Minus being the genesis of the now-infamous "tucking" gag, the first Portsmouth show is just a long series of songs. And I mean long. The first set is thirteen songs and the second set plus the encore is another thirteen. Not that song length is the only marker of a show's quality, but this should give you an idea of how much (or how little, I guess) the band stretches out during this show.
That said, if you're here for two first sets, here are the highlights.
The first first set is about as straightforward as they come except for a Carl Gerhart sit-in during "Party Time," which is worth a listen. "Tube" finds a particularly nasty groove, but abandons it way too soon. The accelerating, high-energy jamlet in "Gin" hints at the massive, bliss-filled versions to come a few years down the road. And that's about it. It's worth noting that this is a particularly high-energy and well-arranged opening set, especially for 2012, but you're not going to hear much you haven't already heard.
Trey picking on Fish during "I Didn't Know" starts the "tucking" gag, which continues through the set-closing "Antelope."
The second first set continues this trend by opening with "Back On the Train" > "Rift." "Split Open and Melt" is the jam highlight of the show, such as it is, with a somewhat spacier and more abstract middle portion before the band returns to more familiar dissonance-based jamming to close out the song.
We get a surprisingly long string of first-set-style songs for the rest of the show, but "Lengthwise" -> "Maze" is notable for more "tucking" antics, including a number of fans being invited on stage, Trey playing his guitar with a lightsaber and declaring himself to be Fish's father, and Trey and Fish berating the dancing fans because they "suck at tucking."
On one hand, I love being able to type sentences like that because what other band would be so awesomely goofy on stage? On the other hand, when the tucking joke is the highlight of a three-hour show, it doesn't say much in favor of the rest of the show.
Things finish up with a nice take on "Slave," though!
The Live Show:
6/19/12: Will the Portsmouth run be anything more than just a long series of songs? Tune in to find out now!
6/19/12: Sample opener seems ironic in the context of that last tweet.
6/19/12: Party Time in the two-slot. Page taking a great organ solo.
6/19/12: Carl Gerhart introduced by Trey and now taking a horn solo during Party Time.
6/19/12: Simple is next, and the outro jam is Mike-led, as in the Bader Field version. Weird echo effects at the ve… https://t.co/3d4IDrUAwm
6/19/12: Trey, in a rare response to the crowd's request, plays Tube next.
6/19/12: Better than average groove in this version.
6/19/12: I wish that this was twenty years ago and they just rode this groove for like fifteen minutes.
6/19/12: SHORTEST TUBE EVAR. KDF is next.
6/19/12: Short KDF, then Water in the Sky (fast) and Horn.
6/19/12: Always fun to hear Phish do Babylon Baby.
6/19/12: Gin.
6/19/12: At the 7:00 mark, this Gin shifts into a new gear. Great band interplay.
6/19/12: Fun build-up in that Gin, different from the latter-day 3.0 versions but still similar. Stealing Time is next.
6/19/12: You know you're in a seriously first-setty first set when you get both KDF and Stealing Time.
6/19/12: There are few things that feel more like '10-'12 Phish to me.
6/19/12: Grungy, sort of broken-down jam here. Trey and Mike trading dirty licks. This is neat.
6/19/12: > I Didn't Know
6/19/12: In honor of Carl Gerhart, Trey tells Fish to 'tuck in your shirt' before the vacuum cleaner solo.
6/19/12: Looks like the set is going to end with Antelope.
6/19/12: Trey exhorting Fish to 'Tuck in your dress, mon!' Then commanding the crowd to do the same. Ends with 'Tuc… https://t.co/H8xMCc1Lbz
6/19/12: End first set.
6/19/12: S2 starts off with BOTT. So that's weird.
6/19/12: Nice, extended take on BOTT. It never really goes anywhere jam-wise, but is a nice, momentum-filled version. Next up is Rift.
6/19/12: Rift seems like a weird choice here.
6/19/12: Pretty clean take on Rift. SOAM is next.
6/19/12: 'Split open and tuck.'
6/19/12: Trey using an interestingly spacey guitar tone here during a tension-filled SOAM jam.
6/19/12: Interesting version of SOAM. > Gumbo.
6/19/12: Number Line.
6/19/12: Pretty sure Trey just played part of the Billy Breathes solo on purpose near the end of that Number Line as part of his solo.
6/19/12: If so, that's pretty amazing.
6/19/12: Trey returning to the dexterous noodle-y workout from Number Line here in the following LxL.
6/19/12: Shine a Light next.
6/19/12: Fish inviting fans to come 'tuck' onstage.
6/19/12: Fish singing Lengthwise now. Now Trey and Fish berating the fans for tucking incorrectly.
6/19/12: Trey and Fish adding 'tuck' to the Lengthwise lyrics in various ways now.
6/19/12: Trey and Fish now interspersing insults of the crowd's tucking ability and Star Wars quotes.
6/19/12: In the midst of that, Lengthwise -> Maze.
6/19/12: Hot version of Maze right dere.
6/19/12: Cavern.
6/19/12: Fire.
6/19/12: Encore is Mexican Cousin (!) into Slave.
6/19/12: End show with a better-than-average Slave jam.
6/19/12: So, minus the weird tucking and Star Wars shenanigans, that was a show that was essentially two first sets… https://t.co/V8yRSBQIK8
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