2012-07-08 Saratoga, NY

 Ok, gonna finish off Leg 1 of Summer 2012 while the mood is hitting me today. This has gone on long enough, lol. Then it's a clean break and I'm gonna dive into some Live Bait stuff


7/8/12 Saratoga

Set 1

AC/DC Bag - Absolutely fantastic right out of the gate. SO MUCH ENERGY!!!! Nothing's worse than a Bag that is just a little on the dragging side, ya know? Thankfully this is exactly how it should be, imo. Terrific opener for the gig!

>My Soul - Wow, there was actually a cool segue! Bag came to it's end and Trey did a repeating figure which he then put on the looper, allowing him to start the My Soul lick while the looper was going, giving us a segue. Sick. Trey absolute destroys on this. Talk about an opening 1-2 punch! The guys are doing it for the headbangers tonight!!!

Camel Walk - Great as always. Automatic list inclusion.

Sample In a Jar - So. Much. Energy! Just from that opening riff it's like "oh yea, this is gonna kill". I swear, the HEAT is here tonight! And they kill it. Sick Sample all the way 'round!!! Explosive!!!

Wilson - Excellent as always. As hot as Sample and My Soul for sure but it always is anyways, so nothing special in a good way.

>Party Time - The energy is there, but it sounds a bit under-rehearsed, unfortunately. Thankfully after the theme it all gels and we get a wonderful PT full of dynamic playing from everyone. Page the Rage is here, Trey is tearing it up, the drums are pounding....wonderful!!!!

Gumbo - Funky as a MF'er. GET IT PAGE!!!!!

Nellie Kane - Good as always, but is Nellie Kane.

Driver - See Camel Walk.

Foam - Rare and great to hear as always. Page kills. Trey plays lots of dynamic leads. Awesome lil' Foam!

If I Could - And the rarities continue! Gorgeous as always. I love this song to bits and they do it good justice tonight. Perfect choice after the zaniness of that Foam. ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! PAGE IS LORD!!!! 10/10 If I Could!!!!

Split Open and Melt - BEAST!!!!! Things get incredibly dark and twisted on this one! Demented is the word for this! Holy crap, hold me, I'm scared!!!!! A 12 minute monster that stretches its dark wings expertly without overstaying its welcome. If you like dark meltdowns, grab this sucker. Holy hell. This is music for falling into an endless abyss!

La Grange - Bustout time. First since 1999. The crowd is absolutely lapping this up. THE GUYS ABSOLUTELY DESTROY THIS SUCKER!!! FIRE! FIRE FIRE! FIRE! GET IT GUYS! HOLY CRAP LETS FRIGGIN ROCK!!!!


Ok, all in all, set 1 was an exercise in rarities and excessive heat-based energy. If you like your Phish to ROCK and your Trey to shred, this is a set for you. Great flow from start to finish and If I Could through La Grange was MUST-HEAR. A+ first set!  

Set 2

Axilla - Keeping with tonight's theme of heat and energy, how appropriate to blast off set 2 with a smashing Axilla to snap your head to.

>Light - In a non-sucking segue for once, we jump headfirst into Light. Refreshing to get it so early in a set. Around 5 minutes in the mood shifts up greatly and we laucn towards Type II. Gordo busts out his effects, things get kinda dark, things start to get gnarly and nasty. By 7 minutes things shift to a 2004-esque watery kind of mood and we are in full on Type II Land. Bring on Page's whale sirens while Trey is ripping up the low E and things are getting spacey. By 12 minutes this kind of morphs into full on beat-less ambience, ala 1999, with Trey letting notes ring out ad infinitum and Page tinkling away on some scary keys. This was a crazy-yet-concise MUST-HEAR Light!!!!!

>Twist - Excellent segue. Trey lets his looper ring out for a while giving the guys time to correctly move into the song proper. THIS IS A FRIGGIN A+++++++ TWIST!!! IT MAY BE SHORT BUT THIS IS THE BEST ONE OF 3.0 THUS FAR!!! ITS GNARLY AND TWISTED, LOADED WITH EXTRA SPUNK AND COOL EFFECTS, WONDERFUL INTERPLAY BY ALL....DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS SUCKER!!!! TWIST TWIST TWIST TWIST TWIST TWIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right at 3 minutes they LAUNCH into outer space. But they are still holding onto the slightest grasp of Earth's gravity. Treading the very fine line between Type I and II, this becomes as gnarly as a frog in a blender.....Funkier than a 70's Funkadelic gig! Ok, not really, but listen and you'll understand why I'm raving about this....

>Kill Devil Falls - NOW THIS IS REFRESHING!!!! Light in the KDF spot and KDF in the mid-set 2 Light spot! And it friggin' ROCKS to high heaven!!!! What else is new? It's KDF. It's this show. It kills. This goes the same route as Twist. Starting normal but with extra mustard, this thing FREAKING SLAYS TO HIGH HEAVEN (OR LOW HELL, WHICHEVER YOU PREFER!!!). A 1995 Kill Devil Falls, lol. Let's put it like that. And it's pretty long - almost 11 minutes - recalling the early days of 2009 when they weren't afraid to stretch it out on a couple of occasions. THIS IS THE BEST KDF IVE EVER HEARD HOLY FREAKING CRAP!!!! At 9 minutes things take off for Type II and we get a few WEIRD "what is going on?!" minutes where they accidentally changed everything up and stumble into some magical X Factor jam land. THIS IS WHY WE PHISH, Y'ALL!!!! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY MUST HEAR! DO NOT SKIP!!!!!!!




>My Friend My Friend - Somehow the weird jam reaches a natural spot for Trey to launch into the MYFE rhythm and lead them perfectly into the song. If that's not one of the greatest segues I've ever heard, then I don't know what it was. All goes well and then we hit the "scary monsters from outer space portion" where Trey is just melting everything in his path like the lord of destruction....


>Swept Away/Steep - Mega rarity time and the absolute perfect choice of comedown after that 41 minute piece of world destroying music. Holy freaking hell.....

>Piper - Another perfect set choice. Who doesn't love a Piper to build from the ashes like a phoenix rising? I don't have it in me now to narrate a 16 minute Piper, but it's exactly what you expect. See Light. And then some. Instead of going psychedelic though, this one is interesting in that it pretty much stays kinda grounded in rock shred territory. Either way....




>Free - After a countoff, we go into Free. Absolutely raging type I beast. Nothing more, nothing less.

>Kung - Ummm...ok....why?! WHERE DID THIS COME FROM AND WHY ARE WE HERE?!?!?! RUNAWAY GOLF CART MARATHON! STAND UP ON YOUR HEELS AND KUNG FROM THE HILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

>Harry Hood - Yay, my favorite late 2nd set "is it over yet?" song....Can't we open a set with it or put it in the first set or do SOMETHING different with it??! PLEASE?! At least this one is actually interesting! In the beginning, we get funny references back to Kung and the crowd is absolutely eating this sucker up. I can't deny some great energy and enthusiasm can I? Or else my name wouldn't be warewolf95!!! And ya know what? This sucker might just make a Hood convertee after all This sucker is just magical in the best way. Pure, unbridled positivity and joy. A+++ FANTASTIC!!! THIS HOOD IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!

>Cavern - Is Cavern. Is short. Is great, but does it need to be on the list tonight? Probably not, lol. See Axilla though!

>David Bowie - The other classic that I'm not a super fan of (we all can't love every single song personally, can we?), though of course I still enjoy a good one. It's Bowie. It Kills. Next?!

>You Enjoy Myself - What a freaking way to end a show for the ages and the tour! WOW!!! It's YEM. It kills. Perfect tour closer!



All in all.....um......

...HOLY FREAKING CRAP WHAT WAS THIS SHOW AND WHERE DID IT COME FROM?!?!?!??!?!?!?!? THAT 2nd SET WAS THE BEST OF THE YEAR SO FAR, HANDS DOWN. AND THE ENTIRE SHOW WAS PURE INSPIRATION AND FIRE AND PASSION OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!!! IF YOU HEAR ONE SHOW FROM THE FIRST LEG OF 2012 IT BETTER BE THIS SUCKER!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GO PLAY THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!