The fourth of July show feels like a slight step backward after the previous two shows. There's a little bit of (really interesting) third quarter improv, but the absolute weight of all of the rest of the songs in this marathon show sort of bury it. This is another great example of 2012 Phish doing a good job of capturing that summer-lawn vibe, but holding on to it for about thirty minutes too long. I never thought I'd be complaining about getting too much Phish in one show, but there it is.
Anyway, the first set is another tour de force of non-jammed songs arranged in a surprisingly consistently please fashion. I liked this one less than the previous few opening frames, but if you're a huge fan of "Alumni" > "Jimmy Page" > "Alumni" and/or "TMWSIY" > "Avenu Malkenu" > "TMWSIY," you'll be happy here. "Head Held High" is a surprise bustout, as well.
Most of the rest of the set is pretty straightforward. The "Bowie" doesn't do anything unexpected, but it's serviceable version. The highlight of the set is probably "Suskind Hotel," for its brief but nimble jam. Check it out.
Like 7/3, the second set kicks off with a standard take on a tune. In this case, it's "Boogie On." After that, though, things kick into gear with "Tweezer," which leads into a bassy, spacey jam for a few minutes before segueing into "Twist." "Twist" gets weird right away, with the band as a whole deconstructing the song's typical Type I outro jam in what is the definite highlight of the show.
From there, the rest of the show plays it pretty close to the vest. That said, the band rips into these jamless tunes with gusto, and there could be worse songs here than "Rock and Roll," "Hood," and "Slave."
Here's the whole second set so you can check out that "Tweezer" > "Twist" combo:
The Live Review:
7/4/12: Fourth of July show opens with Alumni Blues.
7/4/12: There was a really brief Silent In The Morning-type jam before Alumni started.
7/4/12: I think it might have just been Trey trying to remember how Alumni went.
7/4/12: 'I got a degree...from Goddard College.'
7/4/12: > Jimmy Page
7/4/12: Alumni continues with a Type I jam after the lyrics.
7/4/12: Head Held High. 356 show bustout.
7/4/12: TMWSIY!
7/4/12: > Avenu Malkenu
7/4/12: > TMWSIY
7/4/12: Hey @phish, in case you're looking for setlist ideas for the summer, a sunset TMWSIY at the Gorge would be pretty nice.
7/4/12: Transition to KDF is a little jarring, tone-wise.
7/4/12: Quick take on Bittersweet Motel, then Moma Dance.
7/4/12: Gumbo, Bowie.
7/4/12: Pretty straightforward but really propulsive Bowie jam.
7/4/12: Alaska
7/4/12: Ripping version of Alaska (take that as you will). > Susskind Hotel.
7/4/12: Quick drop into a Type II jam in Suskind Hotel.
7/4/12: Very short but fun little jam. HYHU coming up next.
7/4/12: Fish dedicating this take on Purple Rain to 'tucking.'
7/2/14: A very tuck-filled Purple Rain, performed by 'Friar Tuck.' Then, back into HYHU, and now the Star-Spangled… https://t.co/0EfpM5D8SK
7/2/14: After a few days of shows that felt like they had a really special energy, I'm not feeling it so far from this one.
7/2/14: YMMV, especially if you're a huge Phish-oldies fan, because this first set is a very old school set for the most part.
7/2/14: That said, I really liked the mini-jam in Suskind.
7/2/14: Boogie On starts the second set, strangely enough.
7/2/14: > Tweezer
7/2/14: Big ol' Type I solo here from Trey.
7/2/14: Spacey, bass-led jam happening now.
7/2/14: Page taking over with the electric piano.
7/2/14: This is really great.
7/2/14: Jam sort of peters out. Trey leads the band into Twist.
7/2/14: Twist gets deconstructed REALLY quickly.
7/2/14: Really interesting, ephemeral kind of jam going on here. Fades out just as suddenly as the Tweezer jam, though.
7/2/14: Fade out. Fade back in to Taste.
7/4/12: Hot take on Taste. Quinn the Eskimo is next.
7/4/12: > Julius
7/4/12: Is there a Phish song that signals that the jammy part of the show is over more decisively than Julius?
7/4/12: Trey got warmed up during Julius and is now shredding a Type I Rock and Roll jam.
7/4/12: Jam now going in a direction similar to the Tweezer from earlier in the set.
7/4/12: Very short exploration interrupted by The Horse.
7/4/12: > Silent
7/4/12: Hood!
7/4/12: A compact but pretty gorgeous take on Hood here.
7/4/12: Piano-only outro to Hood leads into Shine a Light.
7/4/12: Oh good. Show of Life.
7/4/12: Just a note: this show has KDF, Alaska, *and* Show of Life. All it's missing is an Ocelot encore.
7/4/12: > a fast-paced Slave
7/4/12: A little rough getting into the jam, but some great full band interplay once they get there.
7/4/12: Big crescendo to end the second set.
7/4/12: Monkey for the encore. I'm assuming it'll be followed by Tweeprise from that Tweezer that happened like 47 songs ago.
7/4/12: Like the Suskind Hotel mini-jam in the first set, I really enjoyed the little bits of exploration in Tweezer and Twist.
7/4/12: Like a lot of the best shows during this leg, they seem focused on quality rather than quantity when it comes to improvisation.
7/4/12: That said, this felt a little bit more like a jukebox mix of tunes and a little less like an interesting Ph… https://t.co/abllg96EUA
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