Phish 2012, In Conclusion

 

2012 In Conclusion, according to me.

Ok, where to begin. Partially due to the awful last 6 months of my life, it took way longer than expected to get through 2012. I probably suffered a little bit of burnout by the end of the summer tour before reaching Dick's, haha.

On the whole, this was a great year. Comparing it to 2011 (which I GREATLY enjoyed!!!), I strongly feel 2011 had WAY more "full-show" kinda shows. 2012 was the year of SETS. In my opinion, FULL great shows were much rarer. But there were a million great SETS!

Odd.

Musically, most of summer tour was on the same level of 2011. Comparable for the most part. It wasn't until Dick's that they TRULY let loose!!! The Dick's shows on the whole were not completely amazing, though they were great. But the jam contained within were DEFINITELY among the best jams of 3.0 to date, and some, like the Dick's Light and Sand, stand up with anything being lauded here in 2023. I don't know what the hell they did, but they turned a massive corner at that run.

As for my negatives, this was the year of Jukebox Phish. I love Reggae Woman and Moma Dance and Sample In a Jar and Ocelot, etc etc etc, but I swear to friggin' god they overplayed everything this year. I swear I heard the same first set played multiple times. The burnout became real!!!!!

I always say I'm a song guy first and jams are the icing on the cake - but good lord they just decided to play the same songs over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!!!! Holy crap guys, please.....

There is a touch of hyperbole there but it's not far from the truth, I swear

In comparison to 2011 (what else am I supposed to compare it to?), this year as a whole was way more UNEVEN. Sure the highs far eclipsed most music of 3.0 to this time but the endless seas of "nothing special" to wade through to reach those peaks felt extra prevalent.

I have a theory: 2009 and 2010 the guys are shaking off the rust. 2011 the rust really is basically gone (please, I can't beg you to revisit 2011 enough - it's the 1996 of 3.0!!!) and extended jamming is slowly becoming a more "normal" occurence every couple of shows or so.

By 2012, as a listener anyways, the overplaying of the Joy songs (which I do love!) starts to become a hindrance and the initial "We're back and this is awesome!" fun is kinda replaced by a general intangible malaise.

HOWEVER, this is countered by the band continuing to expand their jamming!!! 2012 is a GREAT year for JAMS!!! I can list you a bunch of 2011 shows I loved as a whole. I really can't list that many 2012 SHOWS that I truly adored on the whole.

I can however tell you 25 incredible versions/jams from 2012 that will be in my rotation forever!!!!

Very different kind of year!!! Transitional for sure - lows are appearing but they push through the adversity and reach the goods on the other side of the struggle!!!!

Obviously, I'm just one internet weirdo with too much time to ponder this stuff (more than anyone should) and I'm not the Phish Ghandi or anything, but I AM extremely passionate about the music I love and it's great to be able to analyze it in such a way!!!! We all hear things differently and to think I may have a different opinion or experience of shows/jams than others is great!!! It gives me the opportunity to try to think about or hear things differently and listen to the music yet again!

Point is, 2012 was not my favorite year. But many of the jams will be in my Best Of list forever!

PHISH RULES!