2019-09-01 Commerce City, CO

 Dick's 2019 #3

Set 1

Stray Dog ("Plague Dog") - Unexpected opener. I remember following this tour in real time and wondering which KV songs would be axxed permanently. Up to this point this appeared to be on the chopping block as its prior appearance was, I believe, New Years 2018. As for this one, I will give them points for trying it once as an opener. It's not the best opener but it rocks and Page rips it up and it gets the job done nicely A for effort!

Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan - Thank Icculus this was not the opener. Opening with ST is like the Dead opening a set with Victim Or the Crime. Enough of my babbling, how is this one you ask? Slightly dark-jazz vibe to this one. It grooves pretty well! Page and Trey mesh pretty good on the jam, playing off each other. This is like a late-night Stealing Time or something. Pretty good stuff!

Turtle In the Clouds - My favorite KV song (yes, I must remind y'all each time!). HOUSE PARTY! In the end, this one is pretty strong but in no way memorable. Just a very good Turtle with some hot soloing in the back end.

Wolfman's Brother - Sounds sluggish to start but gets cooking quick. Great scat-vocal jam before sinking into the deep, dank abyss of wah-infused funk. After a while a hint of "bliss" creeps in and we go full Type II on this sucker. From dark to light and soaring peaks. This thing freaking rocks and goes for the STARS! THIS SUCKER IS A BEAST!!!! ALL HAIL WOLFMAN! ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC JAM!!!! PEAK UPON PEAK UPON PEAK!!!!!!!

Birds Of a Feather - THEY ATTACK! It's a pretty-hot-as-usual BOAF. Again, nothing noteworthy and it doesn't even last that long. Just a quick little headsmasher.

We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains - A THIRD KV song in the first set! How about that?! This is maybe my second favorite of the lot. This one is quite lovely and the more delicate mood is perfect after the ragers preceeding it. The only problem is that it's short! If this was jammed out for at least a minute or 2 more this would be fantastic. As it is, it's nice enough to make my list. It's just REALLY good!

Taste - Holy crap when is the last time Taste was played? Feels like I havent heard it in ages....Strong version imo. Must-hear for Page's soloing. Terrific solo peak from Trey!!!

My Friend My Friend - The song portion isn't exceptionally strong BUT HOLY MOLY THAT DARK MELTDOWN! Look, this is far from list-worthy, but that back end was pretty sick.

>Twenty Years Later - Pretty epic set placement here, coming perfectly out of that Myfe. Pretty dark and epic! Tons of backwards-guitar-shredding from Trey. Pretty psychedelic. This one stays firmly in the Type I box, but what's here is fantastic. Grab this!

>Sparkle - Is Sparkle. Is fun. What do you want?

Crazy Sometimes - Freaking love this. Always jams. C'mon, who doesn't love this?! This one isn't anything special but it's always great to hear!

Bathtub Gin - X FACTOR MAGIC ON THIS SUCKER!!!! GRAB THIS NOW!!!!!!!! 16 minutes of Type II MAGIC!!! GONG HITS AND ALL!!!! OUTSTANDING!!! AN ALL-TIMER GIN!!!!!


On the whole, while this set definitely had it's notable high points, it held together with a great flow and energy. If you must, grab Wolfman's and Gin. SERIOUSLY GET THIS GIN!!!!!!!!!!

 

Set 2

Sightless Escape - Ooh!!! Glad they finally played it! Also, why was this the only version ever?! This was pretty good and I could see this in the rotation with jam potential. I wonder how many people this threw for a loop opening the set!

>Fuego - Absolutely perfect set placement!!!! Felt like it was born to follow SE!!! And holy crap this one is just steaming with extra heat!! THIS FUEGO IS FREAKING FANTASTIC! JUST HEAT UPON HEAT UPON HEAT!!!! HOLY CRAP!!! Eventually the upbeat jam devolves into some slightly Type II dark-ambient-funk areas. It gets very dark without ever going off the cliff. Extremely cool and high quality jamming!!! This is one of those jams where everybody is playing the exact right thing at the exact right time and it is morphing into a perfect soup.....

>Piper - THANK YOU FOR NOT RIPCORDING US TREY!!!! YOU ACTUALLY SLOWLY TRANSITIONED US FOR ONCE! HOLY CRAP THANK YOU!!!! Yea, as I just said, lol, the Fuego jam was dissolving slowly into sludgy ambience and Trey worked in the Piper theme perfectly. The band obviously latches on and we get fantastic slow-build Piper like the good old days! AWESOME!! Interestingly, they don't jump into it at 500mph like in 1999 or 2000 - instead they really, truly do let it slow build for a while. Page has his jazzy keys going, Fishman is riding those cymbals, and Trey is picking his spots to weave in and out quietly. And beautifully, I might add! From here we move to a more floaty section with lots of sustained notes and widdle-widdle's from Trey, with Page on his synths in the background. The dynamics of this jam are insane - things are heating up but the overall "volume" is still low. They are slow-roasting this sucker. Around the 7 minute mark now, the tempo starts to increase significantly to the more "expected" Piper vibe. Trey lays back for a minute and lets Page take center stage, only occasionally interjecting. Is Page using a theremin?!?! What is he doing!! He's really going wacky on this sucker Things proceed in this manner to the end, but Trey comes back and does some great abstract lines here and there. Page introduces the droning synth and slowly the jam builds to a magnificent peak of epic proportions. The peak doesn't last though and morphs again into more mid-rangey ambient textures that segue us perfectly into..... (THIS JAM IS X FACTOR MAGIC! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST JAMS OF THE YEAR, EASILY. MY MIND IS BLOWN. THIS IS SPECTACULAR. 1.0 AINT GOT NOTHIN ON THIS!)

>Tweezer - AND INTO TWEEZER WE FRIGGIN GO!!!! This Tweezer is very early-90's sounding. They hit upon a certain groove and just ride it out forever, slowly adding something new here and there. It's blissful and upbeat and gorgeous. An really terrific Tweezer. I don't feel like doing the play-by-play right now but it's on the same level as Fuego and Piper for sure. A gorgeous, blissful gathering of the vibes. A+ stuff!!!

>Fuego Reprise - And Tweezer goes into a full on, "rollin! rollin!" Fuego reprise. Ok. maybe its just a line or two, but it joins the whole thing together for Conceptual Continuity and brings us back to the headsmashing, Machine Gun Trey guitar rock arena with aplomb before QUICKLY descending headfirst into 1999 DARK SPACE. Out. Of. Nowhere. What. This is like that Charleston '19 Split Open and Melt that I still can't comprehend. HOW THE HELL DID WE GET HERE?!?!?!?? Long, sustained synth blares from Page and Trey giving us some blissful little runs up and down the fretboard, lingering on those sustained notes when appropriate. Let me put it like this - Mike could start doing that Down With Disease intro right now and the world would explode

>2001 - We are in full-on late night OUTER SPACE AMBIENCE and then Fishman straight up just kicks into the 2001 groove we all know and love. OUT. FREAKING. STANDING. HO LEE HELL. No it's not The Great Went, but it definitely gives those vibes!!! WOW!!!! It's short and sweet and does the job of getting us over the hump to the next part of the show

>Chalkdust Torture - Another perfect segue and set placement! The guys are nailing that this summer!!! This sucker rages and snarls, it goes super funky and hard, and then goes to ambient bliss. What. It's all over the place in the best way possible. Fantastic section where they bring the volume down low and you almost expect a return to Piper. A+++

>Waste - Oh my goodness. This is literally giving me goosebumps like the studio version. Played this late in the set on the last day of the run, it feels like a massive "thank you" to everybody and a farewell for the end of a terrific summer. Just stunning and beautiful. A really, really great version. Better than usual.

>Cavern - Is Cavern, but this is loaded with extra hot sauce. Yes, its list worthy.

>First Tube - RAGES. It's hotter than the sun. It is exactly what you want and expect. It is jaw dropping.

The Horse/SITM - Is The Horse/SITM. Same as always, never different. Nothing bad, but nothing noteworthy. Talk about a comedown, lmao.

A Life Beyond the Dream - Absolutely 10/10 outstanding and a perfect way to finish the show. I remember in Charleston I didn't know the song yet but it still sticks in my mind as a terrific moment. This is like that, just perfectly placed to say "thank you" again like that Waste. Just gorgeous and beautiful and as perfectly placed as the star in the sky. Couldn't ask for a better closer to this run and summer. Fantastic.

Tweeprise - But we can't leave it on a ballad, can we? Gotta rock it out! AWESOME STUFF.


All in all, this show was face-melting. Set 1 was good but the Wolfman and Bathtub Gin were next- level. Set 2 was like Chicago 2011 or something - just magic and X Factor and perfect flow....Your jaw is on the ground going "how the hell do they do this?!" Absolutely outstanding, outstanding, OUTSTANDING 2nd set. One of the best 2nd sets ever performed. Fight me. Please.

Peace and love. Happy turkey day everybody.