2012-08-15 Long Beach, CA

 Been about a month since I finished leg 1 of Summer 2012. I'm still firmly entrenched in Springsteen Land, but I'm also in the mood for Phish (I play about an hour of 1.0 on an ipod while falling asleep each night )

So as to not lose momentum, for better or worse, we are pushing onwards:

8/15/12 Long Beach, CA

Absolutely terrific looking setlist for my taste and that second set obviously looks bonkers on paper....

Set 1

Suzy Greenberg - Talk about a way to kick the door down and announce "WE'RE HERE!!!" Check that sickly nasty soloing from Page and insane energy from everyone.
A+ Suzy!!!!

Cities - Very fine version with some choice soloing from Trey, but nothing special in the grand scheme of things. Nice to hear in the 2nd slot!

Kill Devil Falls - Absolutely fantastic rager. If KDF was played in 1.0, this might be along the lines of what it would've sounded like. MACHINE GUN TREY EVERYWHERE! Great buildup in the middle ala a good Possum.

Guelah Papyrus - This felt extra rehearsed and even quasi-jammed, lol. Terrific 3.0 Guelah.

Cool It Down - TERRIFIC! WHY IS THIS NOT A REGULAR COVER! THIS HAS BEEN AWESOME EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!!

Rift - Is Rift. Sounds very good tonight.

Stash - Really good Stash. As good as any other "really good but normal" Stash from early 3.0 Great version that - like Cities tonight - just doesn't do enough special to make the list. Great Stash that you've heard 20 times before.

Bouncing Around the Room - Is BATR. Is REALLY nice tonight though!

>Bathtub Gin - Absolutely incediary type I beast. Type I Gins don't get much better than this sucker!!!!

Quinn The Eskimo - Awesome as always. Great to have as set 1 closer instead of the encore.



All in all, set 1 was great from start to finish, but there were few true highlights. Gin, Cool It Down and KDF would probably be my picks to grab. It really was a fun, straight ahead set loaded with energy and good playing. Just nothing overtly memorable.

 

 Set 2

Rock and Roll - "please don't suck....please don't suck....please don't suck...." I've been waiting for this one! I'm too tired to try to narrate (working outside in 95 degree heat will do that to ya! ) so I'm just enjoying this. Let's put it like this - THIS DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. THIS IS MANDATORY LISTENING! ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! 25 MINUTE ADVENTURE! We've had Type II jams in 3.0 so far, but literally nothing approaching the diversity of this. This sounds like something the band would pull out in 1999 or 2000. Is this the first TRUE mega jam of 3.0???!!!

>Ghost - Out of that absolute insanity we regain composure and launch slowly into Ghost. Absolutely fantastic. To quote a review on .NET because I'm lazy today:

Ghost
3:30 Lift off jam. Some unique jamming with Trey trills and tasty Mike basslines.
4:40 Jam settles in. Page plays some great lines on his Rhodes. Then things get a bit weird but stay cohesive. Everyone starts to play outside just a bit and then come back together.
6:10 Seriously thick groove starts to appear here. Fishman just locks in and the band is locked in tight.
7:10 Trey comes in with some trills and Gordo really steps it up a notch here, locking into Fishman and driving the beat.
7:52 Trey comes in with some power chords and solidifies the new progression.
8:22 Page goes off on the said progression, Trey follows and hose is unleashed. The jam is very gin-esque. And energy continues to build.
10:00 Flashes of machine gun Trey. With Page holding the organ and hammering the keys the jam really takes off.
11:16 Massive peak. Trey plays a triplet pattern and some very nice fills.
11:24 Empathetic chords from Trey that lead into a vamp
12:00 Fishman changes the beat and Mike drops his bass down and the jam suddenly becomes dark. Mike has this marching beat and Fishman comes in with some Roggae quotes as the jam ends with 30 seconds of weirdness, especially Fishman’s fills and Treys wall of noise. Trey kind of emerges with the limb x limb progression and it’s onward. . .

>Limb By Limb - ABSOLUTELY FRIGGIN TERRIFIC!!!! SEVEN MINUTES BUT FEELS LIKE A 15 MINUTE ADVENTURE! HOLY CRAP GREATEST LIMB BY LIMB IVE HEARD IN A WHILE!!!!!!

Guyuute - Great setlist shakeup to get this late in the 2nd set. Refreshing! And ya know what?! It's a killer version pretty free of flubs and absolutely ripping with energy! KILLER UGLY PIG ON THE LOOSE!!!!!!!!

Dirt - FREAKING TERRIFIC DIRT!! BASS SOLO! ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!!!!

Harry Hood - Man, that x factor is raging this set! Just a spectacularly perfect Hood - all 14 minutes of it. Absolutely beautiful bliss jam in the middle of it. Look, you guys know I'm not a Hood guy. So when I rave about one (like this one here!) you BETTER get off your behind and go check it out!!!!!!!!!

Good Times Bad Times - DESTROYS WORLDS

Julius - Is Julius. Kills


All in all.....HOLY FREAKING MOTHER OF CRAP THIS SET WAS OUTTA THIS FRIGGIN WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Rock and Roll>Ghost>Limb By Limb is MANDATORY listening!! But the whole set was just incredible from start to finish. Definitely in the top 5 or so sets of the summer so far. On the whole, set 1 is very good but overall forgettable. Set 2 is mandatory listening.


Holy crap.