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Traveling Book Sale: I should have books with me on the road for the rest of tour. Hit me up via Twitter—@mrminer—if you’d like to meet up before or after a show to pick up a signed copy! This will be done somewhere in town rather than the lot. They are only $50 from me in person as there is no $15 shipping charge. Just letting you know…

In stark contrast to their first show in Portsmouth, Virginia, on Wednesday night Phish threw down a heavy hitting, two-set affair with jams aplenty, several bustouts and a pair of well crafted sets. The ominous tone of the music provided balance to lighter feel of the first night, providing the yang to the latter’s yin. And where night one was light on improv, night two provided a coherent musical journey. Boasting flow from the beginning of the show the through the end, last night sits among the most robust overall performances of this young tour. Let’s take it from the top!

When the band stepped on stage to start the show, they immediately rolled out six 2012 debuts, including sought after bustouts, “Ha Ha Ha” and a sign-induced “Dog Log.” The fresh setlist gave the show an energetic jump-start without needing a lick of jamming. Also included in this sequence was a mid-set rendition of “Divided Sky,” a song that provided far more of a treat with its diminished role in the rotation. But when the summer debuts ended, the band kicked into high gear with “Mike’s Groove.” A slowed pace and thunderous groove of “Mike’s” rattled the undersized environs and the show was off and running. “Weekapaug” provided the the first glimpse of the outstanding, full-band communication we’d see from all night as Trey tore off continuous melodies over a popping groove that was anchored by Fishman’s smooth work on the skins. The first set wound to a close with a four song run that included another two 2012 premieres in “Ya Mar” and “Bold As Love.” Trey wove the “Ya Mar” lick quite smoothly, albeit a bit early, into the liquid textures of “Cities” and the band switched into the summer favorite. When “Bold As Love” seemed like it would close an extended first set, the band punctuated the frame with a nuanced “Juluis,” a jam that Fish and Mike framed to perfection with a shuffle beat pocket. With such a pronounced first set, the second was sure to bring huge things. And it did.

Taking both “Rock and Roll” and “Tweezer” off the shelf for the first time since Bonnaroo, Phish combined the two crowd favorites in a fantasy sequence to spark the second half. Forging through “Rock and Roll’s” composed jam with notable rigor, the band was clearly locked and loaded for a big set. The progressed out of song structure with a slick, Trey-led, slowdown and passed quickly into an ethereal spacescape. Trey favored loops and effects amidst this elegant sonic mystery. Hinting at a Digital Delay Loop Jam, this segment painted a portrait of the universe’s outer realms before Trey slinked into the “Tweezer” for which so many on tour had been jonesing. Playing through the actual song with all sorts of bells and whistles, Phish revved their collective motor and prepared to enter freezer.

From the onset of the jam, Page assumed leadership, pacing the quartet with his piano chords and assuming the melodic lead as Trey remained in the background. Coiled like a viper behind the groove, Trey alternately raised his head and struck with accented licks, effected layers of sound, rhythm chops, and outright leads. All the while, Mike and Fish remained locked in urgent and powerful dance rhythms. Page hopped to his clavinet and brought the “Tweezer” into Crunchville with a filthy tangent, and the crowd responded to the change of texture with roars of delight. Snapping into “Tweezer’s” traditional build, Red brought the house down with a soaring final peak before the guys slid through an outro groove and smoothly into “Free.”

Used as a landing pad for the past three years, it seemed that is exactly what was happening last night. But, momentarily, things got very interesting. As the band seeped out of Mike’s bass solo, Trey began to slice and dice the jam like he hasn’t in years, including a short plinko line that seemed to be pushing the band into the first “Free” jam of 3.0! But he forgot to tell his bandmates. Having been programmed since 2009 to go right to the song’s final chord changes out of the bass solo, that is exactly what the rest of the band did. Trey’s attempt was in vain, but perhaps this illustrates a willingness to stretch out one of the band’s long lost jams of the modern era.

The unquestionable highlight of the night, however, had still yet to be played. The stylistically opposing “Guyute” and “Birds of a Feather” provided a mid-set buffer before the guys jumped of the deep end into a profound “Harry Hood.” Once again, Trey laid way back as the band joined forces, allowing Page and Mike to set an ambient tone to things from the jump. Trey merged with this idea, offering minimalist “Hood” licks to the collective, and then layering his own psychedelic offerings into to a thickening dreamscape. Utterly awing in every sense, the band built an abstract take on an old tale, captivating the crowd with their originality. This excursion reached planes that “Hood” rarely, if ever, touches, and provided a welcome improvisational diversion. And when things reached their most abstract, Trey coyly laid in the melody of “What’s the Use?!” The band all took heed and adjusted within measures, sculpting another staggering summer segue.

The Siket Disc instrumental blanketed the pavilion with its post-apocalyptic sound, though the band—not rushed at all—moved through the piece with a bit more tempo that usual. As “What’s the Use?” came to an end, Fishman made the obvious decision and moved directly back into “Hood’s” cadence—it seemed that the band would complete their early classic. But as Page took over with a piano solo leading away from the song, the band missed a golden opportunity for another magnificent transition. Page’s hijack took the set into “Velvet Sea,” which, given the larger musical circumstances, wasn’t altogether inappropriate. The stage seemed set for a monster “YEM,” but—for whatever reason—the band is holding back their seminal piece this summer and, instead, turned to “Possum” to close the second set.

The encore provided thematic closure on nTelos Pavilion’s two-night stand as Trey came out and quietly played the Star Wars theme before the band launched into a final tucking” episode in “Sleeping Monkey.” During the song, Trey put his guitar down and serenaded Fishman, finally asking him to come out for one last “tuck.” And as you might guess, Fishman was more than happy to oblige. Torching the venue aflame with “Tweezer Reprise,” Trey stomped like a madman around the stage, pushing the 6,500 person crowd into a frenzy. And when the guys took their final bow of the night, everything seemed back on track in Phishland as they prepare to invade the Midwest.

I: Sparkle, Ha Ha Ha, AC/DC Bag, Divided Sky, Dog Log, Undermind, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen >Weekapaug Groove, Cities -> Ya Mar, Bold As Love, Julius

II: Rock and Roll > Tweezer > Free, Guyute, Birds of a Feather, Harry Hood -> What’s the Use? > Wading in the Velvet Sea, Possum

E: Sleeping Monkey > Tweezer Reprise

Throughout the modern era, it has been proven time and time again that sometimes the guys just like to play songs and have fun with out flirting with exploratory jamming. In what amounted to one long first set, Phish ran through 26 songs—crushing each and every one—with airtight interplay and obvious precision. The musical highlights of the night were weighted in the first set, while the random song generator was in full effect for the second straight second set of tour. Phish’s “Shuffle Mode” set in after the break and they spat out songs with no rhyme or reason. The set craftsmanship of 2012 that we saw on display in Worcester and for most of Atlantic City was nowhere to be seen in Virginia last night, as the show lacked any coherence, whatsoever. Laced with fun antics in the second half, the band seemed to decide on songs with little thought as to the nights contour—a very odd juxtaposition to first week of summer. But Phish will be an enigma to the end, and all we can do is enjoy them while they are here in whatever form they take. And we got that going for us, which is nice.

The first frame set things up quite nicely for the second with highlights of “Tube,” “Babylon Baby,” “Bathtub Gin,” Stealing Time” and “Antelope.” The band followed up AC’s standout “Tube” with another swanky first setter, as Trey got creative with rhythmic comps and palm-muted leads while Page went buck-wild on his clav. With Mike and Fish playing together as smooth as ever, the pocket was deep and the band came together in an early throwdown on a humid summer evening. The second appearance of Mike’s “Babylon Baby” also stood out as the band moved through its jazzy interplay with precision and urgency, upping the ante from UIC’s debut. This jam carries a fresh sound into the mix, and I think can it can really become a modern staple if the band allows it into the regular rotation. Check it out.

The set really picked up in audience energy with “Bathtub Gin.” The band palpably upped the crowd’s enthusiam as the jam concluded the hot summer day and brought us into the “cooler” evening. The music took an upward swing as Mike and Fishman shifted out of conventional “Gin” territory with a dancier pocket that carried Page and Trey into a jam that had a rocket on its back. Blasting through this sequence as if a one-minded beast, the band proved once again that their state of playing is clearly not an issue this summer. Annihilating this “Gin” and taking it to the top with a fury, they sustained the last note and splashed into yet another first set standout—“Stealing Time.” The band has finally added a jam to this song after two years of existence, and with each play it’s getting more and more engaging. In a crystallization of the post-hiatus sound, the band entered a dirty, sparse, and swinging groove while Trey unleashed his uncompressed growls within the jam as opposed to an overpowering solo—really quality stuff. Look for “Stealing Time” in a second set coming to an amphitheatre near you soon!

Of all things, a Fishman appearance set the tone for the rest of the show. During his vacuum solo in “I Didn’t Know,” he made a joke about tucking his dress into his underwear—and the proceeded to do just that as he played the Electrolux. Ridiculous to the core, the joke of “tucking” ran through the rest of the show, altering the lyrics of several second set songs, as well as the final chorus of a burlier-than-thou, first set closing “Antelope.”

When Phish came out for the second half with “Back on the Train” and “Rift,” it certainly seemed we had a case of “Jukebox Phish” on our hands. Things got far more serious in an instant, however, as the opening beats of a “Split” rang through the intimate pavilion. Coalescing in this jam like they haven’t in any recent “Split,” the band’s polished playing made this version pop with terrorizing artistry. A slowed tempo allowed the music to breathe, and the band to really be able to listen and respond to each other with intricacy. Fishman—perhaps the emerging star player of this early summer—held down this jam with alternating beats that kept the guys on their toes, without room a moment of complacency. This dark excursion ebbed and flowed with Fish’s leadership, and when all was said and done, the band had—easily—crafted the most menacing and cohesive “Split Open” of this era and the no brainer highlight of the night—must hear Phish.

But just like in the final Atlantic City show, here started the run of questionable second set song choices. While “Mango,” “Number Line,” “Limb” and “Shine a Light” are all stellar songs, stringing them together as the “meat” of the second set just doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense. But one can’t criticize the playing of the band for a moment, and that is a lot more than we have been able to say over the past few years.

The show got particularly funny when Trey picked up a light saber while Fishman invited any guys that were wearing a dress in the crowd onto the stage to “tuck” during “Lengthwise.” Well, the first “tucker” had absolutely nothing to tuck his dress into and wound up bare-assing the entire audience to the humorous dismay of the band. Then, as Fishman called a girl to stage, Trey began waving the light saber as a Jedi, while mimicking the voice of The Emperor saying “The force is strong with this one” while pointing at the second audience participant. Embracing his own Jedi mythology, Trey continued his Star Wars antics as the band slid into “Maze,” playing some parts of the intro with light saber on guitar. Needless to say, the “Jedi Maze” absolutely crushed, but it did little to salvage a second set that had been long lost.

Finishing the night with “Cavern > Fire,” and a “Mexican Cousin,” “Slave” double-encore, the band went offstage having played quite well from note one of the show right through the last, but without crafting any sort of flow in the second set, the first set of this show has far more playback power. But that “Split” is some truly demonic music from a song that hadn’t produced any in quite some time. When we look back at this tour, the first night of Portsmouth won’t be one of the shows that pops out as a highlight, but that’s totally due to song choice and placement rather than any lack of musicianship. Things are looking quite good in the Phish universe these days, now if we can just get the second set back in order, everything should progress just fine.

I: Sample in a Jar, Party Time^, Simple > Axilla, Tube, Kill Devil Falls, Water in the Sky, Horn, Babylon Baby, Bathtub Gin > Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, I Didn’t Know* > Run Like an Antelope

II: Back on the Train, Rift, Split Open and Melt*, The Mango Song, Backwards Down the Number Line, Limb By Limb, Shine a Light, Lengthwise* -> Maze, Cavern > Fire*

Encore: Mexican Cousin > Slave to the Traffic Light

^w/ Carl Gerhard of GCH on trumpet, * w/ “tucking” references

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PHISHTHOUGHTSCENTER!

On the way to the show on Saturday, I saw this tweet from @AlexDavis_says, but didn’t have time to check it out. When I finally listened, I was blown away! Much props guys, this is absolutely hilarious!

@YEMblog @mrminer @rphish Hours of killing time in hotel room = live sportscast reading of Mr. Miner’s 6/15/12 review soundcloud.com/funkatlanta/li…

— Alex D (@AlexDavis_says) June 16, 2012