Phish – 5/28/11 “Backwards Down The Number Line” from Phish on Vimeo.

A clip from Phish’s 5/28/11 show earlier this tour

Phish returned to Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center for the first time since 2000 last night. Though the band has not performed in Holmdel in over a decade, PNC has long been a band favorite due to its close proximity to both New York City and Trey Anastasio’s Princeton, NJ hometown. The group first played the amphitheater in 1992 on the H.O.R.D.E. tour and returned to the summer shed just eight days later to open for Santana. Phish headlined the venue on its own in 1994 and really made the venue its own during a pair of two-night runs in 1999 and 2000.

Since Phish played most of its headlining shows at PNC in ’99 and ’00 it makes sense that last night’s show recalled that period in the group’s career. Not only did the group play numerous songs from the late ‘98 album Story of the Ghost and ’00 album Farmhouse, but the band’s sound felt inline with the textured, ambient sounds of that colored the group’s jams before its first hiatus. One slight mishap occurred in “Divided Sky,” however, when Anastasio flubbed a lyric and turned his microphone to the audience for their assistance.

Phish will return to Holmdel, NJ tonight.

Here’s a look at last night’s seltist via Phish.net

Tuesday, 05/31/2011, PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ

Set 1: Chalk Dust Torture, Roggae, Punch You In the Eye, The Moma Dance > Rock and Roll, Sand, Tube > The Divided Sky, Character Zero

Set 2: After Midnight > Possum, Drowned > Maze, Dirt, Alaska, YEMYou Enjoy Myself

Encore: Fire

Notes: Trey dedicated Sand to “Max.” Fire contained alternate lyrics “move on over, let Cactus take over!”