2012-09-01 Commerce City, CO

 6 shows left to complete 2012. I can't stop now!!

Not sure how far I'll get today but I'm trying to at least get through the first set of Dick's 2012 #2

9/1/12 Commerce City, CO

Set 1

Run Like An Antelope - When the hell was the last Antelope opener?!! Great way to shake up the setlist and kick things off with immediate peaking!!! Trey's playing isn't exactly 1994 guitar destruction on this one, but it's extremely melodic and his phrasing is on point. No "wrong" notes in this version. Just killer lead after killer lead. The "subdued" nature of this Antelope actually works in it's favor and I think gives it some replay value!!!! I mean, it does reach a volcanic peak, but as a whole the great thing about this Antelope is the journey it takes. Terrific!!!!!!

Backwards Down the Number Line - Again, nice to have a setlist shakeup as such. Trey's voice is pretty rough at the start but he quickly recovers. A very delicate and "soft" reading of the song portion!!! Noticeably so. Eventually it builds to a pretty raging peak but nothing we haven't heard in a million other excellent 3.0 Number Lines.

Tweezer - And the setlist shakeups continue!! Around 3 minutes there is a perfectly timed "delay spiral" effect by Trey that is just fantastic. Highlight-list worthy but not the most adventurous Tweezer out there. I guess you'd say it goes Type II, but for the most part it definitely stays in the "Standard Tweezer Jam" box. Still a fine listen though. Ends in the usual minute plus of 2012 ambience.

>Fluffhead - Pretty terrific!!!! The composed section is 3/4 good, 1/4 uncertain shakiness, but not too bad!!! I mean if you're not paying CLOSE attention you won't notice anything but there are a few "stumbles" with being in sync at times. Still a kickass Fluffhead as always.

Roses are Free - See Number Line

Funky B - Absolutely KILLER showcase for Page on this one!!! Seriously, he burns down the effing house on this sucker. PLAY IT, LEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Moma Dance - Great as usual. See Number Line.

When the Circus Comes to Town - A nice change of pace I feel from something else we might usually get. Feels like I haven't heard one in a while. Nothing special but very nice.

Theme From the Bottom - Pedestrian version. Played fine but not even noteworthy enough as Number Line.

Golgi Apparatus - Aw yes, that's more like it! Time to wake back up!! A finely played version that breathes life into this snoozefest of a set.

Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan - Oh good gravy the last friggin' song I need at this point. Is the set over yet?



Outside of the opening quad of Antelope>Fluff, the setlist is as boring as you can make for 2012. This is one of those "I swear they've played this same set 12 other times this summer" sets. There really isn't anything much to say about the music - it's fine, played great on the whole, not much of note, so the next big thing to look at is the setlist and, well, it leaves a lot to be desired! 

 

Set 2

On paper it looks MILES better than set 1, so, let's go


Golden Age - Song goes as usual until at 6:30 Trey leads us immediately into a minor-key area instead. Things "get down low" and groovy. Very "late night 70s funk jam" vibes. Trey just striking out hits, Page doing minimal keyboard touches...Fishman is keeping the Golden Age groove going but the other three are keeping things sparse and dark. Very cool sounding. They ride this mood until about 10 minutes when Trey finally starts sparingly throwing in some solo lines among his vamping. Page jumps to the piano and he, Fishman and Trey all latch onto a new slightly different rhythm. Once the new beat is established, Page goes back to vamping on the keys and Trey starts with the sparse leads again. Gordo is even picking up slack on this one. At 11:30 Page jumps back to some classy piano chording while Trey does a repeating trill motif for a bit. We've changed directions ever so slightly once more. The darkness is receding very slowly and we are edging towards lighter pastures. Very cool to hear them taking their damn time and naturally transitioning instead of jumping once a minute "just because". This is good stuff!! And after a bit more Trey starts power chording it up and he signals the end of the jam with some delays. Not the greatest of all time, but a VERY NICE jam!!! A+ for effort on this one.

>Prince Caspian - Seriously?! You ripcorded that budding jam for Caspian just killing all the momentum dead in it's tracks?! * rolls eyes * Ok, whatever. Thankfully this Caspian is downright excellent!! Trey wastes NO time going into Guitar Hero mode, just tossing out beautiful and melodic leads left and right. Nectar for the ears. Slowly cracks appear and the song starts "decomposing" gradually. By 6 minutes this Caspian is melting down into a Carini!! Very cool push and pull where the band "breaks down" then drags it back together seamlessly. This Caspian is getting twisted and demented quickly!!! By 7 minutes the mood finally makes the proper switch to darker Type II stylings. Trey is just mangling his guitar to bits. Everyone else is just POUNDING out everything they have. By 8 minutes Trey is just going all volcanic eruption on this sucker. I'm getting scared. The uneven tension is real. Are we going dark or light?! Finally at 8:45 the song breaks down into the usual 2012 ambient outro. But it's just a tease!!! Trey starts heavy metal chugging and leads the band back into guitar meltdown rage territory for another glorious minute. THIS WAS OUTSTANDING!!!! DON'T SKIP THIS EFFING CASPIAN, HOLY HELL!!!! THE ONLY THING WRONG WITH IT WAS THAT IT WAS SO SHORT!!! A+++++++++++++++

>Light - Because this is 3.0, we must have light and not darkness The lead in to the riff is jarring as always but still a great set call. The song portion sounds extra well done tonight with Trey's voice in particularly good form on this version!!!! Seriously, the song itself sound exceptionally full of life tonight. Somewhere around 5 minutes, the jamming starts to slowly drift askew a little big like in Caspian, doing the push-pull thing again. But at 6 minutes we shift into Type II just about. Everyone starts playing very quietly. Trey is playing with effects and Fishman has begun adding fills and altering the rhythms. Almost getting into a tropical kind of mood!! This proceeds until 8:20 when Gordo kicks on his FX and the crowd roars their approval. Funky Tropic Island Jam. Around 9:20 all 4 guys sync up into a full-band rhythm, but then proceed to let Cactus solo it up. Absolutely terrific jamming!!! Trey starts playing with delay "spatters" while Page is still plonking away on the keys. At 10:45 the drums completely drop out. Fishman is doing cymbal and cowbell accents slowly adding back in the snare. He and Trey introduce a brand new super funky rhythm pattern that the guys adapt flawlessly to. I'm doing a very bad job describing how seamless and awesome this jam is. This has been one of the best jams of the year so far in terms of cohesion and "tightness". This is how the F you jam. This is absolutely A+ top-tier X Factor Magic Phish jamming. By 12:45 Trey starts a new repeater delay in the background and Page starts doing cool extended holds on the keys. Fishman and Trey yet again instantly lock into ANOTHER new groove that Leo and Cactus are quick to jump onto. This sounds like some awesome band practice exercise or something!!!! Things get light and CHILL!! Not ambient, but RELAXED! Trey picking out an upbeat rhythm with Page picking away on washy keys. We are heading for something blissful until Fishman lowers the dynamics yet again....By 14:45 it's Wah-wah keyboards and Fishman doing cymbal accents. Trey and Gordo are quietly picking and choosing their spots one measure at a time. What the F is this jam! It's INCREDIBLE! Then at 16 minutes someone hits a different zone and things get dark again. Tension is slowly rising bit by bit, with a darker edge. More Carini than Caspian now! By 18 minutes Page has jumped onto the piano and keeps the tension rising, but we aren't exactly melting down or anything. A very unique sound is occuring - Trey is doing melodic trilling in line with the piano and things are staying hot and heavy, but not dark and evil. Very hard to explain. Then finally at 19 minutes Trey starts soloing properly once more in between well-timed feedback squeals. Very slowly, the jam is heading back into major key territory. Things are heading towards the light! Bring on the church organ and the rock and roll drum fills and bluesy guitar soloing once more! We are on the main train to peak ville! For the next couple minutes the guys lead us into Rock And Roll Peak Heaven. Smashing organ and piano, drum bombast, guitar explosions....all culminating in a wonderfully relaxed outro section that is the perfect cool down and send off for the top tier jam.



No joke - that Light might have just been THE best jam of the year so far. It is seriously THAT good. Even by my standards. ABSOLUTELY GRADE-A TOP TIER MUST HEAR OR YOU WILL DIE JAM. HEED THESE WORDS!!


Boogie On Reggae Woman - The complete opposite of the rote versions of the "overplayed standards" in set 1. Absolutely 10/10 A+ Reggae Woman. Listen to Cactus just tear it the F up!!!

>The Wedge - Unexpected song choice and unexpected placement! Pretty good soloing from Trey and this is a fine version but on the whole nothing super special.

>The Horse/Silent In the Morning - See above

Mike's Song - Terrific set placement!!! Perfect pick up!!! Not much to say. It's Mike's Song, it kicks absolute ass and leads, shockingly, into....

>No Quarter - My freaking goodness what a perfect choice!!! Seriously, it fits PERFECT!!!! Trey proceeds to let it all out and just goes bonkers all over this sucker. Absolutely spectacularly awesome.

>Weekapaug Groove - Is WG. Kills.

Sleeping Monkey - See The Wedge

Tweeprise - Is Tweeprise.




All in all, set 2 was an absolute smashing success!!! The Light in particular is immediately a strong contender for jam of the year - it was that fluid and NATURAL!!!! Incredible!!! Great song picks and placement. On the whole this show was an extremely mixed bag but the heights scaled in set 2 were as good as 2012 gets. I think the 4.5 rating on .NET is a bit much but a 4.2 or so would not be out of the question in my opinion. Great show on the whole with one of the best second sets of the year!