2012-07-03 Wantagh, NY

 So it's been about 3 months since I left off with 2012. I've been steadily listening to Phish again (all random stuff, studio, live, etc etc etc) for the last couple weeks and have kept 2012 in my sights. I shall not give up!


Gonna try 7/3/12 tonight and see how far I make it. Let's go!


7/3/12 Wantagh

Set 1

Skin It Back - Unexpected opener that gets us grooving right out the gate. Mike vocal opener (when was the last time that happenned?) and some great ripping from Trey. Oh yea, did I mention this was one of the biggest bustouts EVER at this point in time?! Last time played was 1988!!! And they've only played it 3 times after this as well. Terrific opener that probably had everyone in the crowd scratching their heads for what song it was. Around 5 minutes the guys start to shift into some deeper grooves. Page shifts to the other keyboard and we get some slick kind of funkiness going on. Firmly Type I but definitely exploring the box they are inside of. As usual, fire, fire, fire, fire, fire ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!! One of the best openers ever

Possum - Great choice for the 2nd slot. I feel like this is often end-of-set fare and find it oddly refreshing to hear it so early. Great interlocked playing from all. It's hot as expected and rips your face off, but Trey also gets lots of extra tasty licks in this one. Lots of "ooh, did you hear that?" in his playing, imo. Fantastic. Great moment around 4 minutes when Page, Trey and Mike all lock into the same pattern for a few bars. Really seals it all together with a kiss. Maybe it's just because I haven't heard Possum in 3 months, but this is really a standout rendition imho.

Tube - Keeping the fire going. 3 ragers in a row. Nothing list-worthy, really. It's Tube. It's hot as always. Pretty short seeming. Great miscue moment where Trey tries to go into the bluesy bridge section too early and everyone else keeps jamming right over him (particularly Page). It doesn't sound like the flub it is and could've been a launch to something cool if anyone had picked up on it. It's very blink-and-you'll-miss-it stuff Page is the hero of this Tube though, for sure.

Happiness Is a Warm Gun - MAJOR BUSTOUT #2!!! SECOND VERSION EVER AND FINAL TO DATE!!!! One of my least favorite Beatles tunes, but the guys play it great and its obviously well rehearsed (a song like this has to be!). Anyone know if there was a reason they busted this out in particular? Shame they never played it again as it's great!!!

Mike's Song - SMASHING! ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC RAGER!!!! FREAKING GET IT TREY, HOLY CRAP!!! GET THE SHRED ON, BOYS!!!!

I Am Hydrogen - Yes, Hydro is just Hydro, but I swear Trey is just packing extra heat tonight, leaning hard into his leads, giving extra nuance and thought to his playing. Just beautiful....

Weekapaug Groove - See above

Halley's Comet - Great as always but nothing listworthy about it. Just a fun party intervention ala Tube.

>Axilla - Not sure if a flubbed segue or a pre-planned song, but in the middle of Trey shredding up Halley, he signals the Axilla riff perfectly in context with the jam and the whole thing ripcords to a stop instead of transitioning. Saving the day, he quickly counts the band off and into Axilla we launch! As with Halley's, it's a fine version that rocks and keeps the momentum going hard, but nothing noteworthy really about it. It's pretty much over before it began, lol.

>Ya Mar - Great/unexpected segue! PLAY IT, LEO!!!! The crowd is going nuts and we get just a terrific little Ya Mar. A+ Page on this. Then Trey gets in on the action...A+ Ya Mar, for real. Just stupendous on all fronts!!!!

Joy - After 57 minutes without a break, we finally get a breather with another absolutely heart-wrenching version of Joy. Just fantastic as always. Really tugs at the heartstrings tonight. Fantastic.

Jesus Just Left Chicago - A+ for set flow tonight. Wonderful choice of song for the slot and HOT DAMN GET IT PAGE!!! Trey was the MVP at the start, but as the set goes on the more and more Page is at the fore. Great vocals from him and the whole band just slays this one. GET IT NOW! Also, Trey absolutely destroys as well. Dang.....

>Backwards Down the Number Line - A++++ 'Nuff said

Golgi Apparatus - Is Golgi



All in all, an absolutely CRUSHING first set!!! Everything is played to perfection. Several songs aren't anything noteworthy, but the playing itself is never less than strong. The overall vibe is celebratory tonight and the energy is oozing out of every pore of their collective body. WOW!!! Maybe I'm just Phish-starved, but holy crap this set blew me AWAY!!!! DON'T OVER LOOK THIS!!!!

 

 Set 2 - Wow, what a great looking set, song-wise!

Chalkdust Torture - Lots of great little guitar fills throughout! Album-reminiscent kind of version. Trey is playing around with the vocal phrasing and this has a really great laid-back-yet-steamrolling kind of jaunt to it. Hard to describe but it's got a unique feel to it for sure. Trey is soloing great but it's got this slight kinda bluesy undercurrent tonight. The energy is there, but instead of spitting fire he's taking his time and giving us more, for lack of a better term, a "Grateful Dead" Chalkdust. This is a great CDT to listen closely to - if you throw it on without paying attention this will all fly by, but the cool subtleties are there for sure. Awesome Chalkdust and awesome set opener!!!!

Sand - Very odd and jarring to get Sand starting from a dead stop with the Trey lick rather than they rhythm groove, but who cares. Speaking back to Trey and his guitar fills tonight, he throws in some perfect Izabella licks. This Sand is groovy and chill!! Totally laid back in the best way. Ooh yea, baby! Things proceed as usual for a 1.0 Sand at this point, BUT, check out from 7 minutes onwards where Trey introduces a quiet loop and things just take off!! Trey lays back and the whole band jam together letting Page show his chops, but then Trey breaks out the effects and Fishman starts playing around with his patterns and fills and....YEA THIS SAND IS FRIGGIN GREAT!!!!! DONT SKIP!!!! By 10 minutes we have ascended into Type II funk mastery. If this was 1998 this would be the launchpad of the greatest jam you've ever heard. Instead, they give us epic blue balls and Trey segues into Golden Age....

>Golden Age - Thankfully instead of dead-starting this one, they take their friggin' time to adjust to the main lick instead of ruining it, lol. Woulda preferred that Sand to keep going darker, but I will admit that was a perfectly timed segue in a way. This thing delivers the payoff though! More uplifting than you can imagine and delivers exactly what you expect out of a great Golden Age. But then....at 7 minutes the blissful peaks morph seamlessly into raging funk rhythms. BRING ON THE COWBELL!! Things are slowly heading out there, one measure at a time. Trey delivers exquisite lead runs that fans in 2019 could only dream of hearing, lol. Great moment around 8:30 where Trey introduces a repeating motif, probably hoping everyone would latch on, but instead we descend into sustained notes and ambience. Very slowly we get quieter and quieter and quieter. The drumming softens and softens and softens....Oh yea, hit that deep space bomb, Gordo!!!! Finally the drums give out aside from cymbal washes as Trey and Page provide the only melodic content - at this point they could've set up the greatest segue into No Quarter ever. Let's put it like that. By now we are 11 minutes in - Page and Trey are still doing their thing, Gordo playing with weird bass effects, and Fishman tinkering with his cymbals. Fish sounds like he's trying to reintroduce some drums but is having a hard time. Sounds like Trey picks up on this and gives him some ground he can get behind. But not for long - soon the bubbling bass from Cactus collides with sustained notes from Trey. The crowd cheers and this jam sounds like it literally is fizzling out. Very cool, but disjointed a little bit. The boys sound unsure and just fade out to an end.....

*That Golden Age had MAJOR potential. The boys just straight up sounded unsure what to do. What we got was great, but they sounded like deer in the headlights going "Oh crap, we are out here. What do we do now? Let's bail cuz we aren't sure about this."

>Wolfman's Brother - Totally unexpected to hear this in a 2nd set and especially after the coolness we just got. How 'bout that, eh? Seems like it's gonna go nowhere special, but the X Factor is kinda on tonight. CHECK OUT 4 MINUTES! LISTEN TO TREY ABSOLUTELY MANGLE HIS AXE!!! DISGUSTING! In the BEST way, of course!!!! Now I HAVE to include this on the highlight list, lol. Trey is just going next level porno-funk on this one!!!! FREAKING AMAZING!!!!

>Walk Away - Clunky-yet-inspired segue and choice of song I ALWAYS love to hear them play this. Just kills - every time. This one sees Trey unleash Machine Gun Mode and just wail away until the cows come home. Hot. Friggin'. Damn. Also, they could've so easily gone into Tweeprise and had everybody's jaws on the floor - I was so waiting for that! FANTASTIC!!!

Bug - Bug is great as always. Not everything can make the list, eh? Just a fine Bug that is a perfect cooldown after the face melting of Walk Away.

>Fluffhead - Alright! Pretty flawless rendition for the most part. Fantastic to hear as always.

>The Wedge - Unexpected out of Fluffhead, at least for me. Nothing special in this one. Nice to hear but that's about it.

Run Like An Antelope - 13 minutes. Gnarly yet tasteful. You get exactly what you expect and then some considering Trey's playing tonight. Excellent. A bit more interesting than most in this period - some exceptional back and forth between Page and Trey. EXTRA MUSTARD ON THIS ONE! DANG!!!

Character Zero - Is CZ. Is Great as always



All in all, set 1 killed, set 2 killed...a pretty damn fantastic show for this point in time!!!!! Seriously - there is great stuff happenning. Chalkdust through Walk Away is essential listening, imo. I just can't get over how friggin' well Trey is playing on this gig!!!!!!!!!!!!! FANTASTIC SHOW!!!!