After skipping the creek in 2011, it was generally assumed phish would destroy deer creek in 2012. A hot Cincy>star lake>Blossum stretch managed to knock anticipation up another peg. Well, there's only one cure for the heat...

Set 1:
Bird watcher: I don't think anyone called this one. The accapella tune gave the deer creek shed that hanging out with phish on the back porch feel. They manage to do that here.

Curtain with: perfect electric opener. This rather lengthy and complicated tune was performed flawlessly. Treys lead cut straight through the muggy Indiana air...

Fuck your face: slamming out of curtain with with this rare gem got the crowd immediately revved. A change or two was missed but it did not diminish the overall effect. Great placement.

Old home place: great version of a snappy bluegrass song that seems to be rare everywhere but deer creek

Pebbles and marbles: another rarer score... Noticing a pattern? Once again, very well played. Treys solo soars right out of the gate into a blistering type one explosion.

Weigh: perfect choice! Good light hearted fun after a rather intensely played p&m's.

Cdt: this one picks the crowd up for the home stretch. It doesn't get as deconstructed as some, but still a nice version.

Wolfmans: hot on the heels of cdt, this page driven version doesn't particularly aspire for the big climax that most get to anymore. Instead, it finds a nice hot summer groove wih enough room for everybody to contribute. Like I said though, page really sits on this groove and owns it.

Cool it down: this seemed to be the bust out everyone wanted and phish delivers. My favorite tune off loaded. Good version.

Tweezer!: I just saw one the set before at Blossum, but hey, bring it on! Unlike Blossum's fun but somewhat goofy version, trey is all business here. He starts out with a very focused melodic lead that everyone else rides to the top. In rare fashion, this one actually comes back into the "traditional" tweezer ending. Good version. Great for a 1st setter.

Tela: if cool it down didn't get you "cooled down," this one sure did. Excellent placement. Can you misplace tela?

Faulty plan: between the heat and that first set, I think everyone had a blank space. Solid set closing version.

Overall: a very cohesive first set with very inspired playing. Outside of a bit of slop on fuck your face(which isn't a horrible song to have some slop) and a lyric miscue on wolfmans by trey the boys were honed in early.

Set 2
Mikes song: this one was blasting right out of he gates. Trey took his typically menacing lead while page had some very dark fills. Good version for 3.0. I would have liked a slower descent but the transition to mcgrupp still felt nice and natural.

Mcgrupp: this one may be my highlight. This fit the mikes song like a glove. Page weaves seemlessly through this one. Fish holds it down well too. As the best mcgrupp's do, this one felt like a real whirlwind by the end.

bott: trey leaves mcgrupp in a wash of feedback and delay loops. From there he lands perfectly into bott. Once the groove is established, he opens things up with a fairly raunchy lead before getting to the vocals. As the jam opens up, there's is some extremely playful interplay between all 4 members. They keep this nice groove going for a few minutes, slowly augmenting it. Then we find our selves in a bit of deep funk space land. Eventually, Gordon leads the charge into...

Hyhu/bike/Hyhu: Gordon throws in some nice psycho killer teases, which work well against Hyhu. Standard/fun fish action...

Weekapaugh: trey does a nice job directing Hyhu into weekapaugh, leaving fishman an opening. He grabs treys guitar and begins to solo away on weekapaugh. Just imagine one of fishmans rock a williams solos set to the back drop of weekapaugh. Not the most musical thing but fun none here less. Trey stays on the drums for a bit with fish allowing Gordon and page to get their groove on. Finally, trey comes back home and hammers down a pretty solid solo.

Caspian: not my favorite song but the middle section dissolves nicely into waves

Waves: trey leads the charge on this jam initially before giving way to page. Page dances through this one nicely driving up the waves theme. When trey comes back, the jam takes a momentary dive towards spacier realms, but trey comes back with a mix of funky and dissident rhythm playing. Once he settles on funky, page reasserts himself. Finally, trey fades back and allows gordon to lead the charge. He goes forth with a thick and forceful bass line that quickly allows trey and page a place to call home. Fishman has some wonderfully loose playing in this one. Moving precisely but without any desire for a clear climax the boys move smoothly into bug.

Bug: like caspian, not one of my favorites. Actually a solid version that fits this set well. Good trey solo. Works nicely into...

Bowie: this is a nice sharp set closing Bowie. It's not overly ambitious but it also gets the job done. Trey and page move nicely around each other building to the obligatory balls to the wall coda.

enc
Show of life>tweeprise: it is what it is

This show competes with the 3rd night of sb9 for best show I've seen since the return. The song selection was superb. The playing was both creative and precise. Both sets had a very coherent feel to them. Good to be back at the creek!

Highlights:
Set 1: curtain w/>fuck your face, pebbles, cool it down, tweezer>tela
Set 2: mikes groove, waves