2012-08-25 Atlanta, GA

 Pushing on through 2012

8/25/12 Atlanta, GA

On paper this looks like it will be a very average experience. Hope I'm wrong, but there isn't much that "stands out" about the setlist.


Set 1 -

Cars Trucks Buses - The sole rarity on the setlist (unless you count A Day in the Life) to open the gig. Great choice. Always reminds me of Party Time (or does PT remind me of CTB? ). Good stuff!

Wolfman's Brother - Nothing special. Good version and the last 2 minutes get pretty darn fiery, but this isn't anything you haven't heard 100 times before.

Runaway Jim - See above

Ya Mar - Barely list worthy. The last minute or 2 has some great "plinko" jamming from Trey that makes it standout. Another "great but you've heard it a million times before" version.

Alaska - See above

My Soul - A little bit more heat than the rest of the set so far. Finally some "oomph" to the proceedings. Check out Page killing it on the organ!!!

Wilson - Is Wilson.

Maze - Ok Maze. Never thought I'd hear a "less than ripping" version, let alone in 2012! I mean, it was good. The guitar shredded, it just felt...lukewarm.

Roses are Free - Pretty hot version all thing considered. Hottest track since My Soul. Surprisingly lively. I expected a snore fest! Pretty great, actually!

>Backwards Down the Number Line - Great...just the song a fledgling set like this needs. I love the song, but not in this set at this juncture....Thankfully Trey lets it rip and we get a pretty damn hot Number Line. Nothing we haven't heard before, but it almost has more heat than Maze did. Never thought that sentence would ever be typed!!!

Character Zero - Is CZ. yawn!!!!

All in all, this set is fine but absolutely among the least memorable/replayable sets of the year. I don't want to say boring, because it's not. There just isn't anything special or noteworthy about it. At all. It's obvious the guys are trying, but they are just having an off night with the energies, so to speak. Remember the Pelham show I raved about the other day? That coulda been like this real easily, except that gig had FIRE and VIBE and extra X factor around it. This set is like that....but without any of those things! Nothing offensive or poor about this set - you could simply pretend it doesn't exist and not feel one iota of remorse about skipping it.

 

Set 2

Not expecting much. Here we go....


Kill Devil Falls - Right off the bet the energy level is oodles higher than set 1. This is an awesome KDF that wastes no time getting out there. Right around 4:20 (haha) the jam begins. But it starts immediately in a quietly whispered kind of volume! Out of the gate the dynamics are being explored, with everyone playing quietly! Very, very unusual and cool!!! Excellent version. The jam slowly (SLOWLY) builds back to a peak from the quiet start. Great version rally worth giving a listen!!!!!!

>Golden Age - Killer. Picking right up where KDF left off, it's off to blissful guitar-rage heaven!!! Absolutely terrific!!! Right around 5 minutes the Type II funk jamming begins like it's 1997, yo. Lots of wah-pedal scraping picking from Trey along with some sustained notes and Reggae Woman bass funking from Mike. If you aren't physically jamming your body along to this, you are deaf and have no pulse. This is outstanding, yo. Page then jumps on the clavinet and Trey is breaking out the sirens and delay triggers. Everyone is going mental and it's EFFING GLORIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!! Slowly, the jam peters out to it's eventual ambient death. Very unfortunate as what is here is GRADE A+ PRIMO SUPRIMO MEGA FANTASTICO!

>Free - And with a perfect count-off....BANG!!!! Into Free! This is like one of those versions from Pelham on the 24th. It's nothing you haven't heard before, but it's just so freaking goooooddddd........ Fantastic short Free.

>Light - Letting not a second go to waste, Trey launches right into Light out of the final chord of Free. LETS GOOOOOO!!!!! And they make damn good use of the 10 minute run time, going Type II for a while. Completely excellent and probably must hear. It ends with an outstanding segue into....

>Wading in the Velvet Sea - Set killer on paper, but I love this song and the placement tonight was friggin' smooth as melted butter. You couldn't plan better effin' set placement! * chef's kiss * A typically great version.

>Chalkdust Torture - AW YEA, LETS GET IT GOIN!!! Perfect set choice to get us going again after Velvet Sea. Thank you!!! And right away at 4:30 the proper jamming begins with the guys going all quiet again like they did in KDF. The jam slowly builds in intensity for several minutes. Turns to an immense, raging peak!!!! THIS IS FREAKING STRAIGHT FIRE!!!! THIS IS TERRIFIC!!!! LET'S ROCK! If this was 2019, people would have this among the best "microjams" of the year!!!!!! FANTASTIC!!!! Again, ending with ambience, we get the lauded transition into...

>What's the Use - It's WTU. It's awesome. It's great.

>Joy - Ugh, heart wrenching.....Again, like with Velvet Sea, just absolutely perfect placement. This sucker just hits extra hard tonight and coming out of WTU was terrific. Awesome stuff.

Run Like An Antelope - Destroys. 'Nuff said.

A Day in the Life - Among my least favorite Beatles songs and closers, but it is good.


Wow, holy freaking crap! This was one of the biggest turn arounds ever from a so-so first set to a world-destroying second set. On .NET everyone won't shut up about the CDT>WTU, but in my opinion, the entire set was phenomenal!!! Particularly the Golden Age>Free>Light>Velvet Sea>CDT>WTU is what you NEED To hear!!!! A+ set!!!