The One-Week-At-a-Time 2012 marathon continues tonight with night 2 of Portsmouth
6/20/12 Portsmouth
Set 1
Sparkle - Sparkle OPENER?! That is definitely a first to me. Apparently
this is also the only 2012 performance. It's ok but actually seems very
low energy for Sparkle and the opener. Probably awesome in person, but
tonight this does not translate very well to me at all.
Ha Ha Ha - Is Ha Ha Ha 
A pretty big bustout but nothing special.
AC/DC Bag - After what felt like a soundcheck/warmup with the first two
songs, we get perhaps a proper opener. It's a fine Bag but not one
that'll make you run to the highest mountain to shout to the masses
about.
>Divided Sky - This felt like a great version. It was on the
"soft" side as the energy is seeming to be tonight, but DS is a great
opportunity for using the mood to influence the tune. Extremely dynamic
version on this night. Extremely delicate in the best way. This is a terrific Divided Sky!!! Very long too at almost 17 minutes!!!
Dog Log - To date, the most recent version ever performed (the
only in 3.0) and the 24th of all time going back to 1985. Talk about a
friggin' bustout!!!! DL is DL but automatic points for extreme rarity!
But this ain't just a tease ala Worcester '98 - no they go all 2010 F
Your Face style and learn the PROPER arrangement and play it flawlessly.
Good job guys! This was excellent enough to make you wonder why it
hasn't been played in the 10 years since?!
Undermind - Short but excellent. They revisit the dynamics used
throughout Divided Sky bringing the song down to complete silence at the
end just to segue out into....
>Mike's Song - Very tasty!! 8 excellent Mike's Song-ey minutes of awesomeness. It's MS. You know what to expect! 
>I Am Hydrogen - Rare these days to get a proper Mike's Groove it seems. Great as always!
>Weekapaug Groove - Again, the dynamics return! Some very cool
quiet playing from everyone while Mike slaps away on top, lol. Trey is
throwing down some great little licks here and there like rain just
coming right down from the sky. Of course by the end he is just
shredding it up as expected and brings our favorite little trio to a
close. Great stuff!
Cities - Awesome as always.
>Ya Mar - Great pairing! Just needs an NICU or Mango Song to top it off 
Bold As Love - Never been a big fan of this song but Page absolutely crushes those vocals and the boys turn in an absolutely rousing version!
Julius - Hot Julius to close
All in all, a slightly odd set. Some awesome bustouts/set choices,
but that opening trio of songs almost had the set killed before it
began. Then we got to Divided Sky and everything just "clicked". Not the
strongest set, but there was a nice undercurrent of chillness
throughout that positively informed some of the songs. A strong B+/A-
set, imo. Others probably feel differently - it was just a little
"undercooked" feeling. The high points of the set (well, everything from
DS onwards) felt a notch below what they would've been on another
night, if that makes sense. It's kinda hard to fault - it's just a set
that wasn't totally what I was looking for, I guess.
Set 2
Rock and Roll - Ah hell yes! I ALWAYS loved to hear this. Maybe in my top 5 favorite Phish covers!! There is never a poor version.
All hail the 11 minutes of FIRE that start this set with a BANG!!! AT 9
minutes we descend rapidly into deep space ambience. Remember the days
when it took them 20 minutes to get to that point? Now they do it in 20
seconds! Eventually after a few minutes they start to sound lost and Trey instead steers us into....
>Tweezer - This sucker is 12 minutes and pretty friggin'
demented!!! It's pretty much Type I Tweezer insanity to the hilt.
Absolutely hotter than the sun. My jaw was on the floor. Wow. Melting
into another brief ambient passage, Trey hits the switch and we laucn
into...
>Free - Some interesting sounds in this one but mainly another
Type I explosive rager. Couldn't keep from headbanging during this one,
haha. Good stuff! Not a classic but worth a listen.
Guyuute - All hail the ugly pig!
Birds of a Feather - Again, another Type I explosion of the
hottest type. As with RnR, does BOAF ever fail to deliver?! No. No it
does not. End of story.
Harry Hood - The song portion isn't anything great and sounds lackluster tonight, but holy crap where did this jam come from! Most
of the tracks is pure 1999 extended ambient jamming, the kind only
teased at in the prior songs. We are talking frantic drums with upbeat
synthesizer capped off with grinding and scary playing from Trey. WOW! DONT SKIP THIS! ITS AMAZING!!!
>What's The Use - Ah yes! Literally the perfect thing!! Fishman
misses the cue and instead of changing the tempo at the start he just
keeps the frantic pace going at first until he can find a slot to settle
down in. Oh man, this is just GORGEOUS. Again, as always, but
seriously....this Hood>WTU is definitely must-hear for this show.
Wow....
Velvet Sea - Perfect out of WTU, I still don't get the hate for
the song. Great tune and worked perfectly in this slot. Great version
with inspired playing from all.
Possum - Is Possum. Friggin' slays. 'nuff said.
Sleeping Monkey - Never been a favorite of mine.
Tweeprise - Is Tweeprise. Good stuff and good end!
All in all, the first hour of this set up through Hood>WTU was
just straight fire. But it was more of a tiny flame that'll singe you
good rather than the insane hotter-than-the-sun heat we expect from most
shows. As I mentioned, this show just had a chill kinda vibe. Not even a
chill vibe - I don't know. Let's put it like this - lots of highlights,
but the highlights in this show probably wouldn't be in other shows,
does that make any sense? A solid B/B+ gig for me. They try hard at
least. Just kinda odd feeling with this show. The 3.5 rating on .NET is
pretty accurate, imo.
Good stuff but not essential (except perhaps that crazy Hood>WTU)
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