The second night in Atlantic City keeps the energy coming, but it's a very third-quarter-focused show if you're looking for improv.
"Mike's Groove" sets the rock and roll bar high by opening the show. A punchy "Halley's" > "MFMF" makes a nice midset combo, too. "Possum" features a delicate breakdown in the middle before ramping back up. Overall, it's a first set. Honestly, by the end, it feels like it could have been a bit shorter. But if you like concise, high-energy Phish, you'll get a kick out of it.
"Crosseyed" starts off the second set, but doesn't really turn into a jam vehicle. Instead, the band explores rocking, Type I territory for a few minutes fading into a haze of noise out of which "Slave," of all things, materializes. Trey teases the "Slave" riff near the end of "Crosseyed," actually, but then doesn't seem to be able to get the whole band on board for the ->, and instead settles for a full stop before "Slave" starts. Perhaps because of its odd placement, this version is particularly deep, and takes a patient journey to its conclusion.
"Light" comes next, and features both a vocal mashup with "Crosseyed" and a "Manteca" sandwich. The jam proper ain't bad either.
This set, too, might overstay its welcome after the fun "Light": it seems like "Golgi" is a great set closer, but then there is another thirty minutes of music after that that doesn't really fit at all into the flow of the set. I mean, I like "Sand" and "Number Line," but it feels like the band is playing longer here just to fill minutes.
That said, come for the high-energy first set, stay for the "Slave" and the "Light."
The Live Review:
6/16/12: Mike's Song opener.
6/16/12: Mike's is a satisfying first-setty take and dumps nicely into Hydrogen.
6/16/12: Nellie Kane tease from Trey in Groove.
6/16/12: Nice Gumbo > Halley's combo after the Mike's Groove.
6/16/12: Nice on-a-dime segue out of Halley's jam into MFMF.
6/16/12: Wolfman's next.
6/16/12: Wolfman's kicking around at the edges of the box a little bit. Trey and Page introducing a little bit of tension in the jam.
6/16/12: Trey starts up The Horse, then stops.
6/16/12: Trey doesn't follow through with The Horse because 'I got distracted by how stupid the ending of MFMF is.' Fish disagrees.
6/16/12: Fish's favorite song ending is MFMF. Presumably this changes when he writes Ass Handed.
6/16/12: Trey says the end of Maze is his favorite.
6/16/12: Page's favorite is Lawn Boy. Instead of asking Mike his favorite too, they just launch into Lawn Boy. Poor Mike.
6/16/12: Possum. Stash tease from Trey during.
6/16/12: In a weird way, I appreciate reviewing these early 3.0 shows more now. I tweet way fewer times as there's… https://t.co/iIrYEOBEaE
6/16/12: I will probably tweet a third as often during this show as I did during any given BD show, for example.
6/16/12: Which is probably great for the economy, because it means I'll spend more time today doing my actual fucking job!
6/16/12: Neat little noodly breakdown in the middle of Possum before the energy level ramps right back up.
6/16/12: More 'Woo!'s from the crowd during the beginning of PYITE.
6/16/12: PYITE ends with a weird loop that then continues into the intro to Ocelot.
6/16/12: As much as I generally just fall asleep during Ocelot, I have to admit that Mike's putting in some particu… https://t.co/0NxjE35xRa
6/16/12: Suzy to close the set.
6/16/12: I'm not sure if it's because I've gotten interrupted a bunch of times during the listen, but that set seemed incredibly long.
6/16/12: Keeps me wondering about how useful brevity might be to a truly quality Phish show.
6/16/12: Most shows these days run around three hours long, yet most of the best remembered 1.0 shows (it seems) were closer to two hours.
6/16/12: Nobody's looking back to the fall '97 shows this month and saying 'Eh, but that was only a two-hour show.'
6/16/12: Anyway, end set 1.
6/16/12: Set two starts off with Crosseyed.
6/16/12: Fiery Type I jam in Crosseyed winds down into something more muted. Trey chording, others creating atmosphere.
6/16/12: Really neat transition out of this ethereal jam. Trey playing a slowed-down version of the Slave intro. -> Slave
6/16/12: Neat having Slave so early in the set. A great version, too. Really peaky.
6/16/12: > Light
6/16/12: Light jam includes The Light/Crosseyed interlocking lyrics.
6/16/12: More Manteca-like jam than even usual growing out of Light tonight.
6/16/12: -> Manteca
6/16/12: -> Light
6/16/12: Fish picking up the pace, and now we're taking off on a high-velocity rock jam. Page to the organ.
6/16/12: Revisiting the Light/Crosseyed vocal mashup now as the jam reaches a fever pitch. This is really cool.
6/16/12: Lots of atonal noise and loops after the vocal reprise.
6/16/12: Great, antics-filled jam there. Theme is next.
6/16/12: > Golgi
6/16/12: Weird placement for Golgi, as the set continues with Sand.
I didn't get a chance to finish reviewing 6/16 yesterday. Sorry! Gonna finish it up now.
6/16/12: 'Still waiting' quotes during the Sand jam peak.
6/16/12: Otherwise, a pretty standard take on the song. Seems like an odd choice this late in the show.
6/16/12: > Number Line
6/16/12: That was quite possibly the least interesting, lowest-key take on Number Line I've ever heard. And I say that as a fan of the song.
6/16/12: > Antelope.
6/16/12: End set 2.
6/16/12: GTBT encore.
6/16/12: Another very 2012 show here (of which I suspect I'll review a lot in the next few months).
6/16/12: Almost hilariously straightforward first set. An interestingly-placed Slave and a Light that sandwiched Ma… https://t.co/Mg7nL9qJyD
6/16/12: The rest of the second set were just normal songs with 'Still waiting' vocal quotes.
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