The long months of waiting are finally over, and we are happily back on Phish tour!

I won't be in attendance for any of the shows before the Baker's Dozen, so I'll be couch touring these next few shows.

The first show of any tour is usually one where the band shakes some rust off, but tonight our favorite quartet from Vermont didn't sound rusty at all. They sounded rehearsed and tight, and put on a very good show!

Interesting choice to begin the tour with What's the Use?, but it was mellow and it worked.

Breath and Burning, not my favorite song, actually had a very good jam towards the end of it. Trey really sounded great.

Wolfman's Brother sounded very nice, and there was a nice Type I jam towards the end of it.

I was in attendance for TAB's debut of Everything's Right at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY back in April, and I remember enjoying the song a lot. But tonight, the boys truly surprised me with how great their performance of this TAB song was. Really fantastic playing by everyone; superb debut by Phish.

The first set ends with excellent versions of Limb by Limb, Theme from the Bottom, and Blaze On.

Quite a good first set.

The second set starts with what might have been the jam of the night, No Men in No Man's Land. Really funky, slow, dark interplay between all members of the band in this 17 or so minute jam. Mike sounded great, and I was digging it.

Fuego came next, and I don't remember ever enjoying this song as much as I did tonight. Another good jam.

My Friend, My Friend > Your Pet Cat -> Golden Age -> Your Pet Cat, and Leaves came next. This grouping of songs was probably the low point of the show for me. Decent jamming throughout, but I think the boys lost some of the great energy they had in the first two songs of the second set.

The Harry Hood that followed, however, was excellent, and boy does it feel good to feel good about hood once again!

Shine a Light and Julius were a nice, upbeat coupling with great playing by everyone, especially Trey, to end the set.

A reggae encore > Golgi Apparatus is nothing to complain about, and left me feeling good after a great tour opener!

In all honesty, this show may not look great on paper, but you can't judge a show just based on how the setlist looks. Sure, there wasn't a Type II Tweezer, Ghost, Gin, or Disease, but the boys came out tonight well rehearsed and played very well throughout. This was a very nice tour opener with some great jams in both the first and second set.

My rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars

Can't wait to couch tour the next several nights, and I'll hopefully see many of you .netters at MSG for the opening of the Baker's Dozen!