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!

 

Summer Tour 2019 - In Conclusion/Final Thoughts/Highlights Lists

I strongly enjoyed Summer 2019 and am so glad I listened to it! I honestly think I enjoyed it more than 2018, though of course 2018 is terrific as well (that beastly fall tour, especially!!!). I really thought the new songs all pretty much fit in better than expected and I didn't hear much in the way of growing pains after the initial summer gigs.

I think in time we might come to view this tour as underrated. Not every show was amazeballs, but the ones that were incredible were REALLY incredible!!!!

Also, there is the whole concept of "micro jams" that permeated this tour. In lieu of 2021 and the "let's play everything for 40 minutes" concept they are currently enamored with, it was odd getting a million GREAT jams that lasted no more than 4 or 5 minutes.

But they made the most of the jams usually and the ripcording was kept to a minimum, so I'll take it!

The early summer gigs were universally excellent for the most part. As the tour wound on into July it seemed on/off from night to night and things got much more inconsistent at times. Yes, I know it looks like I'm listing every show here as a highlight, but check again cuz I'm not

Here's my list of "the best of the best" for FULL SHOWS. Of course every gig has highlights, but these are the ones that really felt like complete, awesome listening experiences. The stars don't mean anything beyond "that was incredible blah blah blah" :





6/11/19 St. Louis** (Spectacular first set - nearly FLAWLESS. Shorter jams in 2nd set but the quality is high. Wonderful tour opener from start to finish! .NET ratings are WRONG!!!!)

6/12/19 St. Louis** (Set 1 is up and down but set 2 is nearly perfect. THAT FLOW!!!)
Moma Dance (3 minute intro! Extra spunky. FREAKING GREAT MOMA!)


6/14/19 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo** (FANTASTIC!!!! 2/3 of the show is highlight worthy and its a wonderful little sleeper mini gig)

6/16/19 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo********* (Several MAJOR deep jams, hot playing throughout, and a large Mike's Twisty Groove sandwich make for a uniquely interesting 2nd set!)

SPECIAL MENTION-
6/18/19 Toronto, CAN - Skip set 1, but PLEASE make sure to check out set 2. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!!!! POSSIBLY THE GREATEST WINGSUIT EVER!!!!

6/19/19 Cuyahoga Falls, OH ******* (Incredible BOAF, most songs are extra hot. Defintely a must-hear show!)

6/22/19 Columbia **************** (One of the most incredible first sets of all time! SYSF is one of the best ever. Second set flows like butter. CLASSIC SHOW!)

6/23/19 Columbia ** (3/4 of this show was sick and it flowed great)

6/25/19 Bangor ** (Set 1 was great but the MIKES GROOVE IS X FACTOR MAGIC, SET 2 is X FACTOR MAGIC. ONE OF THE BEST 2nd SETS SO FAR.)

SPECIAL MENTION-
6/26/19 Bangor* (Inconsisten, but the highlights are MASSIVE. The highlights are as big as anything else this year.)

6/28/19 Camden** (Monster first set with MAJOR highlights. Set 2 is very "heard this before" but everything is still SO great!!!)

SPECIAL MENTION-
6/29/19 Camden (SET 1 SUCKS BUT SET 2 IS X FACTOR MAGIC!)

6/30/19 Camden************************************************************************************************************************************ (RARITY EXTRAVAGANZA. X FACTOR MAGIC. 3hrs 14 min. SHOW OF THE TOUR. BY A WIDE MARGIN. PHENOMENAL 10/10 SHOW. SPECTACULAR OUTING. HOLY MF'ing CRAP)

7/5/19 Boston************** (EXCEPTIONAL SHOW WITH EXCEPTIONAL SET PLACEMENT AND FLOW AND JAMS AND EVERYTHING. A+ ACROSS THE BOARD!!!)

7/9/19 Uncasville***************** (SECOND SET OF THE YEAR!)

7/10/19 Uncasville** (Flawless first set, very interesting 2nd set. Terrific flow and set placement)

7/12/19 East Troy, WI** (Set 1, everything is great, but there were clear highlights still. Set 2 is a steam roller! SHORT BUT SWEET IS THE TERM FOR TONIGHT! INCREDIBLE JAMMING IN SHORT SERVINGS. A+)

7/14/19 East Troy *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************- A+ IN EVERY SENSE OF THE FRIGGING WORD. NOTHING BUT RARITIES, A 38 MINUTE RUBY WAVES, ENERGY OUT THE WAZOO, AND A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL!! WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?!?!?! MUST HEAR SHOW OF ALL TIME!! ABSOLUTELY INSANE AND INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!