6/29/19 Camden
As others have stated, this looks - on paper - to be a pretty
straightforward "Rock Show" kind of gig. Fine by me as long as the
musics good!!
Off to a great start with a 20 minute Mike's Groove!!
Set 1
Mike's Song - Opening number so I will excuse the rust. Not the most
powerful or hot version. Pretty sleepy, if I'm being honest. But big
points for being opening number. It gets a pass for that! 
Also, the tune does eventually build up to a head of steam that's pretty tasty, but nothing special at all.
I Am Hydrogen - Hydro is Hydro!
Weekapaug Groove - Holy hell this is not good. The guys sound like they are falling asleep! 
One of the most lifeless Paug's ever!!! BUT, towards the end the fire
beneath rises to the surface and we get that ENERGY for a few FREAKIN
HOT minutes!!! Too little too late as far as being a highlight, but it
has its moment!
Divided Sky - Boy oh boy this set is not going good. A fine Divided Sky,
but there are a number of sticky moments from Trey and on the whole you
are most likely never going to point to this as a great version. Also,
the guys once again sound EXHAUSTED! Did someone spike their drinks with
Benadryl or something?!!! What is going on tonight....
Everything's Right - After the pure lethargy of the first 36
minutes of show, ER comes out swinging!! It's pretty short, but the jam
we get for several minutes is downright funktastic. At this point I'll
take whatever they want to throw my way (the beginning of the set really
was that bad...) and this I WILL GLADLY TAKE! 
Guelah Papyrus - Just when things were looking up we get another
not-great rendition, this time of a rarity, unfortunately. Trey sounds
lost half the time and it's begging to be put out of its misery. Darn
it!!
Sparkle - Is Sparkle
Roggae - Wonderful Type I beast that sees the guys climbing for the sky. Fantastic Roggae
46 Days - NEXT LEVEL ALERT! NEXT LEVEL ALERT! THIS IS MANDATORY
LISTENING! X FACTOR AWESOMENESS! GO GRAB THIS NOW AND BE
AMAZED!!!!!!!!!!!!
Overall, a pretty poor set in the grand scheme of things, but grab those 3 highlights, ESPECIALLY 46 FRIGGIN DAYS!!!!
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Set 2
Blaze On - A short but strong version opens the set like a party.
Good jam that delivers what you expect and the energy carried over from
46 Days (Thank god!)
Very nice transition into NICU!!!
>NICU - Trey set up a flawless transition, slowly working towards
NICU for a minute or so. But then instead of allowing the other guys to
catch up he ripcords directly into it, like yanking the slack out of a
rope. Yuck. Pretty nice version on the whole but it feels like it never
totally catches back up to itself.
>Golden Age - The lethargy returns, but a pretty nice choice of song
to go into, eh? Blaze>NICU>GA seem like a trio made in heaven
Eventually the song picks up and gets some strong jamming going. They
run out of steam though and segue into Ruby Waves pretty darn perfectly -
more than made up for that NICU ripcord!!!
>Ruby Waves - JAM OF THE SHOW BY FAR. THE ONLY THING EVEN
APPROACHING THIS IS 46 DAYS!!!! This is 14 outstanding minutes of group
improvisation. You hear this, and then its no surprise how they were
able to stretch it so good at Alpine!!! Really, really exceptional stuff
here. Mandatory listening. Dark and evil Type II that morphs flawlessly
into...
>Death Don't Hurt Very Long - Jeez, that's the kinda segue we love!!!
This version is almost exactly 3 minutes long - kinda more of a KV
segue than a true performance, lol. What's here is great though but
there's just not enough of it! Trey eventually breaks in with his wah
pedal and does probably the only Rift intro on wah!!!!
>Rift - Talk about unexpected!! Wah riff intro. Pretty good Rift (we all know how hit-or-miss it is these days!). This would be even better IF WE COULD HEAR TREY PLAYING INSTEAD OF HIM BARELY PICKING THE DANG NOTES!!! When all is said and done I think this is highlight worthy, but it could've been even better!
>Beneath a Sea of
Stars - Absolutely wonderful!!! Oh man this is gorgeous. Big Terrapin
Station vibes too!!! This sequence since Ruby Waves is just primo. This
is freaking gorgeous. A+ playing all around. Id call this mandatory too.
STUNNING Type II ambient outro!! X FACTOR!! X FACTOR!! X FACTOR!!!
>Waiting All Night - Oh my freaking god this is smoother than having sex in an oil vat filled with melted butter.
>Ghost -
A short but WELL WORTH YOUR TIME Ghost brings things back to a funky,
hot fever pitch!! Awesome funk workout. Fantastic little Ghost.
>SAY IT TO ME SANTOS!
You Enjoy Myself - Top notch 3.0 version. Totally nailed. Absolutely perfect ending to the show. Fantastic
Grind - Is Grind 
All
in all, I'd give this show a 3.3 to 3.5, personally. The highlights
were MAGICAL but there was so much that was, well, not magical as well.
Definitely a show to grab the highlights and steer clear of the rest.
Set 1 was easily the WORST set of the year so far by a WIDE margin. Set 2
was up and down, but once they hit Ruby Waves it was magic from there.
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