This is my attempt at a review, so here goes....

My first show at the Garden! I've heard all of the stories about Phish shows at MSG, the energy, etc... It did not fail to deliver this night. No pat-downs, no problems getting in or out & no hassles at all. Our seats were in section 426, aka the nosebleeds. Yet the view of the stage was great. The sound kinda sucked at first. It took them a little while into the first set to get it right. Which par for the course for arena Phish in my experience. I think it was during Sample that I noticed that they had it good. Anyway the show;

Set 1:

Free opener! I thought that was funny; before the show we were in Stouts a couple blocks away & they were playing a Phish show on the flatscreens (couldn't figure out when it was from though) & Free was played. There some discussion on how sweet it would be if they opened with that, and sure enough! My only complaint (and this holds for most of the first set) was the sound. The sound sucked.....to where I was concerned for a bit. I was ready to move elsewhere in the venue at first.

Glide bustout, I wasn't expecting that. Well played too.

> Possum. I happen to really enjoy this song but at the same time I've gotten it in 5 out of 9 shows...... Whatever, it's no set killer for me by a long shot. I got down hard.

Cities, ah yes the first highlight of the night! This was hands down the best Cities that I've ever heard live & it's in my top 5 of all time. Yeah it ended too soon for my liking; I would've liked to have seen it go further. My one friend & I both saw it going into 2001. None of this takes away from what they did do with it though. Incredible version.

Curtis Lowe; I like this song. I was disappointed that Cities was cut short for it at first, but I didn't let that affect my experience. Not a bad version.

Stash I love this song, not my favorite version by any means but I enjoyed it regardless. I dig the sing-along stuff & experiencing that in the Garden was awesome.

Contact; not a song I would of looked for or thought they would play, but I enjoyed this version. Dreamy flowing vibes in the Garden & some sweet bass work from Mike. I also dug what Page did on the keys here. Sweet funky breakdown in the middle.

> Sample in a Jar. I absolutely love this song. This one of the songs that got me into Phish. Junior year of HS, during the first hiatus....we would rage this song in English class after lunch. Dance party'd Anyway, strong version...as I mentioned earlier, this is when the sound finally achieved the levels that I was looking for.

Kill Devil Falls; good version.

> Bathtub Gin; Highlight # 2 of the first set. Another best of all I've gotten live. Soaring crescendos from Trey. Yeah buddy!!!! Now this is what I'm talking about! Great end to the first set.

Set 2:

Birds of a Feather opener! Whoa, OK this is a good sign. Rocking albeit short version.

Carini -> Tweezer HOLY MOTHER OF WHAAAAA....................... Absolutely amazing. Mind = Blown.

>My Friend, My Friend; excellent version of a great song...and....

->Rock and Roll!!! No way, another segue, and into this?????? OK this is gonna be good, they're fucking killing it this set! .....aaand it was. Absolutely raging Trey-centered jam that melts into a beautiful/raging Page-centered jam. Mike & Fish holding it down. Great jam.

-> NICU ....yet another sweet segue. High energy NICU. I'm loving this set.

Bouncing Around the Room..... Seriously? They're really playing this? Now? Fucking sweet. Yeah, I love this song, wasn't expecting it & happy as a clam to be getting it. Sing-along in Garden with CK5 casting blue lights upon us. At this point I really can't remember the last time that I'd been that happy. (probably the last time I saw the boys...)

HOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No. Fucking. Way. My top 3 songs ever are Harry Hood, Reba & Tweezer. and they just played a killer Tweezer. I was hoping for, but not expecting a Hood. After Tweezer I figured that they wouldn't play it, but I was loving what I was hearing so much & having such an amazing time that I didn't care. ..................and then they play Hood! I completely lost it, went fucking nuts. Hugged one of my friends & got down. The bar is set really high for Hoods as far as I'm concerned, and the last one I got fell short. This Hood did not. There were some hiccups at the beginning, but nothing too bad & it ended strongly.

I was completely sober yet I felt high at this point. Such joy & emotion...my whole body was tingling. Beautiful soloing from Trey, especially from 9 minutes in to the end. I may or may not have shed a tear.

> Bug ...I'm a big fan of Bug, as my one friend put it; "Hood was the sundae & Bug was the cherry on top. Some people complained about the Bug set closer apparently. My friends & I are not among those people.

Encore:

Tube>Rocky Top>Tweeprise

Short Tube, but into Rocky Top....as much as I'd love a jammed out Tube, I'll take the shorter one with that Rocky Top. Experiencing the Garden to nuts for it is something that I'll never forget. Capped off with a raging Tweeprise.

All in all an amazing show. I went in with no expectations other then having a blast, and I wound up getting blown away. Great venue, great people, amazing energy and beautiful music. There were some lows, but not many, and the highs more than made up up for them.