2012-08-24 Pelham, AL

 8/24/12 Pelham, AL

Killer looking setlist tonight. Looks great on paper!

Set 1

Possum - Absolutely effing ripping opener! Holy crap, get it, Machine Gun Trey!!!!!!!!! SICK. Destroys worlds!

Cities - Absolutely killer short version. Great to have in the 2nd slot. The crowd is absolutely eating it up.

Sample in a Jar - 3 for 3 so far tonight! Another world-destroyer. The energy is HIGH and the guitars are shredding.

Timber - Awesome!! Phenomenal Type I rager! Best of the show so far. IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER!

Back On the Train - 5 for 5 on the crowd pleasers tonight. Also 5 for 5 on the "Ripping Rock Show" front Another killer track. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE PEAK!!!!

Lawn Boy - A+ for song choice

Down With Disease - A first set Disease?! Last one when?!

Gumbo - Another A+ set choice! As with Cities, it's another short version, but you get exactly what you expect and it's excellent.

Ginseng Sullivan - C'mon, something has to be non-listed tonight, eh? I feel like the guys are really playing into the "southern" theme tonight, what with Gumbo (Louisiana, anyone?), the Georgia lyrics in this, playing Timber, mentioning Birmingham in Cities. Surely this was intentional!

The Wedge - Yes another "nothing special but still so friggin' good" version like the rest of the set!!! Absolutely wonderful soloing from Trey!

Julius - see above

Cavern - see above

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - A+ points again for song selection. Talk about a set closer!!!


All in all, this set looks ho-hum on paper, but it ABSOLUTELY DESTROYS!!!!!!!!! This is not a 1997-let's-jam-everything kind of set. This is a put-on-your-rockin'-shoes-and-LETS-GO set instead. Southern themes/references abound in the song selection and lyrics. Absolutely wonderful vibe tonight (Was this a smaller/special venue or seomthing??) with a lot of interaction between the band and crowd!!!!!! Lots of between song banter/chatter etc.

THIS SET WAS A BLAST! IT WAS A PARTY, YO!

None of the versions were particularly SPECIAL, but it was all delivered with insane heat and energy and aplomb. A set that truly holds together on the whole, there wasn't a less-than-excellent version from start to finish!!!

AWESOME SET!

 

Set 2

Rock and Roll - Aw yea! A 17 minute Rock and Roll to kick things off perfectly! The guys rock it hard Type I until 7:43 when the jam - out of nowhere - enters Spastic Funk Zone. Page over on the Clavinet tearing the roof off the joint while the others hold down the fort. After a bit Page gets back on the piano. Around 10 minutes Trey begins a bendy "lick" that he plays around with for a minute or so, seemingly hoping for the rest of the band to latch onto it, but they never do. By 11 minutes we are back to raging Type I full band jamming with sky-diving bombs from Trey. 12 minutes in and Trey jumps on the wah to get things a bit darker and funkier. It takes the guys a minute, but once he hits another repeating pattern lick, the guys take notice and fall in behind him, bringing the jam to mellower waters. By 13 minutes we are in Ambient Bliss Land out of nowhere! Great transition from one section of the jam to the next - no ripcording, it was genuine transitioning! By this time it's starting to sound like a 1999 kind of jam, with Trey doing whale sirens screeches, Page on the keys, and Fishman sticking to his snare and toms. Very aquatic and GROOVY feel by now!!! THIS IS SICK!!!! By 15:30, Trey is onto the Whammy and delay pedals, Page is doing extended synth washing, and we are 100 percent into outer space, ala Big Cypress Sand. This is effin glorious jamming. It's so well done tonight, I just wish the sections were longer. No ripcording, the guys are just flying through the pieces of the jam like sections of a composed song. Just give me more length is all! A+ for effort


>The Lizards - Well, without seeing the setlist, that is definitely not what I would've expected to come out of that sick jam. But it works, rising perfectly from the ashes of that ambient goo! Great version. Absolutely terrific Page piano shredding.

>Halley's Comet - Nothing special whatsoever, but great set placement and keeps us all up on our feet dancing away. Great fun as always! Fine version.

>Sand - Wow, what was that segue?! Halley's ended and Trey just went BAM into that Sand lick. This Sand is very laid back and extra groovy. It kinda just seeps its way into years, alway extra funky like! I mean, yea, duh, Sand is always funky. This Sand is EXTRA funky. The guys are really laying back on the beat and just letting it pull them along for the ride. This is also one of those ones where everyone is soloing together at once, lol. You can listen to Trey shred it up on the wah pedal or check out Page on the keys ripping it up, or Gordo dropping bombs, etc....TERRIFIC SAND. DON'T LET THE SHORT RUN TIME SCARE YOU OFF!!! MUST-HEAR!!! LISTEN TO THE GUYS ABSOLUTELY DESTROY THIS MOTHER. HOLY EFFING CRAP THIS SAND IS PHENOMENAL!!!!! And just when you think it's ending, they dissolve to ambience for a few minutes! Jesus christ, talk about using your run time to the fullest!!!!




>Twist - Normally your "standard early 3.0 short Twists" bore me or make me wait for them to be over (not my favorite song), but this one kills. Thankfully the insanity of that Sand carries over and we get 6 all-too-brief minutes of rock and roll magic!!!! One of the best Twists of the era. Period. Absolutely phenomenal version!!!!

>Birds of a Feather - and then BAM!!! into BOAF!!! FRICKIN PERFECT SONG CHOICE! LETS FREAKING GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And....it's terrific....the boys are just burning the effing building to the ground. Holy hell Trey, stahp, please, I only have so much life left in me to give.....MUST-HEAR #2 HOLY FREAKING CRAP THIS IS HOTTER THAN THE SURFACE OF THE SUN HOLY FREAKING CRAP PLEASE GO PLAY THIS AND HAVE YOUR HEAD EXPLODE! OH MY GOD!




Boogie On Reggae Woman - Now it's Gordo's time to shine. Of course, he is absolutely all over this sucker just tearing it up from beat 1 to the last. Come get your helping of steaming, hot Cactus, ladies and gents!!!! Trey pretty much sits this song out, content to play rhythm guitarist for a while, letting Mike and Page tear it up. But then around 6 minutes, Trey brings in some sustained notes and ripcords the jam to a screeching halt. YUCK! SHAME ON YOU TREY! It's ok though because it leads to a solid minute of enjoyable ambience before launching perfectly into.....

2001 - Again, just terrific. It's strictly Type I, but seems to go for twice the length of most "normal" versions. Just terrific all the way around.

>Waste - Aw hell yea, my favorite Phish ballad. Perfectly placed! We just had 68 straight minutes of FIRE, so it's definitely time for a breather! Oh holy freaking crap, listen to Page's piano solo. It will make you tear up. That's one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. Holy hell.

>Slave to the Traffic Light - Excellent all around. Just played to absolute perfection in every way. Terrific

Good Times Bad Times - It rocks. It kills. It ends the show perfectly



All in all....where to even begin?! Set one wasn't anything MEMORABLE, but it was played so damn well, there was so much energy and VIBE throughout the set...Etc. A terrific set even if it's not exactly deserving of much re-play.
Set 2 was another story entirely. They kept the FIRE burning from set 1 and just kept getting better and better and better! Definitely one of the sets of the year! I know I say that every time, but this was legitimately and incredible set. Even the songs you thought would be filler soared way beyond their typical rote selves. A damn-near magical second set.

Let me put it like this, Set 2 was so good that the opening 17 minute Rock and Roll was the LOW point of it! No, I am not kidding or exaggerating.

A world-destroyer second set.