Moving on to 6/22/19, Columbia, MD
Look at that setlist - the guys are clearly wanting to funk it up tonight!
Undermind, Tube, Funky B, Steam (first four in a row!) and then later on Ghost and No Men In No Man's Land
Cool, yo
Set 1:
Undermind - Always love this one popping up. Surprised it never
got played in 2003/2004. It's become quite the player in recent years,
no? Absolutely loved getting it in Charleston '19. Danced my tail off!!
This one is a very good opener and the guys are IN SYNC!!! Very strong
version all around and an excellent show opener!
Tube - Extremely funky. Get it, Cactus!!! Gets going with a
pretty sparse and chill kinda jam, everyone making use of the space.
They ride this for a few minutes before turning into a major key bliss
jam. AND IT IS A TERRIFIC BLISS JAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then they RIP into the blues-shred section. PHENOMENAL TUBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Funky B - GET IT LEO!!! Really great
version with extra mustard sauce. Page rips, but Trey is REALLY digging
in tonight. He's not just shredding, he's choosing his phrases
perfectly and letting his guitar speak. Really, really, REALLY great
Funky B
Steam - And that funky train just keeps a-rollin'!! See Tube and
Funky B!!! Trey is REALLY on point tonight. Some nights it sounds like
he's actively "searching" for his next part but tonight it is just
FLOWING like melted butter. Absolutely stupendous group playing on this
from all involved. There are several distinct sections (again,
microjams?) and it all is sewn together seamlessly. Truly classic Steam.
10/10 Steam. Wow.
My Sweet One - The vocal harmonies are out of key, but who cares - YEE HAW M'FER'S!!! HOLY HELL GET IT LEOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NICU - The first "letdown" of the night. After the preceeding storm of
awesomeness, this NICU sounds flat out tired!!! Wow, did not expect
that. Trey sounds like he's falling asleep, lol. Oh well, not EVERY song
can be an out of this world highlight. A fine version but a definite
step down. But nothing wrong with a good breather!!!
Friend - The debut (and to this day only) performance of this GotF song. Hey, they had to try them all out at least once, eh?
Kinda surprised this has never reappeared! Trey lets it rip with a
lovely, soaring, Gilmour-esque solo, hitting every right note in the
right spots. Really great all around!!! This is like Wingsuit on
steroids. Really, really awesome stuff. Don't miss it!
No Men In No Man's Land - Starts off as usual and quickly dives
into funky jam land. They can't decide whether to bliss out or get dark.
They kind of nudge the jam slowly towards the light, however. For a
minute it sounds like we are gonna get some Weekapaug creeping in, but
Trey brings back out the extended sustain notes and we head for heaven.
Watery synth washes and slightly ambient bliss abound. Eventually Page
breaks out the good ole' piano and we bring the song to a ROCKING Hose
conclusion. Very late 90s kind of stuff.
I'd say this jam isn't anything you haven't heard before, but it is
done extremely well and naturally. Yet another friggin' keeper in the
set!!!
Silent In The Morning - SITM is always SITM. When are they gonna give it that Type II Lawn Boy treatment?! Another very fine version but nothing special about it whatsoever.
David Bowie - The song portion sounds tired but holy hell does
the jam peak hard!!! Great jam that goes to some nice places and the
aforementioned peak will tear your head off!!!! Nothing special really,
but definitely highlights-list-worthy!!!!!!!!!!
Squirming Coil - Yet another song with extra mustard tonight. It
doesn't do anything different than we expect, but it is a top-tier
rendition and absolutely worth your time.
All in all, a true A+ first set. Absolutely STELLAR set, from top to bottom (aside from the weird NICU!)
Mandatory listening, this one is.
------------------------------------------
Ghost - Ah yea! Deep space Type II funk fest. A 15 minute Ghost
that delivers exactly as you want/expect it to. You know what you are
going to get and it is great.
Axilla - Is Axilla. Great little breather.
>Set Your Soul Free - 14 minutes of awesome-sauce. Freaking
rocks!!! Around 6 minutes we drop into Plinko Land for a bit. From there
we morph into a more sunny kind of Dead-style upbeat area. From there
its into some 1999-esque ambient bliss jamming. Everyone is playing
TOGETHER and in sync. Really, REALLY, REAAAAALLLLYYYYYY great jam!!!!
>What's The Use - Man, I couldn't've picked a better piece to go into! You might as well just consider it part of SYSF!!!
>Billy Breathes - WOWOWOW!!!! It's like SYSF>WTU>BB
works as some prog epic or something. Really awesome triple play that
flowed better than it had any right to. I can't get over how good that
all was. Jeez louise!
Death Don't Hurt Very Long - GET IT FISH!!!!! The boys bang it
out hardcore with some heavy hitting funk, getting quite metallic at
times. Very awesome. Very rocking. Sludgy and heavy!!!
Backwards Down the Number Line - A strong Type I rocker version that
isn't what the doctor ordered but does the trick nonetheless. Enjoyable
but nothing special.
>Harry Hood - Gets it going hardcore but not for too long. Good stuff, yo.
Rise/Come Together - Flubtastic but loaded with piss and vinegar. Not list worthy but gets an honorable mention. It's only italics-worthy
Golgi Apparatus - Yuck! PRACTICE TREY, PRACTICE!!! Yea, not it's finest outing....
Bug - Is Bug. Love Bug. Bug Is Love. Bug Is Life. BUT, Bug is just Bug. Very good Bug. Very Buggy in that Buggy kind of way.
Character Zero - See above
All in all, 3/4 of this show had my jaw on the floor. A 3.5 rating on
.NET?! Are the people rating shows over there deaf or something? Reading
reviews, we did NOT just listen to the same show.
Strong A for me. I wouldn't hesitate to give this a 4.2 to 4.4 rating perhaps.
Yea, ratings don't mean diddly, it's just interesting to compare thoughts.
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