Anyway, 6/22 is a bit of an improvement on the run of shows pretty much since Blossom that haven't had much to recommend them except really consistently solid playing and brilliant setlist construction. Of course, since we're talking Phish here, the "except" there should probably be in quotes. None of the shows have been bad, but they've been largely similar and predictable. Mansfield starts to change that, a lit o bit (ha!), but we've still got a ways to go until we're reaching the heights of Summer '09 here.
So, "Lit O Bit" is the cover du jour, and it serves as the opener. This cover actually suits Phish quite well, and though they have a little difficult with it on its first time out, it could be a regular-rotation song and fit right in, methinks. "Camel Walk" falls neatly into the two-slot, seeming like a natural extension of the opener, and then a perfect summer-on-the-lawn version of "Possum" rounds out the first three songs.
"Dr. Gabel" is an interesting song, with surprisingly confessional-sounding lyrics and a catch (to me) verse melody. The chorus could use some work, but it seems like the song got shelved after this playthrough. Sort of sad. I really like what Page is playing throughout the last few minutes of the song as well. We close S1 with "Antelope," which has by this point settled into a by-the-book set-closing template of sorts and, while spot-on, doesn't capture the pure fury a lot of the Summer '09 versions had.
"Mike's Groove" is a welcome start to the second set, even if this is about as standard a take on the song sequence as you can get. I've really liked the reliance on the old-school "Hydrogen" sandwich in the last few playthroughs of this suite of songs, and this one sticks to it.
The one real point of interest in this show (and the one thing that makes it stand out a bit from the previous few nights) starts next. The increasingly-rare "Sally" is always a welcome setlist addition, and this version gets extended to about ten minutes, featuring a sort-of plinko space for the jam, which sets up a clever segue into "Light." The build to this segue is pretty obvious and satisfying, and Trey sort of hams it up by slamming out the chords a bit early, but hey, at this point my bar is a bit lower than usual, so I'm happy. "Light" itself is a pretty standard take on the song, all Trey runs that don't really string together or build toward anything, but sound Pretty Cool nonetheless. Slather on a little bit of the whale and you're good to go.
Toward the end of the short jam, the band takes a turn for the dark except for Page, who stays on a brighter-sounding, almost circus-y organ tone, creating a creepy effect. From this space emerges a really slow and brilliant segue into "46 Days," which features a short Type I and then a vocal outro jam that's got a sort of soul/R&B vibe. Honestly, aside from the surprise vocal jam, none of these three little jams blew me out of the water, but the confidence with which they're strung together and the segues themselves make up for a lot.
The guys shift back into a lower gear for the rest of the show after this, though: standard takes on "LxL," "Golgi," and "Slave" before a better-than-average version of "Loving Cup." Once again, we get a "First Tube" closer, but it doesn't feel deserved this time; rather than feeling like the capping off of an excellent show, it made me think "Where was this band for most of the second set?"
Overall, a little cleverness is starting to seep through the edges in this show, but the name of the game is still Consistency.
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