Phish 28 December 2011 at Madison Square Garden, NYC

Phish returned to the Garden last night to capitalize on the week virtually everyone has off (and to rock our socks off).  I hung out in the 300's section, but managed to snap a few good photos while suffering from murky sound quality:

In the interest of time, I've included a few of my notes from last night next to the setlist.

Set 1
Awesome glowstick war started when the band walked on stage and the lights went out.  It was fun to surprise them when they're usually the ones entertaining us.
Free - a great way to open a four-night run at Madison Square Garden.  Appropriately epic.
Glide> - I'm glad, glad, glad they played this one.
Possum - Trey kind of snuck into this Possum.  The band overdid this song over the summer, but I was glad to hear it last night.
Cities - always a bouncy and fun sing-along.
Curtis Loew
Stash - fun but really short.
Contact> - I loved this one.  My favorite out of the set.  I love the solo section before the last verse that totally gets into a down and dirty funk.
Sample
Kill Devil Falls
Bathtub Gin

Set 2
Birds of a Feather - interesting set opener.  Got me thinking that the entire show had sort of an offbeat song selection, which I liked.  There definitely wasn't much filler - every song felt purposeful.
Tweezer 
My Friend My Friend
Rock and Roll - a welcome change of pace after the creepy MFMF.  The crowd ate this one up.
NICU
Bouncing 'Round the Room - I heard some others complaining about how Boncing sort of slowed down the set, but I got into it.
Harry Hood - I love a good Hood.
Bug - kind of a let down after a great Hood.  They killed this one at SBIX, but didn't quite bring Bug up to that level again this time.

Encore - the most fun I had all night.  After a so-so show, the encore made up for it in song selection and energy.
Tube
Rocky Top
Tweezer Reprise

See you tonight!
Elizabeth