2/23/20 Quintana Roo #4
Set 1
Crowd Control - Not my favorite song (always sounds like a Who
knockoff to me or something) but I will still take it. Great high energy
version! Trey seems to have ridden himself of the occasional
sticky-fingered slop that drenched his playing on 2/22. Nicely fluid
solos - still more ever-sustained notes - and a rousing energy from the
whole band! Not my favorite song but a great opener for night 4!! 
Farmhouse - IN SPOT #2?! REALLY?! Ok, exaggeration aside I can
get down with this. If this was an indoors arena gig or
something....that's one thing. This is on the beach in friggin' Mexico
with the moon and the stars and the sand and the water! I'm sure it was
just gorgeous in person and in all honestly, it flowed great out of
Crowd Control! Who woulda thought, eh? Great Farmhouse as always (find
me one that isn't beautiful!). Good stuff!
Breath and Burning - Yes! I am seemingly the only lover of this song
out there, but c'mon, is this not the perfect place for them to play
it?! Awesome. Great party-setter! I can just picture dancing my tail off
to this on the beach. And this one is simply wonderful - dance in the
light of the moon indeed! Such a FANTASTIC feel-good vibe to this one! All hail BaB tonight! The perfect song for the perfect spot. This one just hits.
Divided Sky - After Trey and co's "mediocre looking crowd" moment of banter, we get into perfectly played DS! When's the last time Trey NAILED the composition like this?! I mean, I thought the one I got in Charleston '19 was pretty good, but this was perfect!!! Perfectly nuanced and dynamic, just absolutely spectacular. * chef's kiss * During
the silence part, around 7 minutes, Trey takes a bit to acknowledge how
awesome the crowd and venue are and how lucky they are to be there,
etc. Very nice. Then back into DS like nothing ever happenned. Nothing
else to say - the song proceeds as expected. It's absolutely loaded with
energy and passion tonight and is one (notably!) the best versions
heard in recent times. If you are looking for a good late-period DS,
look no further!!!! A+
Following DS, some very funny banter ensues between Trey, Fish and the crowd regarding Trey's "mediocre looking crowd" comments
Meat - After a lightspeed Ramones "1,2,3,4!" countoff it's into the song 
As with the rest of the set so far, an absolutely wonderful
relaxed-yet-energetic (does that make sense?!) vibe carries through. No
sleepiness here! It's very short though with no jam and Trey instead
opts to lead us into...
Everything's Right - The song is extremely powerful and full-on
as expected. Totally imbued with the evening's celebratory energy. This
set so far has just been a party! And this is no exception!! The
guys waste no time getting down to business, quickly jumping into the
jam about 5 minutes in with Trey scatting some vocals. Trey then hits
another sustained note with Page doing some cool ascending licks beneath
him. By this time at 7 minutes it's just full on Type I FIRE FIRE FIRE!!! This ER is just steamrolling you into the friggin' sand!!! Shortly though this gives way to som ultra-gnarly Type
II funk razing. I mean, this beach is on fire. For real. You know we
are going deep when Gordo turns on his effects! Trey starts doing some
cool ambient playing which Page picks up on, all the while Cactus and
Fish are holding down a steady groove funkier than you can imagine. Just
outstanding. This gives way to lots of awesome raging before turning
into an upbeat kind of Harry Hood-esque bliss-type jam. Lots of
sustained notes from Trey while everyone else is just building towards
the sky. This is like a Bird Song on steroids or something. THIS IS FREAKING MAGICAL! X FACTOR ABOUND!!! DON'T SKIP THIS!! THIS DESERVES ALL THE PRAISE IT GETS!!!! Slowly it fades out and we go into....
The Squirming Coil - Hitchike to the beach. Oh yea. It's fantastic. It's Squirming Coil. What else can I say?
Wingsuit - After Coil, maybe not the best set choice?? But I'm
sure it'll be great - hey, they made Farmhouse work in the 2nd slot.
It's all about tonight's vibe, baby! This one is a bit on the sloppy
side, BUT it is loaded with that insane energy we know and love come the
peak. Get it Trey! It's Wingsuit - Trey kills. What more do you want?!
David Bowie - Bowie has disappointed me a lot over 2019 but this
one reclaims the mantle of greatness! An absolutely wonderful rendition
that is tight as a nail and has a terrific multi-flavored old-school
sounding jam to it that keeps you on edge until the end. I'm tired of it
as set closer but gosh darn if every new version was this good I would
never complain! Spectacular!!
Night 4 in Mexico gets an A+ for the first set!!!! Sure, on paper
the set may look odd at times, but you have to remember the venue and
the VIBE and all that jazz. This is definitely a "set fits the mood"
kind of gig. The playing is top notch. Divided Sky is among the best in
recent times as is the epic Everything's Right and David Bowie that both
deserve jam chart/hall of fame entries, in my book!! A terrific,
terrific set!!!
Set 2
Simple - Oh, yes, you know it's gonna be good when they open the
2nd set with a 16 minute Simple! The song portion is surprisingly rough
but it's all in good fun tonight. 6 minutes in and we leave the song,
immediately heading into spacey jam land. Don't feel like commentating
the whole thing, but it's an epic Type II space funk extravaganza that
is just fantastic. IN A GADDA DA VIDDA JAM, YO!
>Golden Age - Literally the perfect (and only acceptable)
choice out of that beastly Simple. Basically Simple Part 2, it keeps the
party absolutely raging for another glorious 18 minutes of magic.
Fantastic. Around 13 minutes the dancing stops and we go into black-hole
outer space with delays and reverbs etc. GNARLY. 15 minutes in and we
are just out there! Again, go listen - don't listen to my lackluster "reviewing". This is pretty must-hear, imo. Awesome stuff.
Fuego - After 5 minutes of Deep Space Black Hole Vortex Meltdown
we arrive at our destination. It's Fuego with Simple teases. It's great.
It keeps the party rolling. What more do you want? The final few
minutes see the song burn out again into another worm hole, but
fortunately they ride it PERFECTLY and execute a flawless transition
into...
Undermind - Raging Page on this sucker! Fantastic playing from
all and choice use of effects from Trey. This is as good as Type I gets
(as good for sure as my beloved Charleston rendition ). Can't ignore Manteca jamming either! Plasma teases too! This thing is a beast!
Back On The Train - THAT SEGUE! WHO SAW THAT COMING! THAT WAS SICK!! As
good as the previous Undermind. Teases abound (Simple!) and just packed
with pizazz. Somehow they morph this into 1999 Ambient Black Hole
Space!!!! Shades of Fukuoka 2000 A full-on black hole BOTT. NICE!!!! Must-hear!!!!
>Passing Through - My least favorite KV song besides maybe Play By Play, but ok, whatever. BUT THIS IS AWESOME! Everyone rages hard and this sucker just kills. Beautiful
and upbeat, this would have be bobbing on the sand for sure. Terrific
Type I "Grateful Dead" style jamming on this. Jeez this is so good that
its STUPID! Don't skip this!!!!
Rise Come/Together - 4 minutes but a total banger! Don't miss - A+ version! Fire!!!
The Horse/Silent In The Morning - All are identical. Next!
Fee - Who doesn't love Fee, even if Trey forgets most of the lyrics?
Funky B - It's Funky B, it's hot as always. Nothing special. Feels really out of place though for some reason.
More - Of course this is the closer for the run, lol. What else did we expect?! 
A terrific version that closes it all in a neat little package.
All in all, set 2 of night 4 was very strong, but Simple>Golden
Age didn't do THAT much considering the run time. It was terrific,
don't get me wrong, but kinda stayed in one zone throughout. The rest of
the set was killer as well though, even if it was in smaller packages.
The Undermind>BOTT>Passing Through is MUST HEAR! After that, the
set kinda falters a little bit with a string of short songs that are
nice to hear but don't do anything special for the most part.
Still, if this were a standard 2019 show it would definitely deserve some props. Another great gig all around!
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