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