mileage may vary but it’s there to my ears and regardless, it’s worth repeated listens. In hindsight it would have been nice to see them explore the ambient space they dissolved into at the end of Boogie On before Trey started up If I Could but selfishly I was thrilled to finally hear the Hoist ballad (my first in 44 shows or 15 yrs of waiting) and it was well worth the wait as it featured wonderfully delicate and inspired playing from everyone – a clear highlight even if they ended it without finishing the song proper. The last segment of the show (Quinn/Hood/Cavern/ Buried Alive Reprise) was a fun (read: safe) way to round out the set. It’s impossible to know if the Quinn was a sort of tribute to Levon Helm (Dylan first recorded the tune with The Band during The Basement Tapes sessions), but I’m it’s a nice thought, and it ‘s common knowledge Mike and Levon were friends so let’s just go with it. Hood and Cavern were typically avg/great as they usually are. I wasn’t at Worcester ’10 for the monster Hood, but surely folk that were must’ve been brought back. The Buried Alive Reprise seemed a bit off to me, but I really liked what they were trying to do, and certainly it was a very fun way of bringing the show full circle, ala recent memories of Tweetstick Meatprise Amherst ’10 and Llamanchester ’10. I was hoping for a Show of Life encore but Loving Cup took me by surprise as they had already played a Stone’s cover, but it took me back to Worcester ‘03 and nicely capped off the tour’s opening show. This show had a little something for everyone and an incredibly promising start to the tour.

This show has a Stevie Wonder tease inside of a Stevie Wonder song that .net failed to mentioned in the notes.
During the Boogie On jam, Trey starts playing the opening chords to 'I Wish'.
The very rare and beautifully played 'If I Could' is another reason why I keep going back to this second set.