@ericwyman said:

"First sets have always been a mixed bag. On some nights they over-perform, but that's kind of rare, even historically save for songs like Stash or Reba."

Spot on. This seemed to happen a lot; 95' and 99' really stick out in my memory as far as hit or miss 1st sets and overpoweringly awesome 2nd sets.
Love the encores from this tour more than any in recent memory. Unpredictable and well executed.
It sorta seems like phish might be kinda caught up in chasing this 200 song thing rather quickly. Most of the debuts have been coming in these festive but sorta crowded 1st sets. I don't know that I can think of any other band, ever, that has played 180 some-odd songs in a 15 show span. maybe they'll get back in the Guiness.
From what we've heard this tour so far, I'm sure we all believe that Phish is gonna throw down a wicked Leg 2. and hopefully fall?