Since so many of these one set European shows have just a handful of ratings, I've decided to give some of them a spin and review them.

Of course, there's a good reason why they have so few ratings. It's not because they're bad, but a one set opener slot doesn't give you a lot of room to strut your stuff. This set is really tight and smoking, with the exception of the very end of Maze and the a little bit of the start of Hood. But the peak in Hood is fairly majestic and peak in Maze is furious, as it should be. If you were trying to give a friend who was disinclined to long type-II improvisation a quick taste of what Phish is about, a show like this would be a decent way to do it. But for the hardcore fan, there's nothing surprising here. Three stars.

Check TheEmu's review, pretty spot on. As far as an opening set of music to a crowd that may be unfamiliar with Phish, they did a great job of playing everything well and with energy. As far as essential Phish, however, this can safely (and for good reason) be put on the backburner. Highlights:

1) Reba: Well played, straightforward, and reaches a nice, if standard, peak.

2) Maze: Mama mia, rage city! Wish I knew what that Italian crowd was thinking!

3) Hood: Nice build and peak where Trey holds on a note for an uncomfortably beautiful amount of time

hahaha, it is refreshingly funny that this show is rated higher than the previous two one set openers during this Santana tour in Italy.

It is not as special to me as the first one where Carlos joins in and plays, but for it's overall sound quality of the downloads available it is the best recording of these first 3 (which is where my instinct tells me the higher rating comes from, not the actual content or musicianship).

I really enjoy Page singing A day in the Life, every time. However, if you don't care about that there isn't much here for you.

Reba has some feedback in a few places and is not special in any way until the end when Trey breaks out his Italian, and it's not great!

Maze is pretty tight and well constructed.

We took a train from Rome to Florence, and Pistoia is a short distance from there. There was actually a whole Jazz festival in the main square (outdoors). On this night the line was: Popa Chubby, Phish, Robben Ford, then Santana. This show was awesome. If you ever want to hear Page alone sing the first verse of Reba, or Trey talk to the crowd in Italian - this is your show. Not to mention the smoking Maze and Harry to close. Many people who had been following the shows in Italy stayed on in Pistoia for Bob Dylan's show the next night. The rest of us took a train back to Florence - then on to Milan for the next show.