Last night, Phish kicked off the first of three shows at Hampton, VA’s Hampton Coliseum. These shows are the Vermont Quartet’s first at the famed venue since the band’s 2009 reunion run. The first set featured some of Phish’s shorter numbers, with tunes like “Mound,” “Army of One,” “Nellie Kane” and “Bouncing Round the Room” showing up. However, the set certainly didn’t lack improv as “Wolfman’s Brother,” “Stash” and “Walls of the Cave” all contained a fair amount of jamming.

The second frame began with an unlikely “Twist” which the band stretched out to past the ten-minute mark with a Page McConnell-led jam. Again, some of Phish’s shorter tunes were on display in the middle of the set, with “Sparkle” and “Cavern” both anchoring the middle of set two. Once again, Phish returned with the improv as “Carini” stretched to seventeen minutes before transitioning into “Backwards Down the Number Line.”

The Phish hijinks weren’t lacking during this particular version of “Run Like an Antelope,” as bassist Mike Gordon took a “drill solo” by tapping on his instrument to make the sound of an electric drill. This came after Trey Anastasio pointed out to the crowd that Gordon was wearing glow in the dark sneakers. Los Lobos’ “When the Circus Comes” made a rare appearance in the encore before “Suzy Greenberg” closed the proceedings at Hampton. Phish returns tonight and tomorrow before heading off to Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, NY.

Here’s the show as it appears in our Box Scores section:

Friday, October 18, 2013, Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

Set I: Wolfman’s Brother, Runaway Jim, Mound, Chalk Dust Torture, Army of One, Nellie Kane, Stash, Ocelot, Rift, Bouncing Around the Room, Walls of the Cave

Set II: Twist > Free > Roggae, Sparkle > Cavern > Carini > Backwards Down the Number Line, Twenty Years Later, Wading in the Velvet Sea, Run Like an Antelope*

E: When the Circus Comes, Suzy Greenberg

Notes: *Drill solo by Mike; “Mike-O Esquandolas” lyric.