2012-08-24 Oak Mountain Amphitheater

relisten link

The Live Review

8/24/12 #phish Live Review, Set One: Possum opener.

 

Very loose-sounding Possum. Everyone getting a chance to take a stab at some Type I improv. Here's hoping that things open up a bit more than 8/22 in terms of both song selection and playing.

 

Cities is next. Lots of cheers at the "Birmingham" line.

 

Nice little outro with Page on electric piano. > Sample.

 

Great playing continues through some first set staples. Timber pushes the band to briefly jam in an interesting way, but otherwise, it's been pure first-settiness so far.

 

Trey teases the crowd in the back for "being higher than you were last time we were here," which prompts Page to dedicate Lawn Boy to them.

 

Trey now dedicating the next song to a different part of the lawn, and then a particular guy "with the towel on your shoulder." It's DWD.

 

DWD stays Type I but features some serious dominance from Trey. This might be developing into another really straightforward set, but Trey is really putting a little extra on each song within those constraints.

 

Rest of the set follows the tone established by the first half: Gumbo, Ginseng, Wedge, Julius, Cavern are all well-played, standard takes. Set-ending WMGGW was pretty nice, though.

 

8/24/12 #phish Live Review, Set Two: Rock and Roll opener.

 

Rock and Roll jam opens with another great Type I Trey solo, then Page switches to the clav and now we have a sort-of double-time Cities jam on our hands.

 

Nice build-up in this jam so far.

 

Slowing down now. Echoes and loops. Page on electric piano. Really beautiful jamming.

 

After a few minutes, the jam fades really naturally into The Lizards.

 

Fun to hear The Lizards that early in the set. Halley's is next.

 

Quick stop at the end of Halley's, then a drop into Sand.

 

Type I Sand jam building nicely.

 

This was the perfect song choice for Mega-Shred Trey. He's killing it.

 

Sand rock and roll peak fades quickly out into a loopy, ambient space. Sort of sinister-sounding.

 

Space > Twist.

 

Santana-esque jam forming out of Twist.

 

Twist jam haze > Birds.

 

I think that the move into Birds signals the end of the brief "jamming" part of the night. Boogie On, a short 2001, and then Waste are next.

 

To be fair, Boogie > 2001 were joined by another neat, if under-a-minute haze "jam."

 

Looks like Slave is going to end the second set.

 

Kind of unique, proggy entrance into the jam. Huh.

 

Nice, long, drone-y section before the build begins.

 

GTBT is a nice choice for a lone encore tune.

 

Set two wasn't bad, but started off with a really promising Rock and Roll jam, which made what followed feel a little anticlimactic.

 

A lot of the set felt like a '09 or '10 second set where there wasn't any sustained jamming, but each song was joined by a minute or so of improvised space.

 

It certainly keeps the momentum going (set two would have made a great opening set), but it definitely leaves me wanting more to sink my teeth into. That said, the RnR -> The Lizards is worth a listen, as is the Sand.

2012-08-22 Starlight Theatre

Relisten link

The Live Review

8/22/12 #phish Live Review, Set One: CDT opener.

A fairly pedestrian CDT opener is followed by Skin It Back!

Set one continuing after Skin It Back in a fairly greatest-hits-like vein, but this Gin jam is injecting some life back into the proceedings.

Strange take on Gin there (less peaky, more tension than usual). Leads into Stash, which will hopefully benefit from the Gin's jamminess.

Normal Stash jam until about ten minutes, but now things are getting interesting. Piano-led build going in a blissy direction.

This is really abnormal for Stash, and really cool.

Brief but excellent diversion there. Back into Stash proper, now.

Always great to hear Curtis Loew, as well.

First set is maintaining its momentum for sure, but has slid back into predictability.

Looks like a short(ish) first set is going to end with Antelope.

8/22/12 #phish Live Review, Set Two: Set two opens with Tweezah.

While it's doing its thing, I'll say real quick that the first set was pretty different by '12 standards, and I liked it. A lot of predictable song choices, sure, but it as 

high-energy all the way through.

Nice to hear Skin It Back, Gin got a little weird in a unique way, and the Stash was longer and stranger than most 3.0 versions, by my count. We'll see if the willingness to explore that infused the BGCA run carries over into this second set. Tweezer opener is a good sign.

Spacey, languid beginning to the Tweezer jam. Liking this a lot.

Now a more ethereal space. Really solid interplay between Trey and Page.

Great additions from Mike now.

This is so good. Everybody locked in.

Awesome fadeout after a medium-size build. That was four-headed playing at its best. Listen to this Tweezer immediately.

Sort-of segue into Piper.

Piper getting spacey in a really good way here as well. Momentum carrying over from the Tweezer jam.

Great, echo-y bass from Mike here.

Winds down to Page on the electric piano, but Trey starts up Mike's before it has a chance to develop.

Nice, compact take on Mike's Song that ends with Page holding an organ note...seemingly for no particular reason because Bouncin' is next.

> Number Line. Man, I bet jaded vets were STOKED by this set.

Welp, I can't say that I was super jazzed to see Mike's > Bouncin' > Number Line > Heavy Things, If I Could > Groove take over that second set after an amazing Tweezer > Piper combo. But at least is was a well-played Mike's sandwich.

And that dropped into Hood afterward, so that's all good.

Plinko-style jam in Hood! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Wow. Short, but totally masterful Hood jam.

End-of-Hood noise drops into Suzy.

End set.

Well, Loving Cup > Tweeprise is a classic encore for a show that's been all about the classics.

Setlist and play-quality-wise, that's about as close to an elemental Phish 3.0 show as one can get. Since I've listened to approximately 4 million shows at this point, it didn't really do much for me on the whole. YMMV.

I did really dig the Gin and Stash from the opening set, and thought Tweezer was absolutely beautiful (seriously, not even a jam chart entry?!). Piper was great, too, before it got hooked, and the plinko > peak Hood is worth a listen.

2012-08-18 BGCA II

The Live Review

 

 

8/18/12 #phish Live Review, Set One: Jim opener.

 

For some reason, my music player is CONVINCED that the album art for all three of these BGCA shows is the cover of #wilco's Sky Blue Sky. At this point, I'm just rolling with it.

 

Lotta extra mustard on this version of Jim. That either means this is going to be a killer show, or one of those early 2012 shows where they just play 400 seven-minute songs. I guess we'll see.

 

Great vocal breakdown in the middle of Wolfman's.

 

Getting some 90s-level melodic soloing from Trey now.

 

Plinko-ish jamming now.

 

Damn, that was a great Type I Wolfman's. Nellie Kane next.

 

Welp, after that Wolfman's, the band definitely did just start playing an early 2012 first set. On the upside, this version of Ocelot is actually pretty decent.

 

I enjoyed I Didn't Know > 46 Days more than I thought I would.

 

Thanks mostly to Page, that was the most fun four-minute Tube I've heard in a long time.

 

Also always nice to hear hear When the Circus Comes in the midst of an onslaught of random songs.

 

Also, a not-flubby version of Sugar Shack. They should just end the set right there.

 

Going into SOAM instead. I'll take it.

 

SOAM is super-chaotic. Loving what they've been doing with it lately (in 2012). Lots of loops.

 

Looks like the first set is going to wrap with Cavern. Ninety minutes.

 

 

 

8/18/12 #phish Live Review, Set Two: Golden Age kicks off the second set.

 

Even way back in 2012, it's in way too high a key for Trey to actually sing it. Just sayin'.

 

Sometimes I like to just listen to only Fish for the entire Golden Age composed section.

 

Neat little funk jam emerging from Golden Age, but it quickly peters and Trey starts up Piper.

 

Piper jam builds a bit, then gets yanked for Mike's.

 

A pretty straightforward Mike's with some angular soloing from Trey gets a 

hard segue into Simple. I'm partial to this transition because one of the first #phish shows I had on tape had a Mike's > Simple > (I think) Groove sequence. 

 

At the time I thought they always went together

 

Lots of great interplay in the Simple outro. Trey and Mike taking over now, playing off of each other.

 

Ambient jam! Happy to hear this come back after it was hinted at then ripcorded earlier.

 

I am rarely happy to hear the whale call, but this is one of those times.

 

This is a long, patient jam, here.

 

Ambient jam goes into Number Line. Such a good seven or so minutes of #phish, there.

 

Set feels like it's starting to revert to another "hits playlist"-type affair, but I do love the Number Line > Carini transition.

 

Weirdly, Carini pretty much ends on a dime after the composed part and a brief solo. Trey calling for Wilson.

 

This very late-set 2001 seems especially randomly chosen.

 

Fluffhead looks like it's going to close the second set.

 

Nice, high-energy version of the outro jam there. Loving Cup continues the second set.

 

End set.

 

Is there a more perfect encore song for a two-hundred minute show with five minutes of jamming than Show of Life?

 

No. The answer is no.

 

Zero is the other encore song.

 

Well, after Long Beach and BGCA I sounding more like latter-day 3.0 #phish, this show definitely took us back to early summer 2012 in a mostly-not-good way. That said, check out the first set (yeah, you read that right) for some legit jams. SOAM and Wolfman's were great.

 

Oh, and the Simple in the middle of the second set was goddamn gorgeous.

2012-08-17 BGCA I

The Live Review

8/17/12 #phish Live Review, Set One: Bag opener.

This will be my first time listening to these BGCA shows, pretty interested to see what I think of them. I had tickets for all three but at the last minute couldn't get off work. 2012 ended up being the only year of 3.0 when I saw no Phish shows.

I was really gutted at the time, but the consensus on the shows seemed to be that it wasn't that great of a run (N3S2 aside). I guess I'll see (or hear).

High-energy take on Bag to start. > Moma.

Momentum continues with a tension-y take on Possum. Trey sounds great.

Corinna!

And yes, I am a little miffed, even six years later, that I missed Corinna.

Great solo from Trey in Corinna. The hits keep coming with Sand. I will never not love a first-set Sand.

Mike is killing it here.

Oh man, HUGE Type I Sand going down here.

Great little solo from Trey in Halley's Comet comes to a weird stop before dropping into Funky Bitch. Sort of weird.

Nonetheless, this set continues to rock.

Man, I don't know if it's because I've been listening to 2018 Phish lately or what, but Trey is just SHREDDING this first set into the ground.

Roses is a great late-set choice.

Roses is getting another outro jam. Seems like they want to keep the momentum from the Worcester version going.

Some MFMF droning from Trey beneath the jam. -> MFMF

Ooh, I *really* like the idea of closing the first set with Slave.

Mike taking a lot of the melodic lead during the early parts of the jam.

Man, how can a show with this great of an opening set have a 3.4 on phish.net? I guess maybe I'll find out in the second set?

8/17/12 #phish Live Review, Set Two: Classic choice of DWD for the second set opener.

Fast-paced jam coming out of the Type I solo at the end of Disease.

Mike is way up front again. Loving that. A lot.

Everyone contributing on this jam, not just Trey soloing. So good. Keeps circling the Woman From Tokyo melody.

Jam getting more ethereal. Still a full-band improv session.

Wild, cascading guitar loops from Trey. So cool. Page matching.

Shit, I'm sad I missed these shows six years ago now just because of this Disease jam.

Heavier guitar section now.

Trey teasing Birds, it sounds like.

Jam peters out, Birds starts after the fact.

TWEEZER

Once again, a Mike-heavy start to the jam here.

Almost a plinko-style jam now. This is really great.

Massive rock peak now...returning a bit to a Type I Tweezer sound.

Plinko sound fading back in.

Spacey, almost arrhythmic jam now. Trey playing a loop/siren.

This is not only unlike anything I've heard from 2012 so far, it's unlike pretty much everything I've heard since.

-> Twist

Great interplay continuing through Twist. Are they really that dialed this show in particular? Maybe it's just a surprisingly great SBD mix?

Short, but great Type I Twist there.

Piano outro > Wading

Sort of a weird bounce from Wading > Chalkdust > Joy.

Looks like the set is going to end with an extra-chaotic Antelope.

Nevermind. Set continues with Shine A Light.

The back half of this set has been pretty weird, tonally.

Okay, now end set.

First Tube encore. First Tube? Flub Tube? Either way, here we go!

Apparently, all the bad reviews of the show reflect that uneven fourth quarter.

I mean, sure, that wasn't the best closing sequence, but man, three quarters of that show are rock-solid. How many Phish shows in 3.0 could you take or leave except for the third quarter?

The opening set here was straightforward, but incredibly well-played and constructed. The Disease > Birds > Tweezer sequence was probably the most inspired jamming I've heard from the band all year thus far.

I am both happy for present me and sad for six-years-ago-me because of this show.

2012-08-15 Long Beach

The Live Review

8/15/12 #phish Live Review, Set One: I'm excited to start reviewing the second leg of '12 tour. Hoping that it follows the pattern of most summer tours, where things really start to open up during the second half/leg.

That said, a Suzy opener sounds an awful lot like most of the early leg of tour...

Well, Page is happy to be back. Killing the ivories during his Suzy solo.
 

Cities after Suzy. Trey laying down an especially good melodic solo.

Next is the screech of KDF. Sort of feels like they're trying to stretch this one out lately, especially after the SPAC version, but never quite getting there.

Guelah, Cool It Down. Can't argue with that pairing.

Strong take on Stash, and I'll always love hearing the outro to Bouncing.

Gin doesn't really get Out There, but it has a REALLY high-energy ending. End set?

Nope. Quinn the Eskimo rounds things out.

On paper, that set wasn't that much different than most of the early summer first sets, but something felt different about it. Band seemed to be stretching a bit on tunes like Cities, KDF, Stash, and Gin in a way that typically haven't in '12 first sets.

8/15/12 #phish Live Review, Set Two: Set two opens with Rock and Roll. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like we haven't heard that one for awhile.

Trey is tearing into this one early.

Page over to the organ signals a change in the direction of the jam. Getting darker now.

Quick turn to a faster, almost circus-like sound. Is there such a thing as "circus-funk"?

Trey laying down some loops. Things getting stranger again.

Ambient jamming now.

Page leading a build back out of the ambient haze now. This feels super-rare for 2012: that Trey didn't pull out Twist, or Piper, or Number Line in the middle of that loose section.

Weird, pulsing jam happening now. This is great.

Really great four-headed jamming at the moment. Nobody taking over.

This sounds completely different from literally anything played during the first leg of this tour.

It's probably been a sustained eight or so minutes of this weirdness at this point.

Past twenty minutes in the jam.

Trey chording for a second that made it seem like the jam might head back in a funk direction, but now all kinds of ambient noises taking over. Wow.

This is like the mellow companion of the Gorge '11 Rock and Roll.

Fishman is an ace in this part of the jam.

Ends with a bass blast from Mike. That was amazing. Ghost next, too!

Sounded like Trey was teasing My Woman From Tokyo there for a minute.

Ghost jam modulates really smoothly and is now picking up momentum.

Big peak now, reminiscent of the first set's Gin jam.

Bringing the tempo waaaaaay down now. Spooky section.

Someone (Fish?) teasing Roggae lyrics.

-> Limb By Limb. The Roggae transition would've been cooler, but that was still pretty great.

Trey is unleashing the blues a bit during this LxL solo.

Guyute next!

Dirt follows a well-played Guyute. Interesting setlist choices after Ghost.

HOOD

They definitely rip through the composed section of Hood in 2012 in a way that they don't in 2018.

Fantastic plunge into the jam here. Great playing by everyone.

Trey using some loops, to surprisingly great effect.

Great little section that's recalling the RnR jam earlier...has to be on purpose, right? If so, that's just fucking gravy.

Seamless build and then drop into the outro progression.

Huge wall of looping guitar cries from Trey to end the song. > GTBT.

End set two.

Julius encore.

Well, that really felt like a completely different band than the one from the early tour leg: more patient, more exploratory, and even on the non-jammed songs, always adding little details here and there that stood out.

The RnR jam is easily my favorite thing from 2012 so far. In addition, great Gin, the Ghost sounded like it could have come from 2015, and the Hood was my favorite version of the year so far.

2012-07-08 SPAC III

The Live Review

7/8/12 #phish Live Review, Set One: AC/DC Bag opens the last show of the first leg of summer tour.

A loop of the end of Bag leads into My Soul.

So far, the first set is a pretty straightforward affair: Camel Walk, Sample, Wilson, Party Time, Gumbo, Nellie Kane.

It's always great to hear Driver, though.

Things perhaps getting a little more interesting now with Foam.

Spot-on take on Foam. If I Could is next.

This was one of the first Phish songs that I ever heard, and I still love it. Wish they'd play it more often.

Great interplay between Page and Trey during this outro jam.

Interesting tonal change, with SOAM following If I Could...

SOAM jam starts off surprisingly driving. Now getting more abstract and angry.

Sounding more like a 90s Melt jam than a 3.0 one.

> La Grange! That's weird. But certainly welcome.

And that's the end of a well-played but generally unremarkable set. Maybe give Foam a listen if you like that song a lot?

7/8/12 #phish Live Review, Set Two: Axila I opener.

I have to admit, I was really hoping that during the Baker's Dozen we'd get Axila I and then an Axila II bustout right after. They *are* technically different songs, after all.

Light next. Trey sings the second verse first, then comments on it during the song. As if lyrical flubs don't happen with Light like 60% of the time :)

Light departing from its arpeggiated shuffle at around 5:30.

Fishman killing it now. Sparser jam. Page on electric piano, Trey playing power chords.

Getting eerie now.

Nice segue out of the haze into Twist.

Really grungy funk jam coming out of Twist. Page on clav.

Short but sweet Twist there.

> KDF.

Standard KDF jam just devolved into an arrhythmic noise fest.

Nice segue out of that mini-jam! -> MFMF.

Another wild tone shift: MFMF > Swept Away.

> Steep. Steep outro jam has added melody vocals from a few band members
(sounded like Trey and Mike).

PIPER

Trey latches on to a descending riff that Page is playing (!) and here we go!

Tons of momentum in this jam right now. Feels like it's ten seconds away from hitting a summer '15-style peak.

Another movement to the jam now.

More space noise now. Trey screaming.

Sounds like Kung.

Nope. -> Free.

Oddly, *now* they go into Kung.

> Hood!

This is a really weird second set setlist, but it's definitely keeping the momentum going. Reba-like playing from Trey early on in this Hood.

Reba-like playing from Trey early on in this Hood.

That was a really compact take on Hood, but a great one.

Loop-filled ending leads to Cavern.

A marathon-feeling second set continues after Cavern with Bowie. Wow.

We're going to pass the three-hour mark during this Bowie and the band is still firing on all cylinders. Not exactly a revelatory version, but a strongly-played one.

Page thanking the audience at the end of the second set.

YEM encore!

Super-swingin' jam section here.

Trey biffs the entry into the song's closing "Wash Uffizi..." part, and everyone sort of crashes into the vocal jam. It was pretty awesome.

End nearly three-and-a-half (!) hour show.

Well, the first set wasn't anything to write home about, but that second set definitely redeemed the show. A solid jam in Light, a weird but great, non-stop middle-set sequence, and a "real" jam in Piper...all with what felt like a second second set coming after it.

2012-07-07 SPAC II

The Live Review

7/7/12 Set One: Show opening with Grind. Gotta love those a capella show openers.

Possum is the first instrument-ed song of the show.

Trey is going nuts here. Will probably be another all-Type I summer lawn show, but at least he's FREAKING BRINGING IT early.

Set is proceeding apace to be a typical summer '12 first set, but I'm enjoying it more than usual for some reason. Song selection, maybe?

The hits keep coming (in a good way)! Mini plinko-esque breakdown in Cities is the highlight so far.

Really rad -> Maze from Cities jam.

Peaches En Regalia: setlist selection A+

Nice, patiently building rock jam in the Gin.

Damn, Trey is going to TOWN.

And an awesome set one closes out with a shredtastic GTBT.

 

7/7/12 Set Two: DWD opener.

Trey teasing Blister in the Sun in the jam.

Band going all in on the tease. Trey singing lyrics now.

Full verse/chorus from the song, then -> Disease jam. Awesome.

Manteca-like jam now.

Short(ish), but really excellent jam after the Blister tease. Boogie On is next.

Eerie looping jam in Boogie On. Loving this. The band is showing a willingness to be weird musically in this show that's been missing for most of the summer so far.

-> Golden Age!

Mini space jam out of Golden Age -> 2001.

That was a short, but really neat and legitimately jammy take on 2001. Number
Line next.

Blister in the Sun jamming in Number Line!

Caspian follows Number Line with a really mellow, bass-and-piano-led jam.

Loving this.

-> Scent of a Mule. I know that sounds weird, but it makes sense.

Blister in the Sun jamming again during the Scent jam. Trey singing the lyrics now.

Band weaving Blister in the Sun and Scent of a Mule together now. So good.

Mike's Song. Lots of Blister in the Sun teasing throughout.

Some teasing in Contact and Groove as well.

Set two ends with one more tease.

Sabotage encore. That seems right.

That second set/encore was fantastic. No huge jams, but great flow and a lot of fun experimentation throughout. I've been struggling through a lot of these early 2012 shows, honestly, except for a few bright spots. This was definitely one of them.

2012-07-06 SPAC I

The show's first set is another fun-but-light summer '12 affair, elevated slightly by some "tucking" antics, a few great covers ("Corinna," "Light Up") and a "Tube" > "Psycho Killer" > "Tube" sandwich. In the second set, "Carini" and "Sand" both get interested jam spaces that get truncated way too early. Fortunately, the later "Sally" > Jam > "Ghost" sequence is worth a second look.

The Live Review
7/6/12: Alright, it's been awhile, but now that school's back in session, I'm going to try t7/6/12: Alright, it's been awhile, but now that school's back in session, I'm going to try to get back into going r… https://t.co/dGJRfT29GB      
7/6/12: I'm not sure how well it will work due to my recently, weirdly decreasing interest in all things Phish, but… https://t.co/Iv7NcmFXMF      
7/6/12: Anyway, first show of the three-night SPAC run playing now. Runaway Jim opener.      
7/6/12: A very 2012 start to the show with Jim, Ocelot, Heavy Things, BOTT, Funky Bitch. That said, everything sinc… https://t.co/XSWMY8AxuX      
7/6/12: Tube next. Almost immediately, a segue into Psycho Killer.      
7/6/12: Full-ish take on Psycho Killer there in that Tube -> Psycho Killer -> Tube sandwich.
7/6/12: Here you go: https://t.co/543d0BzZ7i      
7/6/12: HYHU next. Trey singing Psycho Killer lyrics.      
7/6/12: Fish says 'You tucked it once, why tuck it again?!'      
7/6/12: Trey ends the song by yelling 'Why not tuck THRICE?!' Fish responds 'We're playing all the hits tonight, folks.'      
7/6/12: Always good to hear Paul and Silas.      
7/6/12: Corinna! This cover is the best thing about Phish 2012 so far.      
7/6/12: Light Up Or Leave Me Alone is back, too!      
7/6/12: End set with an extended Type I jam on Light Up.      
7/6/12: All told, it was a pretty fun, summery set. Also 17 songs and 90 minutes long. Set two opens with Chalkdust.       
7/6/12: After Chalkdust, Carini is the first real jam of the night. Trey soloing in a dark tone while Page adds organ chords.      
7/6/12: Fish changing up the beat to add some tension.      
7/6/12: Transition to a mellower space. Great melody playing from Trey.      
7/6/12: Second jam peters out pretty quickly. Segue into Sand.      
7/6/12: Crowd roaring during composed section of Sand. Not sure why.      
7/6/12: Neat, loop-based breakdown in the middle of Sand.      
7/6/12: Okay, it wasn't actually the middle, it was the end because there was a weird segue into Roses right after I typed that.             
7/6/12: Band tried briefly to recreate the Worcester Roses there, but it didn't go so well.      
7/6/12: PYITE instead.             
7/6/12: Spooky, loop-filled ending to PYITE, leading into Sneakin' Sally.      
7/6/12: Absolutely nasty groove in this Sally jam.      
7/6/12: Trey using his guitar muscles to transition into a second jam here. Sounds sort of like a cross between a Light jam and Rift.      
7/6/12: Seems like by summer '12, LivePhish stopped labeling jams as separate tracks. Too bad in this case, because… https://t.co/wRkNhpAS0e      
7/6/12: Make that Sally > Jam > Ghost.
7/6/12: Angry haze building in this Ghost jam.      
7/6/12: Haze modulating into an uplifting progression. Shades of 2015 jamming here.      
7/6/12: > Suzy  
7/6/12: Welp, I'm pretty much going to say the same thing about this show that I've been saying about most of 2012… https://t.co/ecjgdMEC6c      
7/6/12: ...and most of the second set was the same except for that great Sally > Jam > Ghost sequence.
7/6/12: I feel like the band is actually playing better now than they were between '09 and '11, they just aren't st… https://t.co/jbIvToeM1H

2012-07-04 Jones Beach II

The Verdict:
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    

2012-07-03 Jones Beach I

The Verdict:
I feel like I've said this about nearly every first set this tour so far, but this one's a well-constructed scorcher. From the "Skin It Back" mega-bustout opener (played flawlessly and jammed-out, by the way) to "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" through a nuclear "Mike's Groove" and a surprise "JJLC," there is almost no letup here.

The second set starts with a pretty standard take on "Chalkdust," but the "Sand" that follows starts opening things up a bit. Things get more jazzy than funky, and a plinko-style jam leads nicely into "Golden Age." The "Golden Age" jam is one of more complex, consistently interesting things I've heard from the band thus far this tour, and it could have easily segued into "No Quarter" at the end if that hadn't just happened during the previous show.

For a brief moment, it seems like the following "Wolfman's" is going to follow in "Golden Age"'s dark-jammy footsteps, but it gets ripcorded (albeit smoothly) into "Walk Away," and from there we're into a more standard, non-improv set again.

Admittedly, you might want to hear the "Antelope" that closes the set, as it departs briefly from the usual template with an interesting bridge section.

All in all, it's not quite up there with 7/1, but 7/3 is another good omen for the rest of the summer.

The Live Review:
7/03/12: Skin It Back opener.      
7/03/12: As per @phishnet it's a 1,417 show bustout.      
7/03/12: And of course people in the crowd are cheering for it because Phish fans are insane and brilliant.      
7/03/12: How can you tell that it's almost summer break? I'm grading in my office in flip flops and a @phish hoodie… https://t.co/T3N07ZJEED      
7/03/12: Trey and Mike are killing the outro jam here.      
7/03/12: > Possum  
7/03/12: Skin It Back teasing at the beginning of Possum.      
7/03/12: Huge energy so far. Tube next.      
7/03/12: Happiness Is a Warm Gun      
7/03/12: Mike's Song      
7/03/12: Nice, slowly-building Mike's. > Hydrogen      
7/03/12: > Groove  
7/03/12: Trey just shredded Groove.            
7/03/12: Halley's Comet. Whatever first-set-setlist alchemy these guys were channeling in 2012, I hope they rediscover it in 2018.      
7/03/12: Funky ending to Tube. > Axila I. I think they were trying to segue it properly and just messed up the timing.  
7/03/12: Ya Mar!      
7/03/12: Page ripping up his organ solo. In case I haven't already mentioned this, the band is ON FIRE in this set.      
7/03/12: Joy.      
7/03/12: They literally just played this a set ago.      
7/03/12: On the upside, this is the first real slowdown in this set, eleven songs in.      
7/03/12: Jesus Just Left Chicago!      
7/03/12: How were people freaking out for Skin It Back, but not for this?!      
7/03/12: Lengthy first set keeps going with Number Line.      
7/03/12: Trey has been on fire for this whole set, and Number Line is no exception.      
7/03/12: Golgi, presumably to close the set.      
7/03/12: End ginormous set (14 songs, 84 minutes).      
7/03/12: Second set starts off with Chalkdust.      
7/03/12: Skin It Back tease in Chalkdust.      
7/03/12: More prolonged Skin It Back teasing at the beginning of the jam.      
7/03/12: Solid Type I Chalkdust. Sand next.      
7/03/12: After a fiery solo from Trey, Page is over to the electric piano and things are taking on a mellower tone.      
7/03/12: Almost a jazzy feel to this Sand jam. Liking it a lot.      
7/03/12: High-energy take on the plinko style here.      
7/03/12: Excellent -> Golden Age.  
7/03/12: That was real smooth. The Platonic Segue Of Dreams.      
7/03/12: Or just of, like, 1995.      
7/03/12: After a quick outro jam, things go Type II in a hurry. Funk time.      
7/03/12: Things turning really minimalist and introspective.      
7/03/12: Loving where this is going as a counterpoint to the first set's joyous rock sensibility.      
7/03/12: Great interplay across the board here.      
7/03/12: Hoping I get to hear this develop live and in person is why I keep buying tickets for Phish shows.      
7/03/12: If they hadn't literally just done it, this would be a great opportunity for a -> No Quarter.      
7/03/12: Jam fades, ends instead.      
7/03/12: Wolfman's next.      
7/03/12: Dark wave of sound coming out of this Wolfman's jam. Interesting.      
7/03/12: Really interesting jam with a sudden (but smooth) segue into Walk Away.      
7/03/12: Would have liked to hear more of that, but nice segue anyway.      
7/03/12: Bug is a nice choice for a cool-down song here.      
7/03/12: Nice late-set Fluffhead.      
7/03/12: Great take on Fluffhead. The Wedge is next.            
7/03/12: Neat Wedge > Antelope pairing.  
7/03/12: Some extended bridge jamming in Antelope. Atypical version.      
7/03/12: Trey taking the chance to engage the crowd in another game of Marco Polo.      
7/03/12: Now he's yelling 'Mike-o' and I'm pretty sure that the crowd, without prompting, is responding 'Gordo,' wh… https://t.co/fcxZQkdB1g      
7/03/12: End second set.      
7/03/12: ZERO encore.      
7/03/12: But do I mean 'There is zero encore' or do I mean 'Zero is the encore'? Well, isn't really the same either… https://t.co/Y6aoCKFxaz      
7/03/12: Apology gif. #zenhair https://t.co/okJ8n7gOKT      
7/03/12: That was a great show all around. Really enjoyed it. Excellent, summer-y first set and some serious (thoug… https://t.co/5I9HlExLMg        

2012-07-01 Alpine Valley II

The Verdict:
Well, on the second night of the Alpine Valley run, my wish for a more improv-laden show is granted. Barely.

The first set is another almost unbelievably well-constructed affair, bouncing from rarity to staple to ballad without missing a beat or sacrificing flow. Nearly every song is a surprise, but nearly every song works, so it's great. Of particular note is the jam in "Fee," which isn't just a novelty, but is a few minutes' worth of fantastic, full-band jamming. It's followed by a powerful "Maze"/"Coil" combo to close out the set.

The second set is interesting, at least by early 2012's standards. "Crosseyed" starts out with a pretty straightforward Type I jam, but segues nicely into a more abstract, almost-ambient space. That that space is quickly taken over by "No Quarter" is not something I'm going to complain about, because I love me some "No Quarter."

"Light" is a jam monster (if again only by early 2012 standards). It moves really quickly away from the usual arpeggiated Type I jam and into a mellower space that slowly modulates its groove until suddenly...holy shit, it's "Frankie Says"! It's not the full song, but a really thorough jam on the song's chords before the band returns to "Light" to finish it out with a wind-down into "Ghost."

"Ghost" proper is short, but sweet. It's a driving, dark, bluesy jam that prompts some "Still waiting" vocal quotes and is definitely worth a listen.

It's starting to feel like a legit Phish show in here suddenly, but alas there's some jukebox-y action coming during the fourth quarter of the show, with "BOTT," "Farmhouse," "Heavy Things," "Joy," and "Julius" all making an appearance. That said, these songs are definitely played with more verve than normal, and it's hard to fault a performance of even these songs when it sounds earnest instead of phoned-in.

So, I'm happy to call this show one of my favorites so far in this early leg of tour.

The Live Review:
7/01/12: Soul Shakedown Party opener.      
7/01/12: Looks like we're in for another rarities-laden opening set. Lonesome Cowboy Bill next.      
7/01/12: Surprisingly energetic solo from Trey here. Band yelling and hooting.    
7/01/12: And, as usual, by 'band' I mean 'Fish.'      
7/01/12: Vultures!      
7/01/12: SANS POTATO      
7/01/12: > Jibboo.  
7/01/12: Nice, jazzy little jam happening here.      
7/01/12: Nice, energetic jam in Jibboo. Dirt next.      
7/01/12: Liking the jazzy turn this set has taken.      
7/01/12: ASIHTOS breaks up the jazzy interlude.      
7/01/12: Access Me?!      
7/01/12: Well, that's fun.      
7/01/12: Meat! I love this tune.      
7/01/12: If these guys could combine a 2011/2012 first set with a 2015-2017 second set, they'd have the perfect 3.0 show.      
7/01/12: Well, that's not true. The perfect 3.0 show would just be two 2017 second sets.      
7/01/12: But the other would be a close second.      
7/01/12: Anyway, MEAT      
7/01/12: Some fun guitar from Trey during the breakdown. Crowd erupts at Mike taking the lead on bass for a moment.      
7/01/12: Frankenstein!      
7/01/12: Band a little rough here, but fun to hear it nonetheless.      
7/01/12: Fee! Loving this setlist.      
7/01/12: Neat arcade-machine-sounding jam coming out of Fee.      
7/01/12: Jam turning a bit somber now.      
7/01/12: Really cool Fee jam fades into Maze.      
7/01/12: Really high-energy take on Maze here. Wow.      
7/01/12: Looks like Coil will wrap up a great first set.      
7/01/12: Nice Trey/Page duel during the outro jam.      
7/01/12: Great first set! A nice mix of songs, very unpredictable but still cohesive. The awesome jam in Fee and th… https://t.co/D0mmn2KdrQ      
7/01/12: Crosseyed opener for set two.      
7/01/12: Some serious Type I jamming happening here.      
7/01/12: Mellower Type I jam with creepy 'Still waiting' lyrics.      
7/01/12: Brief moment of uplifting ambient sound before -> No Quarter.  
7/01/12: A somewhat out-of-the-box No Quarter solo from Trey there.      
7/01/12: Light next.      
7/01/12: Band doesn't spend a lot of time in the usual space, moves quickly to something more mellow and bouncier.      
7/01/12: Jam almost reminiscent of Coil outro.      
7/01/12: -> Frankie Says  
7/01/12: Building a bit of melody in now.      
7/01/12: Oh, for clarification, that was a sustained Frankie Says jam, but no lyrics. Not the full song.      
7/01/12: Synth-y tone from Page and Trey now.      
7/01/12: Neat wind-down > Ghost.   
7/01/12: Really interesting driving, tense jam forming in Ghost.      
7/01/12: This is great.      
7/01/12: Smooth move into a bluesy space. 'Still waiting' lyric quotes.      
7/01/12: -> BOTT  
7/01/12: Extra-short BOTT leads into Farmhouse.      
7/01/12: Nice, deliberate solo from Trey in Farmhouse.      
7/01/12: Late-set 46 Days is next.      
7/01/12: Jazzy Heavy Things makes a good companion to the first set's Jibboo.    
7/01/12: Some great Trey/Page interplay here.      
7/01/12: > Joy  
7/01/12: Julius      
7/01/12: Trey ripping on Julius. Then end set.      
7/01/12: Standalone Meatstick encore. That's fun!      
7/01/12: Overall, a show that really surprised me by transcending what it looked like on paper (another too-straight 2012 show).      
7/01/12: Fantastic first set, with a perfect setlist, a legit jam in Fee, and really strong takes on Maze and Coil.      
7/01/12: Second set had a nice mini-ambient jam in C+P plus a solid segue into No Quarter. Loved Light -> Frankie Says jam -> Light.
7/01/12: Ghost was short, but exploratory nonetheless, and as much as I want to call a fourth quarter slump after t… https://t.co/btHG6xlNTw