Very fun show that wouldn't quit. Did they stumble a few times? Maybe. Did they continue to bounce back to deliver in spades? Most definitely.

Chalkdust threatened to go type II, but stayed within it's lines when all was said and done. Sand threatened to end early twice, but had some stellar jamming. As did Golden Age which featured a major excursion that touched down into a hushed silence. Wolfman's was looking to be the song of the night. It's jam got started when a Fishman flub happily triggered an intensely arhythmic and wholly different jam than usual. The segue into Walk Away happened too soon. Fluffhead sounded particularly natural in the second half. I think Mike got lost for a bit, but it was a worthy version. Antelope was adventurous from the get go and is worth seeking out.

First set had a couple of long shelved tunes getting decent readings but was mostly tepid until the solo in Ya Mar. Nice to get Jesus Just Left Chicago.

Very fast sign response with Skin It Back. Crowd is assimilating well to the 'all signs down' rule. ((Obey)) !

Tube was fine. Happiness is a warm gun was stellar. The closest I can hope to a Pumped Up Kicks this tour. Mike's ensemble was excellent placement. Tight as ever. Haley's 'til the end was a good tight first set that we had fun karaoke to all evening long in the comfort of our own theater.

CDT >Golden Age was tight. Wolfman's>Joe Walsh was ehh. Bug came with a wonderful glimpse into the band's speechless back stage communication techniques. Love Bug. Fluffhead was intricately phenominal (Thanks for re-learning how to play it, Trey). Wedge>Antelope= favorite part of the night. There was a bridge in the Antelope that was smooth as sunshine; one for your charts. Zero has continued to amaze me this tour. Every time I see it, it gets better and better. Great placement. Fun show!

No disrespect to the rest of this show, but I have listened to that Sand -> Golden Age sequence, especially the last 5 minutes when Gordon starts dropping bombs and the jam dissolves into sugary sweetness, probably an average of thrice a week since this show. It's that damn good. And, as a lot of others have noted, if a few things had been different the rest of this show would earn as much praise as the big dogs of 2012. Still, a true marquee jam sequence is nothing to sneeze at.

The jam in Walk Away doesn't constitute a Tweezer Reprise tease in my opinion. It _is_ a jam in a similar vain, but they have done Walk Away with this same jam structure a bunch of times since reuniting in 3.0-- in fact, almost every time in 3.0 (11/28/09 was a shorter one but every other 3.0 Walk Away I recall has this same jam structure). Listen to the last Walk Away (from 6/24/12) for example...

Coming off the two pretty damm good shows in VA, this first of two hometown shows left me a bit lacking but a very solid show nevertheless. The guy with the orange Skin It Back sign ran past me in the orchestra and I'll bet he was the happiest guy in the building...:-wink/smile!

My friend wanted the rock and roll side of the band tonight and I would say he got it: Possum, Tube, Mike's Song, Axilla (saw the NJ license plate in the lot) in the 1st set. I love Joy and was very pleased to see it repeated so quickly. And who wasn't happy 'bout getting Happiness Is a Warm Gun?

2nd set came out rocking and rolling with CDT>Sand>Golden Age, one of the highlights of the show. Really dug the Golden Age. Wolfman's was ok but the song of the show to my ears was Walk Away, besides it hitting me personally for what I'm going thru presently the band ripped it a new a**hole, just a great and incendiary version. Bug, another favorite and had me dancing hard while those around me chose to sit. Fluffhead seemed extra special tonight. And The Wedge>Antelope also felt extra special and made for a great one-two punch to close out the show and left me bathed in my own sweat. And, finally, the Character Zero put an exclamation point on an excellent 2nd set/show.

Happy 4th of July, looking forward to the musical fireworks tonight!

Peace,
Alex

i really enjoyed the classic mikes groove. straight up, no nonsense, pre 1993 mikes groovin...good stuff. skin it back was sweet. i had never heard of the song before last night. i thought it was great and i hope that they choose to work it into the rotation going forward.

i thought sand was interesting. it had some great moments, but it was also a little confusing. i mean, i enjoyed it, but it seemed to me as if the band was having a hard time figuring out which direction they wanted to take it. we'll see if i still feel that way after i listen back.

I absolutely hate Golden Age, the song. Its 5 minutes of torture to my ears. i dont know why, it just is. but i love the jams that are often built off of it. last nights was probably the most interesting out of all of the ones ive heard. that slow, patient jam was incredible. at times it sounded similar to the famous waves soundcheck from 2011. the crowd knew something special was going down and you could literally feel the venue bursting with energy near the end of that jam. top flight phishin right there, folks.

Top it all off with an intense, high energy antelope (arent they all?) and you have yourself one hell of a show.

Should add the Mike-o Polo game played during lope

This was an awesome show. Me and my friend listened to the show on the way home (thanks to livephish.com) and I appreciate it more and more each time I play it. With many highlights, my favorite of the night was Run Like An Antelope. Trey's guitar was just so damn smooth, not to mention the fun "Marco Polo, Mike-O Gordo" interlude.

Ok, Let me say I think this was a great show. The Skin it back opener, Antelope closer, Sand->Golden Age and solid 1st set Mikes groove anchor a show that I was really happy with when it was all said and done.

BUT (yeah, sorry ...there's a but)

This show was on its way to possibly top 1-3 of this tour when the jam in Wolfmans started up. Fishman went for some really creative beats, Mike slapped away, Page stood up for some Funky clav, and Trey began to Growl something nasty and evil. They were going somewhere great and dark and dirty and the rug was pulled out from under it faster than you could say walk away. And from then on the feel of the show changed. It went from experimental and dark to crowd pleasing and energetic.

Not saying that's a bad thing. I'd prefer the former, but that's just me. I would've loved to see what coulda happened to that Wolfman's though.

Sand--->Golden Age once again some of the best playing of the tour in this sequence without a doubt. The antelope was one of the best i've heard in a long time. This second set had the makings of being the tour's best but as it looked like they were going to throwdown on wolfman's (which followed the unreal sand--->golden age sequence) they cut it short and went into walk away. once again another solid solid show. Must must hear sand-->golden age! while you're at it listen to the lope also you won't be disappointed as I am not personally a huge fan of the song. Loved this version though. Night 2 awaits......

I love that there changing things up and bringing out old songs. How about a call out for "will it go round in circles". They only played it twice. I saw at the gorge in 99 and was as funky bust out as funky gets. Bring it back!!!!!

The jams on Mike's and Weekapaug are indeed tight. I admit I've heard no tighter live.

On the negative side. . .I kept picking up the flubs from where I was sitting. Tube, etc.

And I was Walk Away'd for the first time. Zoikes.

Skin it back...no words can describe the joy I felt.
The rest of the first set was pretty solid. Gotta dig the old school, straightforward Mike's grooves this year, confident and tight.
Second set opening with chalkdust is always a good way to kick things off. Wish they had taken wolfmans for a nice 11-12 min ride but, oh well, what can ya do?... walk away was good.
Bug>fluff>wedge> antelope was weird yet, very cool. Wedge seemed kind of off, but the end was nice, I love that tune. Antelope was absolutely phenomenal!! 2012 was the year of the Antelope for me, I caught three this tour. Blossom, jones, spac...I think this one takes the cake, but they were all very well played. The jones antelope seemed like it was never gonna drop into "rye rye Rocco"...it was outrageous. I strongly suggest listening to that final 4 song sequence.

Cool show...skin it back, still can't believe it.
Coolest Phan moment I've had, so far. Definitely looking forward to second leg bust-outs...hoping to make it to at least one.

the more I listen to this show (on my 3rd spin) I can not understand how people don't LOVE this second set; the CDT>Sand>Golden Age>Wolf>Walk Away is the epitomy of 3.0; there's some real good stuff there y'all, listen up. Beyond that - Fluff>Wedge was super deep (borderline emotional) and Antelope was (as other reviewers have pointed out) the perfect "F*CK YOU" to 4th quarter blow hards.

I'd put this set in my "best ofs" in leg 1 for sure...now for SPAC's BRAIN 2012!!!!!!!!!!

Every time it says there is a tease in some song with Dave's Energy Guide, I never hear it...especially in Fluffhead. Is there someone fact-checking these?

Awesome show, I am submitting this review mostly to note that I think Gordon did a "sinister minster" tease during the intro to weekapaug groove. for those of you who dont know "sinister minister" is a bela fleck and the flecktones song. just throwing that out there.

Loved this piece. Once in a lifetime opener!! Great kinetic energy in possom, whichn opened the gates for a spot on Mikes Groove! The Tube was interesting and made my day when it came out of nowhere and brought the scene for Golgi. The second set was filled with more great songs that continued and bought you full circle to Antelope. The encore was incredible.

46 Days and Old Home Place Soundcheck.

this 2nd set had all the makings of being the best set of tour so far but fell off a bit. that being said it is still definitely right up there with best sets this tour. the sand-->golden age is a must hear, again it is a MUST hear. next came wolfman's and at this point i thought to myself set of tour. however i changed my mind when they just couldn't seem to lock in on wolfman's and went into walk away. bit of a letdown for me eventhough the walk away was shredded by big red. another must listen is the antelope that closed the 2nd set. i am not a big fan of this tune but this version is a must hear and probably one of the best in a long while. thoroughly enjoyed this show. 2nd set top 5 of the summer so far imo.

**Need to put a tease notation in Walk Away for Tweezer Reprise. It was sustained for a good minute and 2 or more of the band memebers were doing it.**