2012-06-24 Cuyahoga Falls, OH

 6/24/12 Cuyahoga Falls

This looks very "jukebox Phish" tonight. That's ok as long as they bring the heat!

Set 1

Sample in a Jar - Perennial chomper opener favorite. Great stuff - gets the energy going immediately.

Tube - Oh yes, Tube in 2nd slot and we are cookin'!! Get it LEO!!!!!

Axilla - FREAKING SLEDGEHAMMER HEAVY TONIGHT!!! Short but super sweet! Nothing special but always great to hear

Bathtub Gin - Strictly Type I, just hammering away. Very to-the-point. You will never remember this version after the show, but in the context of the set it's strong enough!

Roses are Free - Oh man, what the playing is lacking in length is MORE than made up for in strength and passion tonight!!! Again, another version you'll forget afterwards but in the moment is as strong sounding as any other Roses played. So much energy tonight!!!

Limb By Limb - Absolutely fantastic!

Free - Sounds slow and sluggish outta the gate. That's not good. Thankfully the extra sludginess just adds to the vibe and we get a pretty strong version with Gordo absolutely tearing it up and Trey following close behind.

>NICU - PLAY IT MOTHER EFFIN LEO!!!!! EXTRA rocket sauce on this NICU tonight! Purely Type I but the best of the best Also, the crowd is SUPER into it as well which only heightens the energy.

Possum - Is Possum. Is very hot. Is nothing special

The Wedge - Great as always. See Sample and Possum

Corinna - Very nice but not my favorite song so....

Meatstick - Haven't heard a Meatstick in a good while. Love Page's synth soloing on it. Great fun as always and a fun way to end a first set. Great version!



All in all, definitely a skippable set. There was nothing wrong with it at all but in the grand scheme of things I don't think a single thing from this set is ultimately THAT must-hear or memorable. If you must, I would grab the LxL>Free>NICU

 

Set 2

Golden Age - Short but terrific jam. Raging goes to jazzy fun to deep space ambience. Worth a listen for sure!!

>Ghost - Absolutely incredible segue/journey into Ghost from GA. Check that never-ending synth/delay that just keeps going. You will know it when you hear it. Very annoying Terrific Type I rager version of Ghost - well, again, until the last few minutes where things get a little whacky and we somehow come out into....

>Sweet Virginia - What. How did we get here. Awesome!!! This is the final version to date out of 4. But this sounded great!!! Bring it back, guys!!!

Rift - Excellent version but nothing special. It Ain't 2019. Great Rifts are a dime-a-dozen for now

>Tweezer - "HOW CAN YOU HAVE ANY MEAT IF YOU DON"T EAT YOUR PUDDING!!!". Right when the jam starts Trey says that and the guys launch into, funnily enough, a full-on Tweeprise groove for a minute. Huh, how about that! Soon after things morph into a much darker and sludgier sound. Then Trey starts getting weird with the microphone - Ice Ice Baby and Under Pressure pop up together, lol. Not sure if this is awesome or horrendous but it sure is FUN! The band then attempts to jam Under Pressure with Fishman on vocals!! But that doesn't happen and we launch back into...Meatstick. What. What even is this Tweezer. And then it all just ends as quickly as it began. What. I don't even know but I am disappointed, lol

>Walk Away - Tweezer fizzles out but Fishman slowly brings the beat up and we seguely perfectly into Walk Away. KILLER. Really, picture this as Tweeprise though as that is the jam they go into. So basically Tweezer>WA>Tweeprise without vocals FREAKING SICK!!!!

>The Horse/Silent In The Morning - Well, the come down had to happen eventually, eh?

>Piper - SITM is fading out and Trey launches into the Piper riff. But he waits a minute for the other guys to catch up. Kind of a delayed segue, haha. The jam falters for a bit fumbling for liftoff, but eventually things click and Trey just starts unleashing killer leads left and right. Again we end up in super dark deep space with rumbling synths and bass. But still only for a minute. Wtf.

*Side note - that has been the big theme this tour - easily and quickly reaching outer space, staying there for 1-2 minutes and then just as quickly leaving it. And it hasn't been "ripcords" like it was in 2011. The transitions out are fine. But it's like they get out there too fast and jump the gun, scaring themselves back into submission or something. It's THERE. They CAN do it. They just aren't! Frustrating!!!

>Waste - Leaving Piper all too shortly, we segue beautifully into my favorite Phish ballad. I will never understand the hate - the song is gorgeous. And I gotta say after all the fire spitting so far this was actually welcome in the set for me. Great placement.

Run Like an Antelope - Meatstick teases. Gnarly as hell. Machine Gun Trey. Killer

Loving Cup - My favorite Stones song and the cover I always welcome. Always a highlight for me

Tweeprise - PROPER Walk Away teased us but we get the real deal to send us out



All in all, get that Limb By Limb>Free>NICU from set 1 and then probably this whole second set. Tonight was absolutely a step down from the last show and the 2nd set was lacking substance at times (despite how good what was here was). It just felt slightly "less than the sum of its parts". I'm sure an absolute blast to be at in person and a very FUN show for sure. But definitely nothing here to be remembered for all time. I don't know it's weird - not a poor show by any means at all and as you can see the 2nd set is absolutely loaded start to finish with fun and energy. I'm probably way overthinking this show - this is one to just throw on and turn your brain off and have a blast to. The 3.8 rating on .NET is probably adequate. This was like fast food Phish. Great in the moment to fill the void but nothing you'll be bragging about later on

2012-06-23 Burgettstown, PA

 6/23/12 Burgettstown

Set 1

Funky B - Ooh! A FB opener! I'm sure this has happenned before but I can't remember one. Awesome raging version that feels even hotter than usual (and it's ALWAYS hot!). Terrific way to kick open the proverbial door! Check out Trey and Mike playing/singing together. Very cool.

Backwards Down the Number Line - FINALLY a version in an understandable slot in the set! I love the song but will also admit that sometimes it can be a bit of an energy-suck late in a 2nd set or so. It's actually refreshing to get it so early in the show - how about that? All in all a very fine version that doesn't push any boundaries but keeps the FB energy going once Trey starts hitting those late-song peaks. No real reason to revisit it but it was highly enjoyable all the same!

Gumbo - Very nice! Strong version tonight that feels like it has some extra sauce factor. Great stuff!!!

Maze - Absolutely insane Maze! This is some 1995 stuff!! Just demented!!!!!

Torn and Frayed - Awesome!!! Wish this stayed in the rotation longer. They played it a number of times in early 3.0 and then it pretty much vanished. Great version that sounds rehearsed.

Moma Dance - Very lengthy intro on this one. Awesome version as always. Like Funky B, does it ever disappoint?! Terrific Type I awesomeness!!!

Scent of a Mule - Epic highlight as always!!!! What is there to say? Everyone going nuts and giving us a whacky 'ol time. Is that a theremin Page is playing?!

46 Days - Short but hot as hell.

You Enjoy Myself - A red hot YEM to close a red hot set. What else to say?


All in all, this set absolutely destroyed set one of 6/22/12. The entire set (even Number Line, though I refrained from listing it) felt full of extra passion and fire lacking in the show prior. The entire set flowed great from start to finish and everything felt like they were having a blast from the first notes to the last. Really, really great first set all the way around!!!!

 

Set 2

Gotta Jibboo - Wish they would make this a monster again, but like most recent versions of Sand it does it's Type I role with aplomb. Great opener to the set getting us up and grooving right off the bat. Extra heat in this one. Great set opener!

Mike's Song - Rips it right out of the gate!! Sometimes Trey limpwrists the sucker but not tonight! Powerfully hard-hitting, it is. The groove in the jam just kills. So. Much. Strength. Seriously, this thing just POUNDS. Fantastic M's Song!!!! Trey is just RIPPING and the whole band is exploding like a nuclear bomb! A+++

>Simple - No Hydro tonight!!! Straight into Simple. Rocks hard then heads into some plinko-style Type II before ending up in another random 1999 ambient space outro for 2 minutes. It's like they took a 1999 Simple and condensed it from 25 minutes down to 9

>Light - Great stuff! Around 4:45 you can feel the jam start to creep towards darker areas very slowly. You know we are going somewhere. By 6:30 Trey is doing some ghostly whailing, Mike kicks in with his effects, and the jam starts to head into spooky space funk territory. By 8 minutes Trey has his looper going in the background and starts to lick it up instead. Page is on the piano and Mike is still being nasty. Things start to get a little quiet, but not TOO quiet. Minimalist, rather, like something outta 1997. Somehow this turns into a fun, upbeat kinda tropical jam!!! The kind you would easily expect a Ya Mar or NICU to be the result of. Trey even seems to hint at NICU around 11:30 for a bit! Some good ring modulation stuff from Trey for a bit and we somehow wind up back at Weekapaug!! THIS WAS AWESOME!!! MUST-HEAR!!!

>Weekapaug Groove - FANTASTIC!!! You get exactly what you expect and then some. It's 10 minutes and around 6 minutes in we go into 1999 outer space land again!!! Terrific WG and an incredible sandwich that all was. A+++

>Seven Below - Rising from the dark ambience of WG's outro. This ain't no Lazy River ride! This is tidal waves smashing into you for 10 minutes! Gnarly and nasty! FANTASTIC!



Seriously - That Mike's>Simple>Light>Groove>Seven Below was truly outstanding, 51+ minutes of must-hear (for early 3.0) Phish. Dang....



Bouncing Around the Room - Is BATR. Is nice. That is all

Julius - Good stuff! Nothing special. Just a fun-as-always late 2nd set Julius to keep the party going.

>Slave to the Traffic Light - Great as always, but as with Julius nothing special tonight.

The Lizards - Ooh, a Lizards closer? Never seen that before! See Julius and Slave.




All in all, an absolutely outstanding second set. I thought set 2 of 6/22 was amazing but this possibly put it to shame! And don't forget the first set either!!! This was definitely in the top 3 or 4 shows of the year so far. Fantastic gig from START TO FINISH!!!!!!

2012-06-22 Cincinnati, OH

 6/22/12 Cincinnati

Another oddball-looking setlist! First Shaggy Dog since 1995!!! I really hope this show delivers because is that the most loaded second set you've ever seen?!

Set 1

Wolfman's Brother - Rare WB opener! A very fine version with some hot playing but nothing you haven't heard before or even all THAT hot. Good stuff though!

Peaches En Regalia - The whole band sound pretty rusty, pushing and pulling the tempos. Definitely not the best-played Peaches but they give it the 'ol college try!

Shaggy Dog - Now THIS sounds rehearsed! Obviously it gets rarity points (be honest, how many in attendance knew the song?). This sounded good enough that I'd gladly welcome it once in a while, perhaps in the bluegrass slot.

Runaway Jim - Great stuff! Plinko playing from Trey with a fun When The Saint Go Marching In tease that elicits a roar from the crowd. This slowly takes its time to build and by the end the band is firing on all cylinders with lots of great repeated patterns and held notes from Trey, haha. For 8 minutes, it feels more like 15!!! Fantastic!!!

Light Up and Leave Me Alone - Awesome!!! Could be coincidence but I swear I hear a Mr. Completely Trey from tease (that descending main guitar lick). Funky and hot, rocking as well. Fantastic as always. There's even a solid actual jam on it as well. Don't skip!!

>Wilson - Somehow the jam in Light Up reaches a natural conclusion and, right on the friggin' beat, Trey launches perfectly into the Wilson intro. Ripcording sucks, but if it's gotta be done, this was the way to do it! It's fine, but Wilson is just Wilson tonight.

>Alaska - At the end of Wilson Trey holds a long note and Page jumps in with the piano leading us into Alaska with a great little segue. This sucker is red hot. Let it rip, Trey! It definitely makes good use of it's 11 (!!) minute run time!

Stash - The song portion sounds rather tired and uninspired tonight. Skip right to 6 minutes for the jam to begin. But even then the jam is just a mess. This is truly one of the worst Stash's I've ever heard. It's not quite 2004, but good lord it's just horrendous. SKIP AT ALL COSTS.

After a brief, what is that, Nellie Kane (?) intro, the guys decide to head in a different direction....

Llama - I love Llama and it's always a thrill to get it on the setlist but this one doesn't really do much for me. It just sounds like an apology after that Stash, lol. Great to hear but nothing special tonight.

Buffalo Bill - One of my favorite weirdo oddities. Great stuff!

Saw It Again - See Llama. I don't know what to say - it's good but just doesn't sound overly inspired tonight.

David Bowie - Ending the set with "officially Chris Kuroda's favorite Phish song".... The song portion sounds awkward like they are playing it too slow or something. Thankfully the song coalesces into a pretty great version loaded with energy and sends this mixed-bag set down the road with a bang!


All in all, quite possibly the weakest overall set of 2012 so far!! Very, very mixed. There is nothing here that is a true, unadulterated must-hear performance and the highlights are still weaker than you expect them to be. Not a great set and I couldn't wait for it to end. Jeez, even Stash was horrible!

 

Set 2

Down With Disease - Rocks hard and gets a good jam going before dissolving into Type II ambience. Ends too quickly!

>Guelah Papyrus - Great segue and unexpected choice! Great version! Sounds great and rehearsed. Great stuff. Seeing a theme yet?

Kill Devil Falls - And the energy continues! THANK YOU! This KDF is absolutely fantastic!!!!! One of the hottest out there!!! A+ Ends with some Type II tomfoolery from Trey and his whacky array of pedals.

>Twist - That weird little space interlude from Trey perfectly tees up Twist for them to knock it out of the park. And knock it out they do! All 14 minutes of it!! The expected Type I thankfully takes its time and very slowly transforms into some dark Type II. Lots of seagull sirens from Trey - this would fit right into a Summer '99 show. Pretty incredible jamming they have going on this. They are in the mood and just riding the wave, not rushing to change it. NOW THIS IS MUST-HEAR! There's a great part about 9 minutes in where the guys all lock into a repeating groove that is downright menacing. Kinda middle-eastern and very dark. Page and Cactus keep the groove going while Trey then begins to solo on top of it. Extremely cool. Very slowly they work themselves back into the main Twist groove/theme. And I mean very slowly! In fact, they go so slow with it that they abandon it and launch instead into Halley's Comet!THIS WAS SOME X FACTOR STUFF!! ABSOLUTELY WILL BE REMEMBERED AS ONE OF THE JAMS OF 2012!!! THIS WAS FREAKING A+++++ STUFF!!!!

>Halley's Comet - Great Type I fun but nothing noteworthy.

>Sand - See Halley's. It's Sand. It's Awesome. You get exactly what you expect.

>Roggae - Good transition, Trey! Do more of that! He slowly introduced the Roggae theme during Sand and let everyone adjust instead of just ripcording it. Thank god. Wonderfully patient jamming/soloing on this. Absolutely SOARING Roggae!!!! Beautiful!!!

Carini - Ah yes. Trey just slams into it and gets the energy sky high again right out of the gate. Perfect. This thing is short but packs a freaking whollop!!!!! This Carini is like the cover of that Sparks album Whomp That Sucker - Carini being the victor and the the audience being the knockout. GNARLY AND NASTY TO THE CORE!! SHORT BUT SMASHING!!! DONT SKIP!!!!



>Chalkdust Torture - NO! BAD TREY! DONT YOU FRIGGIN' RIPCORD LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN!!!! GAH We are neck deep inside a black hole Carini and he YANKS us right out for Chalkdust. Ok, if you're gonna ripcord us out of Carini there are certainly far worse songs to choose, so I'll let it slide.... This CDT spits, snarls and RIPS!!!! KDF part 2!!! DESTROYS!!!! DONT SKIP!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

Golgi Apparatus - GREATEST GOLGI THIS SIDE OF THE 90s!!!! I haven't heard a Golgi that didn't make me go "is it over yet?" in a LONG time!! SO. MUCH. ENERGY! And they nail it!! THIS KICKS SO MUCH FREAKING TAIL! ALL HAIL GOLGI!!!!

Fluffhead - Yes.....Freakin' yes......Nothing like a Fluffhead encore (or opener!) Actually, it's the first Fluff encore since November 1990! Wow, seriously?! Dang. A few small tiny flubs but overall very strong and noone would notice for the most part. Fantastic close to a fantastic set.



Just for the sake of not highlighting everything, I left Sand and Halley off the list, but they were still great. This set was primo A+ from start to finish. How about that - the worst set of the tour so far followed by one of the top 2 or 3 sets of the tour so far. Bi-polar much? DO NOT SKIP ON THIS SET! IT IS PURE FIRE AND THAT TWIST IS AN ALL-TIMER!!!!! FANTASTIC!!!

2012-06-20 Portsmouth, VA

 The One-Week-At-a-Time 2012 marathon continues tonight with night 2 of Portsmouth

6/20/12 Portsmouth

Set 1

Sparkle - Sparkle OPENER?! That is definitely a first to me. Apparently this is also the only 2012 performance. It's ok but actually seems very low energy for Sparkle and the opener. Probably awesome in person, but tonight this does not translate very well to me at all.

Ha Ha Ha - Is Ha Ha Ha A pretty big bustout but nothing special.

AC/DC Bag - After what felt like a soundcheck/warmup with the first two songs, we get perhaps a proper opener. It's a fine Bag but not one that'll make you run to the highest mountain to shout to the masses about.

>Divided Sky - This felt like a great version. It was on the "soft" side as the energy is seeming to be tonight, but DS is a great opportunity for using the mood to influence the tune. Extremely dynamic version on this night. Extremely delicate in the best way. This is a terrific Divided Sky!!! Very long too at almost 17 minutes!!!

Dog Log - To date, the most recent version ever performed (the only in 3.0) and the 24th of all time going back to 1985. Talk about a friggin' bustout!!!! DL is DL but automatic points for extreme rarity! But this ain't just a tease ala Worcester '98 - no they go all 2010 F Your Face style and learn the PROPER arrangement and play it flawlessly. Good job guys! This was excellent enough to make you wonder why it hasn't been played in the 10 years since?!

Undermind - Short but excellent. They revisit the dynamics used throughout Divided Sky bringing the song down to complete silence at the end just to segue out into....

>Mike's Song - Very tasty!! 8 excellent Mike's Song-ey minutes of awesomeness. It's MS. You know what to expect!

>I Am Hydrogen - Rare these days to get a proper Mike's Groove it seems. Great as always!

>Weekapaug Groove - Again, the dynamics return! Some very cool quiet playing from everyone while Mike slaps away on top, lol. Trey is throwing down some great little licks here and there like rain just coming right down from the sky. Of course by the end he is just shredding it up as expected and brings our favorite little trio to a close. Great stuff!

Cities - Awesome as always.

>Ya Mar - Great pairing! Just needs an NICU or Mango Song to top it off

Bold As Love - Never been a big fan of this song but Page absolutely crushes those vocals and the boys turn in an absolutely rousing version!

Julius - Hot Julius to close


All in all, a slightly odd set. Some awesome bustouts/set choices, but that opening trio of songs almost had the set killed before it began. Then we got to Divided Sky and everything just "clicked". Not the strongest set, but there was a nice undercurrent of chillness throughout that positively informed some of the songs. A strong B+/A- set, imo. Others probably feel differently - it was just a little "undercooked" feeling. The high points of the set (well, everything from DS onwards) felt a notch below what they would've been on another night, if that makes sense. It's kinda hard to fault - it's just a set that wasn't totally what I was looking for, I guess.  

Set 2

Rock and Roll - Ah hell yes! I ALWAYS loved to hear this. Maybe in my top 5 favorite Phish covers!! There is never a poor version. All hail the 11 minutes of FIRE that start this set with a BANG!!! AT 9 minutes we descend rapidly into deep space ambience. Remember the days when it took them 20 minutes to get to that point? Now they do it in 20 seconds! Eventually after a few minutes they start to sound lost and Trey instead steers us into....

>Tweezer - This sucker is 12 minutes and pretty friggin' demented!!! It's pretty much Type I Tweezer insanity to the hilt. Absolutely hotter than the sun. My jaw was on the floor. Wow. Melting into another brief ambient passage, Trey hits the switch and we laucn into...

>Free - Some interesting sounds in this one but mainly another Type I explosive rager. Couldn't keep from headbanging during this one, haha. Good stuff! Not a classic but worth a listen.

Guyuute - All hail the ugly pig!

Birds of a Feather - Again, another Type I explosion of the hottest type. As with RnR, does BOAF ever fail to deliver?! No. No it does not. End of story.

Harry Hood - The song portion isn't anything great and sounds lackluster tonight, but holy crap where did this jam come from! Most of the tracks is pure 1999 extended ambient jamming, the kind only teased at in the prior songs. We are talking frantic drums with upbeat synthesizer capped off with grinding and scary playing from Trey. WOW! DONT SKIP THIS! ITS AMAZING!!!

>What's The Use - Ah yes! Literally the perfect thing!! Fishman misses the cue and instead of changing the tempo at the start he just keeps the frantic pace going at first until he can find a slot to settle down in. Oh man, this is just GORGEOUS. Again, as always, but seriously....this Hood>WTU is definitely must-hear for this show. Wow....

Velvet Sea - Perfect out of WTU, I still don't get the hate for the song. Great tune and worked perfectly in this slot. Great version with inspired playing from all.

Possum - Is Possum. Friggin' slays. 'nuff said.

Sleeping Monkey - Never been a favorite of mine.

Tweeprise - Is Tweeprise. Good stuff and good end!



All in all, the first hour of this set up through Hood>WTU was just straight fire. But it was more of a tiny flame that'll singe you good rather than the insane hotter-than-the-sun heat we expect from most shows. As I mentioned, this show just had a chill kinda vibe. Not even a chill vibe - I don't know. Let's put it like this - lots of highlights, but the highlights in this show probably wouldn't be in other shows, does that make any sense? A solid B/B+ gig for me. They try hard at least. Just kinda odd feeling with this show. The 3.5 rating on .NET is pretty accurate, imo.

Good stuff but not essential (except perhaps that crazy Hood>WTU)

2012-06-19 Portsmouth, VA

 6/19/12 Portsmouth, VA

Long show (3hr, 6 min!) with a "jukebox"-looking first set and a 2nd set that has some interesting placements/selections. Let's get into it!

Set 1

Sample In a Jar - Red hot peak on this. Great way to open the show. Nothing special but still great!

Party Time - GET IT PAGE! LETS FRIGGIN GO! Special version featuring one of the Country Horns!!!!! Party Time with a trumpet solo! It kicks so much tail it's not even funny!!! THIS IS AWESOME! GO PLAY THIS NOW!!!

Simple - THIS IS SOME 1.0 STUFF!! This is right out of 1998 right here!!! Trey is throwing out beautiful licks left and right, the whole band is gelling as one, and the song dissolved into a gorgeous ambient Type II bliss meltdown for a minute. FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!

>Axilla - The count off...awesome! Rages as expected but there is some extra juice in the tank tonight. Fantastic.

Tube - Prefaced by Trey stating "This is what Page and I think you guys are all saying" This is a fine version but really doesn't go anywhere. Great to hear but nothing to return to.

Kill Devil Falls - Trey seems to have some guitar problems during the verses (not sure if tech issue or just flubs) but this definitely returns to the fiery energy of Axilla. Rip roaring as always (that will never be a bad thing), Trey lets it loose come solo time and just pours liquid magma into our ear holes. So beautiful, I'm gonna cry. Trey takes his time milking the song, slowly building to the peak. Killer stuff. Great version!!!

Water in the Sky - Holy hell Page's opening piano lick is like nectar raining down into my ears. Awesome version of a great song. Great to hear!!!!

Horn - Is Horn. Next!

Babylon Baby - Alright! New Mike song!! This is great! Why did they shelve Phish playing it?! Put this right next to Ya Mar and NICU!!! Great track and this definitely sounds very well rehearsed! Awesome! THIS IS FRIGGIN GREAT!!!!!

Bathtub Gin - FREAKING RAGETASTIC. LIGHTNING SPEED GIN RAGER!!!!

Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan - Disgustingly filthy. In the best way. A+ version.

I Didn't Know - Can you tuck in your shirt, please? Very funny. Bass/vacuum solo.

Run Like An Antelope - Terrific. Word of the night, eh? As excellent as any standard 1.0 version. "TUCK IN YOUR DRESS, MAN!!!" tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck......TUCK IN YOUR DRESS, MAN, YOURE OUT OF CONTROL!!!!!! Holy crap this was outstanding. One of the best recent Antelope's I can recall hearing. They often just blend together but this one is a KEEPER! Must-hear! KILLER!!!



All in all, Set 1 was outstanding! I raved about the first set at the show last, but this one definitely has that X Factor vibe missing for a few shows that just pushes it over the top. Absolutely spectacular set. For real. Not exaggerating. The boy who cried wolf is screaming and begging now - go play this! You WONT regret it!!! Holy freaking crap....

 

Set 2

Back On the Train - Unexpected set opener. Great tempo on this one. Wonderful soloing from Trey and Page is doing awesome key "washes" as well. Terrific version!
Very slowly, the jam builds and builds and builds. It gets in that "heading for Type II" kind of wacky zone, but they keep it in the box. But they are bursting at the seems and the cardboard ain't gonna hold! It's like a steam engine with the boiler about to explode. Just waiting and waiting until BOOM!! But the explosion doesn't happen and we get a weird little ambient segue into....

>Rift - Fine, high energy version but nothing ultra remarkable. Rift is Rift. And that is always a good thing!

Split Open and Melt - Aka Split Open and Tuck This is insane. Absolutely demented. The whole time it sounds like it's spiraling out of control through the guard barrier about to crash into the proverbial ravine. It's like a black hole spinning down the crapper one swirl at a time. Just wicked and nuts and whatever other adjective you wanna throw this way. DO NOT SKIP!!!!

The Mango Song - Alright! All hail Mango! Awesome work from all, the boys nail it.

Backwards Down the Number Line - OUTSTANDING!!! Absolutely A+ Type I of the best kind.

Limb By Limb - Great set choice out of Number Line! Very powerful kind of version. This is no lazy day LxL. The guys are throwing it all at the wall, so to speak, to see what sticks. Check out Fishman just annihilating his kit and Trey, Page and Mike all doing that Grateful Dead "soloing together" thing in the best way. Awesome lil LxL.

Shine a Light - Just beautiful. That organ, yo. And Trey just wailing away so perfectly....COME ON UP NOW!!!! Terrific!!!!

Lengthwise - Is Lengthwise, but, c'mon...bustout, dude Also, Fishman offers to let dress-wearing crowd members (TUCKERS!) onstage to dance. Tuck! Tuck! Tuck! Tuck! Tuck! "That tucking sucked! You people do no know how to tuck!"

>Maze - Wow! Don't think I've ever seen a Maze this late in the show before!!!! Also, yes, a legitimate segue out of Lengthwise into Maze. That should not be possible.
THIS MAZE IS SPECTACULAR. INSERT HEAD EXPLOSION GIF. I NEED SAY NO MORE!!!!

Cavern - Is Cavern. Is hot as hell. Is great but nothing special

Fire - YES! YES YES! ALL OF MY YES! EXPLODING HOTTER THAN THE SUN! LET THE TUCKER TAKE OVER!!! IT DOES NOT GET HOTTER THAN THIS! I CANT HEADBANG ANY HARDER!

Mexican Cousin - They boys came out in friggin' sombreros. MC is MC and this was great

Slave to the Traffic Light - A killer ending to an incredible show.




All in all.....wow. Holy tuck. 6 out of 5 stars for me. What did they do, snort mescal before this show or something?! SHOW OF THE SUMMER SO FAR! This show was out standing on all fronts - setlist, playing, ENERGY, FUN!!!!!! Easily one of the FUNNEST shows I've ever heard!!! 

2012-06-17 Atlantic City, NJ

 6/17/12 Atlantic City

Set 1 -

Brother - An explosive Brother to kick things off with a bang in regards to the Phish family Awesome stuff, always great to hear!!

Runaway Jim - Perfect flow in to this as 2nd song! Gives a great old-school 1-2 punch vibe. Nothing out of the ordinary. It's a fine Jim to keep the energy up!

Dogs Stole Things - AWESOME! Not my favorite song by any means but this was just dripping with energy and enthusiasm. A+ DST!!!! Don't skip!!

Reggae Woman - At the risk of highlighting everything again, I will refrain It's red hot and gets the party STARTED!!!! Its RW and you know exactly what you will be getting! Aw screw it I highlighted it anyways.

>NICU - Great segue and perfect pairing!!! Terrific version! I give in - RW was great but this had a bit more "substance" it felt like. Terrific.

Foam - The ever-elusive-in-3.0 favorite. Awesome! The guys nail it! FANTASTIC!!!

>Wilson - SLAYS

Timber - Awesome to hear as always! This first set is absolutely spectacular so far!!!

Fluffhead - And it gets even better! Friggin Fluff! Yaya!!! Terrific version with everyone nailing all their parts and energy out the wazoo. Killer.

Walls of the Cave - It's 2012, it's WOTC in a set this raging. It's exactly what you expect in the best way possible.

Character Zero - Is CZero. It's just as hot as everything else but not anything special. But it's still awesome



WOW!!! THIS SET KNOCKED ME ON THE FRIGGIN GROUND!!! It's like they came out and grabbed me and just punched me in the face leaving me crawling in the dirt trying to find the teeth busted out of my mouth. Holy moly this was a TERRIFIC first set!!!!!!

 

Set 2

Drowned - Obligatory, eh? It rages. It's awesome. But overall it's a little disapointing - they flirt with some jumbled Type II for a few minutes before kinda killing it. Very unfulfilling!

>2001 - A slower-than-usual and kinda murky groove on this. Eventually Page kicks in on the keys and Trey does some fun Whammy pedaling. Get it Leo! He gets downright nasty! Short, sweet and ticks all the boxes. Not list worthy really though as it's nothing we haven't hear before. But still nice as always.

Reba - FREAKING MAGICAL!!!!!! HOLY CRAP GET IT TREY!!!! Kinda short but that soloing was just....ugh you know...

Roses are Free - Terrific Type I!

Chalkdust Torture - HOLY FREAKING CRAP THIS IS PURE INSANITY!!!!! Very cool outer space outro!!!

>Prince Caspian - Beautiful but extremely short. Interesting to get a segue into...

>Silent In the Morning - Page has trouble at the start syncing his vocals to the music but once it all coalesces we get a very fine version.

Bug - See Roses are Free

A Day In the Life - Maybe a highlight for others but one of my all-time last favorite songs that I am never enthusiastic about hearing.

Down With Disease - Now this is more like it!!! A set-ending DWD (never heard that before!!!) that absolutely SLAYS. Type I explosive raging at its finest. DONT MISS!!!

Gotta Jibboo - Hell yea. Because I'm the only person that loves Jibboo, I have to stand up and rave about another one, no matter how "ordinary"! It's my dute! Very nicely relaxed on this one, kinda like the studio version. VERY slowly the song starts to boil and climaxes with the raging you expect. Awesome.

Quinn The Eskimo - Great as always but nothing special.




All in all, set 1 absolutely DESTROYED while set 2 was very much a mixed bag, imo. Also, what on earth is that late set 2?! The Caspian through ADITL segment just sucked the energy out for me. Bug was great, but did we really need 4 ballads (basically) in a row? No we did not, lol. That's ok as they were all played great and that's just my, like, opinion man. I'm sure this gig was an absolute blast in person. Worth a listen or so.