2012-08-18 San Francisco, CA

 So it's been since June 25th that I have had 2012 on hold. July was a very hectic month 'round these here parts

Listening never works good for me if I'm forcing it. I always enjoy it most when, say, I randomly click on something and 45 minutes later the album is done finishing, etc

If I set out with the "ok, I'm friggin' playing this show no matter what" mindset I usually end up in trouble.

Anywho, the stars have aligned this afternoon and I'm strapping in happily with 8/18/12

On paper it doesn't look like there will be too much out there jamming, but I strongly enjoy the setlist, so that's a strong start!

8/18/12 San Francisco

Set 1

Runaway Jim - Wow!!! Extra sauce on this one!! Bass soloing, piano fills all over the place, lovely vocal harmonies... A really, really great 8 minute kickoff to this show. The guys definitely sound like they mean business tonight. KILLER Jim!

Wolfman's Brother - A perfect one-two punch. Better flow does not exist. Oh yea, the goods, baby! Of course this is nothing you haven't heard before, but it is a highly powerful reading not to be missed. If this were 2022 this version would've ended up a 25 minute monster. The mojo is definitely there!!!

Nellie Kane - Is NK.

Beauty of a Broken Heart - FANTASTIC!!!! I am a massive fan of this Page tune. It deserves so much more love. And this version kills.

Ocelot - Powerful and bluesy, funny to hear Trey's voice crack so much Absolutely fantastic and definitely the highlight of the set so far! FANTASTIC OCELOT!

Maze - LET's FREAKING GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's 2012, It's Maze, Trey is destroying worlds, Page is slaying the keys, even Gordo is bumping it up over yonder...don't skip this mother!!!! Holy hell!!

I Didn't Know - Vacuum solo. 'Nuff said.

>46 Days - I'm callin' that a segue right there. That was smooth, yo. ABSOLUTELY PLANET DESTROYING THIS IS !!! HOLY CRAP! LOOK OUT MAZE, YOUVE GOT COMPETITION!

Tube - Very short as expected, unfortunately, but the jamming is SICK. Definitely '97-worthy funkiness. Fantastic.

When the Circus Comes to Town - Straightforward, excellent version. 'Nuff said. Really, really wonderful reading of it.

Sugar Shack - First one in 2 years!!! How they let this out of the repertoire is beyond me. Quite possibly my favorite 3.0 Mike song. Absolutely love it and this one sounds terrific. Trey absolutely nails his parts, tosses in terrific leads throughout and this sounds like it never left their stage!!!! Wow!!! TONS OF BUOYANT, EXUBERANT ENERGY ON THIS ONE!!! REALLY, REALLY GREAT!!!!

Split Open and Melt - Incredibly unsettling and obtuse. This reaches "Miami 1989 Dark Star" meltdown territory. All hail Fishman as the MVP keeping this thing on the tracks. Everyone is literally just playing anything and everything they can - all at once. I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS AWESOME OR TERRIBLE. WHAT IS GOING ON. WE ARE IN OUTER SPACE! SEND HELP!

Cavern - Is Cavern. Great version to end a great set.


All in all, an absolutely BARNSTORMING first set!!!! It looks "worse" on paper than it is, trust me, haha. The jamming - when it happenned - was primo supremo. Absolutely raging set!!!!

 

Set 2

Golden Age - AWFUL!!!! The song is good, then Trey ripcords the song straight into a jam. The jam sounds VERY promising for a good minute before Trey kills it off a 2nd time! WTF!!!! NO! BAD TREY!!! YUCK!!! Basically a waste of 9 minutes.....

>Piper - Very cool! A few different little sections. Nothing to make you forget the beasts of yesteryear, but definitely worth a listen. Dynamic jamming. Great li'l Piper!

>Mike's Song - Sluggish tempo out of that Piper. Sounds tired. The jam gets going into pretty red-hot Type I, but I'm kinda deflated at this point. Heard it all before - this is first set fare.

>Simple - Ok, now here we go. 13 beautiful minutes of Type II ambient bliss.....Absolutely fantastic. This deserves way more praise than I'm giving it. Sorry - I'm just tired right now I even made it red so you can't miss it!

> Backwards Down the Number Line - I love the song, but leave it in the first set!! Good lord! Ok, well I will say it works decently coming out of that deconstructed Simple and at least gets the tempo of things back up.

>Carini - As with Number Line. Doesn't do much. Is nice as always but absolutely nothing memorable and way too short.

>Wilson - GET IT TREY! Finally, something else worth mentioning, lol. Yea, it's just Wilson, but in this drought of a 2nd set, I'll take it!

>Weekapaug Groove - Thankfully the mojo continues on into a BLISTERING Weekapaug to cap off the Mike's sandwich. You get exactly what you expect but it's freaking AWESOME.

The Horse/SITM - Maybe my least favorite Phish tracks. Never, ever welcome by me Yes, I am being very harsh. Also, talk about atrocious set placement! NEXT!

>2001 - This is actually pretty great for a weird, short 2001 coming out of SILENT IN THE MORNING!!!

>Fluffhead - Ok....weird, but I'll take it. What a jumbled, awful, confusing mess this set is!!! Yuck. But I'll take Fluffhead anytime! Great version!!!!

As FZappa20 likes to put it, "we are now headed to chomper town"

Loving Cup/Show of Life/Character Zero - No review needed. They deilver. They are great. Is this show over yet?!?! (3hrs 17min!)



All in all, I thought set 1 was absolutely wonderful. Set 2 was an exercise in confusion. It started horribly, only really gaining steam by Simple (must hear!) and nothing afterwards is really must-hear. I mean, the rest was fine and energetic and all, but there was ZERO flow to this set, the songs too short to do anything and you just want the confusion to end! Get Simple and toss the rest. Please.