And sometimes there are strange nights at the Phish concert, and Sunday would most definitely qualify. Despite a quality opening to the second set in “Drowned > 2001 > Reba,” the band played songs as if they were on “shuffle” mode all night long and somehow, their iPod missed any true launch pads and—for much of the second set—even rock songs. In a series of head-scratching decisions, the band unveiled a string of ballads in the middle of the second set, totally dousing any fire the set had going, while leaving the night with little to no musical adventure. Phish, to their credit, played every song in both sets quite well, but whoever was calling songs was in a particularly mellow mood and allowed the show—as a whole—to fall flat. Before breaking down the questionable calls in this one, let’s turn to the centerpiece of the show.

Bursting out of the second-set gates with The Who’s “Drowned,” the guys crafted an engaging jam, but it never veered far enough from the song for long enough to qualify for an “Atlantic City Jam,” and for a second-set opening cover, that says a lot. Trey slinked into the background once it started, allowing Page to lead much of the way on piano. But just as the piece dropped into half-time and it felt like things might pop off, the band, instead, turned for a quick, ambient transition into “2001.” And here is where the action of the show truly took place. Opening up the funk instrumental with slowed and chunky, open-air grooves, all four members coalesced in the most exalting “2001” of this summer. Stretching out the first verse with James Brown teases, and then the second verse with slow and swaggering rhythm patterns that evoked the vibe of many past festival monsters, Trey shared the spotlight with Gordon. The wide open grooves continued as the band followed the peak of  “2001” with a divine “Reba.” Remaining true to its classic contour throughout, the band delicately eased into the groove and slowly built a remarkable rendition. But aside from this phenomenal chunk of summer dance music, the show was quite thin and there’s no other way to put it.

After “Reba” came to a conclusion, Phish dropped into a second-set “Roses” and my heart nearly stopped. Were they really shifting “Roses” into rotation as a jam vehicle?! After Worcester’s first set revelation, this move seemed to signify exactly that. But when the juncture came to elevate, the band fizzled out into “Chalk Dust?!” Really? And the blows just kept, inexplicably, coming—“Prince Caspian -> “Silent In the Morning” (a pairing that worked well, though ill-placed), “Bug,” and an anticlimactic ending of “A Day in a Life” and a standard “Down With Disease?!” The setlist oddities continued right through a double encore of “Jibboo” and “Quinn The Eskimo.”

In a Sunday show that seemed bound to blow up on a half-empty Bader Field, Phish took things in the polar opposite direction with virtually zero out-of-the-box jamming in either set. The random song generator was at work for an harmless first half as well. The unquestionable highlight of a solid opening half was a torrid “Timber” and surprisingly energetic version of “Fluffhead.” And I rarely point out “Fluffhead.”

In summation, Atlantic City’s final night left many, dare I say most, in the crowd incredibly underwhelmed. Though each song was played well individually—Phish is at the top of their game after all— their setlist made no coherent sense whatsoever. When the band never even attempts to jump into adventurous jamming, we are left with last night—Singlestown, USA.

On to Portsmouth…

I: Brother, Runaway Jim, Dogs Stole Things, Boogie On Reggae Woman, NICU, Foam, Wilson, Timber, Fluffhead, Walls of the Cave, Character Zero

II: Drowned > Also Sprach Zarathustra > Reba > Roses Are Free > Chalk Dust Torture, Prince Caspian ->Silent in the Morning, Bug, A Day in the Life, Down with Disease

E: Gotta Jibboo, Quinn the Eskimo

Summer 2012 is a great time to be a Phish fan, and last night was another reason why. Balancing a strong, song-based performance over two sets, the band unquestionably centered the show on a surreal mash-up of “Light” and “Manteca” that stands up to the any recent sonic foray. Playing support to this centerpiece jam was an engaging set-opening combination of “Crosseyed -> Slave” and a seething, late set “Sand.” But for start to finish fluidity, this second set couldn’t touch the other four of tour. Not to diminish the playing within, but the band’s recent set craftsmanship wasn’t exactly showcased in either frame on Saturday night. Nonetheless, there are plenty of highlights to discuss, so let’s start with the brightest.

A fluid sequence of “Crosseyed -> Slave” kicked off the main event, in which the band exited the snarling rock cover with a sparse textural jam that soon built—in transcendent fashion—towards a gorgeous transition into “Slave.” But following this powerful opening couplet, the band dropped into the monster jam sequence of the night, “Light -> Manteca -> Light,” or—from here on out—”Lighteca.” Trey took a different turn when confronted with “Light’s” guitar solo, quickly deferring to the rhythmic focus of Mike and Fishman. Joining in the groove-based excursion, Trey began to subtely weave teases of “Manteca” into already similar-sounding mixture. And then—bam—the band burst into the full-blown Dizzy Gillespie cover!  As they shifted back into “Light,” they continued to groove hard in an outright musical fusion. Lacing this jam with both melodic and rhythmic teases of “Manteca,” the band sculpted an incredibly slick hybrid of the two songs. Then, as Trey switched gears with some hard rhythm chords, Fish immediately changed into a more driving beat, giving the piece a very “Chalk Dust” vibe. In fact, I was sure the band was moving slowly towards a back door transition into their rock anthem, but when they steered clear of the song—instead, veering into a lyrical “Crosseyed Reprise”— I thought it to be even cooler that they didn’t take the plunge and maintained a more subtle musical nod. Eventually dripping into a spacey outro, it sounded—momentarily—as though the band would pass into “No Quarter,” but instead they chose a fitting landing point in “Theme From the Bottom.”

Phish continued their setlist shakeup last night by dropping an uncharacteristic, late set “Sand.” And stylistically, this one couldn’t have been more opposite of Worcester’s version. Sidestepping the whole-band focus The Centrum, last night’s “Sand” provided a retro take on the song, as Trey took center stage, lighting his Languedoc afire. While the band certainly held down a strapping groove, the focus of this jam was on the Big Red Machine. Blending the feel of millennial versions and recent TAB renditions, this “Sand” was a heat-seeker rather than an overtly swanky collaboration. And it’s fresh to see the band with such divergent takes on within a week of each other. The band carried their lyrical “Crosseyed” reprises through the set, ending “Sand” with the second such episode of the evening. The set closed with a laid back and ethereal version of “Number Line” and a relatively stock, but ripping, “Antelope.” Trey was on fire all night and “Antelope,” put a fitting cap.

A first half, filled with old-school song selections, opened with a bang when the guys came out with an adrenalizing “Mike’s Groove.” The hefty opening suite set the table for a big first opening frame, and after a teasing twin-bill of “Gumbo” and “Halley’s”—both without jams—the vibe continued with the always-menacing “My Friend” and a laid-back-turned-spirited, Trey-centric, “Wolfman’s Brother.” But the rest of the set fizzled a bit, despite an uber-chronic intro to an out of place “Punch.”

All in all, night two of AC was a very fun and tasteful night of Phish, featuring many well-known anthems for the noticeably increased Saturday night crowd, and with a centerpiece that gets tacked on to an exponentially expanding Summer 2012 highlight list. And with a centerpiece as acrobatic as “Lighteca,” and a fun “Crosseyed” theme throughout the set, everything fell right into place.

I: Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, Gumbo, Halley’s Comet > My Friend, My Friend,Wolfman’s Brother, The Horse^, Lawn Boy, Possum, Punch You In the Eye,  Ocelot, Suzy Greenberg

II: Crosseyed and Painless -> Slave to the Traffic Light, Light -> Manteca -> Light* > Theme From the Bottom > Golgi Apparatus, Sand* > Backwards Down the Number Line, Run Like an Antelope

E: Good Times Bad Times

^aborted, * w/ “Crosseyed” lyrical reprise

Phish opened up their Atlantic City run with a scorching second set jam-packed with free-form improvisation, pushing the envelope even further on what is clearly a limitless summer of possibility. Another show—and another outstanding set that stands up to any of this era— later, the band has hit a plane of egoless interplay that we have dreamed they’d recapture since they stepped on the stage in 2009. And now with each passing show, this new found improvisational fluidity is blossoming in time-lapse in front of our eyes. Morphing elements of every style they have ever touched on—the guys are in the process of creating a vintage year of Phish—2012 —that just may wind up being the best yet.

Crafting a set with a distinctly Phish2k vibe in both song selection and stylistic lineage, the band attacked the music in the second frame like a synchronized flock of vultures with no doubt as to their mission. The way in which Trey laid back throughout the set—allowing Mike and Page to lead every jam—and then seeped into the fabric of the music with utmost subtlety was the stuff of Jedi mastery. Before you knew it, that little lick that Trey had eased into the background of a jam had grown to prominence and was the peaking the segment, tying entire episodes together with utmost coherence. When many had least expected it, the band has come out this summer at the absolute top of their game, on a seemingly star-crossed destiny.

Such was the case with “Birds of a Feather,” the centerpiece of the entire show, and easily the most astounding music we’ve heard from the band in some time. Completely comfortable with the most wide-open jamming, the band crafted an incredibly dense tale of sorcery out of a song they hadn’t touched in eons. Launching far from song structure and into a pure, Phish-wonderland, the band carved out completely original, and incredibly dense music for what seemed like an eternity. At ease where he once winced, Trey laid notably back at the onset of this jam, allowing Mike to lead the way into unknown territory with an assault of sublime bass lines. As Page and Fish were totally enmeshed with the group, at this juncture Phish transformed into modern day shamans, invoking spiritual revelations to anyone who had an open ear. This is the stuff of legends, when the guys come together to create music that one could never imagine. Again, this is why we come. It seems that anyone who has put any time into this band in past couple years will be getting their payoff in droves this summer, as the guys are on a totally enhanced level of communication—only four shows into tour—than we have seen anytime recently. The music is flowing effortlessly again, and when the band is moving as one, like they were last night, nothing in the universe can stop them.

Somehow, “Bird’s” extended trip into paradise twisted its way into a seamless segue—completely out of left field—into “Back on the Train.” Much like Worcester’s “Sand -> Nellie Kane” transition, upon listen back, Trey began introducing elements of the song in the final stages of the jam, setting up Fishman to—on a dime—bring them into “Train.” After some stellar Trey soloing in “Heavy Things,” the next dive into deep water came in the classic song pairing of “Twist -> Piper.” Taking a fresh, and laid back tempo into the jam, the band really got creative with this version of “Twist” like they haven’t in some time. While never fully leaving the song, they created a spacy, soundscape in which all four members contributed equally and awesomely. But when they turned the corner and “wooed” their way into “Piper,” things took a turn for the outlandish again. Packing so many themes into a patient jam, not like so many breakneck versions of lore that just jumped down your throat, the band found themselves back in “Birds” jam territory as they dug into things. It certainly seems that Trey’s 2012 approach is a minimalist one. Weaving the most tasteful licks into this jam, Red continued to defer to Mike’s (and Page’s) leadership, picking and choosing his spots like a hawk. But the way in which his themes crept to the forefront of this jam is something to behold. Getting into some elevated and forceful, yet utterly graceful, playing, the band left countless jaws on Bader Field as they wound their way into a hypnotic ending before bleeding out into “Billy Breathes.”

Having sound checked the song earlier in the day, the band brought out their delicate ballad in a very appropriate spot, serving as a soft landing point for the free-form madness that had just concluded. Following the ballad, and after an extended silence, Phish pierced the summer air with a drop into “Sneakin’ Sally.” Entering infectious funk territory without falling back on any clichés, this jam entered original planes of gnar. With booming bass lines blanketing the field, the band broke into a late-set dance session that lit the crowd afire. This first outright groove release after a tenacious set of psychedelia felt as cool as the Nestea plunge on a 100 degree day. Juxtaposing styles at just the right moment, the band absolutely hit the spot with “Sally,” tuning the party out with a filthy episode. And as the band built the funk a bit further out, Fishman jumped on the opportunity to initiate the first “Bowie” of summer.

Splashing into the jam with an array of self-referential teases that rehashed many of the evening’s songs, the band’s playful side was on display within this serious set of musicianship. Taking a generally liner contour, the band carved an intense closer that fit the set’s vibe perfectly. And as the band crashed the final chord into the cool Jersey evening, I looked at my friends—it had been one of those nights again. One of those nights we’ll look back on in many years and remember fondly for the eternal music and memories within. And that “Birds” jam…whoa…that “Birds” jam!

The band eased into their three-night run with a relaxed afternoon set that featured choice song selection and a couple notable high points. A loose and rhythmic “Tube,” far more developed than recent versions, got things moving in the daylight, and sparked a slinky triumvirate of “Tube,” “Cites,” and “It’s Ice.” But the standout jam of the set was, unquestionably, “Stash.” Laced with unusually intricate interplay, this version ran the sonic gamut, crafting a must-hear highlight. And the final piece of note in the opening frame was the set’s closing “Faulty Plan.” Finally opening the song up a bit, the band entered some raunchy, uncompressed “Zero-esque” jamming that served as an obvious harbinger of things to come form a song that has lied dormant too long.

Although it’s still the early goings, everything seems to be falling into place exactly like we’d all hoped it would. In fact, it’s almost as if the band has been eavesdropping on every complaint their fan base has had about them in recent years and addressed every single point. How did they do it? Well, that’s for them to know and us to marvel about. And from my seat, I like the view.

I: The Sloth, My Sweet One, 46 Days, Camel Walk, Tube > Cities > It’s Ice, Ginseng Sullivan, Stash, Simple > The Wedge, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, The Squirming Coil

II: My Soul, Birds of a Feather -> Back on the Train > Heavy Things, Twist > Piper > Billy Breathes, Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley -> David Bowie*

E: First Tube

* w/ “Stash,” “It’s Ice,” “Birds of a Feather,” “Simple,” and “Ginseng Sullivan” teases