2021-08-28 George, WA

 Hope everyone is having a great day!

Onwards to night 2 of Gorge 2021. On paper, this show looks pretty damn terrific! Carini, Maze, Sand, Disease, Esther....dude....
Night 1 looked wonky on paper but delivered the goods if you surrendered to the flow. Let's hope this one kills as well.

8/28/21 George, WA

Set 1

Carini - Right off the bat, a friggin 14 minute Carini to blast the doors wide open!!! MAKE PHISH EVIL AGAIN!!! This Carini wastes NO time getting right the hell down to business. Immediately around the 3:50 mark, the jam begins with Trey jumping on the Robo Honker Deluxe 5000 and tearing us a new backside. Absolutely some glorious dark jamming. More dark than ANYTHING in the 8/27 show (including that Melt). Somewhere around 6:30, the mood starts to slowly shift and you can hear the bliss fast approaching. It's ok though, as the jam is morphing, rather than taking a screeching left turn. Page is on the electric keys, Trey is doing very nice melodic delay runs, etc etc. This continues for several GLORIOUS minutes that see them just relishing in this sound, riding the wave, but not letting it peak yet. They are taking their time and it is killer. This slowly builds and builds and builds and builds. By 12 minutes, Trey is doing rock and roll trills and the jam is getting a serious head of steam. It's not "fire from the heavens" blazing - this is mature, restrained heat. They refuse to peak still, but for a while there it almost happens. Then right at 12:30 we somehow morph this into an upbeat funk jam! BRING ON THE WAH PEDAL!!! This only lasts a quick minute though before it turns the corner into dark ambience and the jam reaches a perfectly natural conclusion.

WOW! Who the hell saw such a terrific jam being the show opener?!?! Was 2021 a banner year for Carini or what?!

>Maze - Ooh ooh ooh!!! That Maze intro coming out of that Carini is just all kinds of "setlist flow perfection"!!! Vibe wise, this show is definitely feeling "hot" tonight instead of the cool relaxation of 8/27. And I'm not just saying that because of the opening song choice. As with most latter-era versions, Trey mostly "sits out" until around the 6 minute mark when he makes his entrance with some pleasantly restrained, trill-inflected soloing. The energy is there, they are just keeping the "RAGE" knob set at medium instead of hot for now. In other words, they are allowing it the time to build. Eventually though, Trey turns the knob right up and proceeds to "shred" more than he has in a number of shows!!! This is about as balls-to-the-wall excellent as you can expect out of Maze in 2021, so take the win and just rock out. No, this pales to every 1.0 version, but this is still excellent and damn hot!! Totally worth a listen!!

>46 Days - Ooh! Setlist flow alert again! Great guitar fills in the intro from Trey. 11 minutes long, this sucker. Right off the bat, Trey steps on the wah and we get some great bluesy playing from all. The guys really lay into the "VIBE" on this one. It's all kinds of powerful, but laid-back at the same time. A laid-back 46 Days that still kills. That doesn't make sense?! Trey takes his sweet-ass time throughout this and they just lay down all kinds of nasty grooves, even returning to the darkness of Carini at times. Around 5:30, after a battle with the Robo Honk Deluxe 5000, the jam begins to move "sideways", if you will, and you know it's on! An official "build" has begun. The intensity is increasing with every passing second. Fishman is pounding the ever-loving hell out of his kit - this is sounding more and more like a jam out of Carini or friggin' No Quarter!!!! By 7 minutes, we are still climbing upwards, but Page has moved over to the bare piano to give this a different sound underneath Trey's psychedelic guitar attack. This is definitely DARK. By 7:30 you can say we are in Type II for sure. Trey turns on some of his best outer-space FX, couples them with the delay, and the other guys "lay back" a good bit, allowing him to slowly lay waste to the smoldering cityscape. Then at 8:30, they proceed to slowly reintroduce the 46 Days theme and make an absolutely spectacular return to the song proper!!! THAT WAS FRIGGIN MAGICAL AND AWESOME!!! HOW THEY BE DOIN THAT?!?!?! Around 9:15, after a reprise of the 46 Days chorus, the guys just LAY INTO it and give us a full-on HOSE PEAK for about 30 glorious seconds before ending the song.


Holy moly, that was some good stuff. That was not your typical 3.0 46 Days. That was something special for sure. That was like Carini had a baby with 46 Days or something, lol

And then into....

>Esther - The first Esther since the Baker's Dozen! Is this the run for bustouts or what?! I've never been a big fan but have been coming around in recent months. For context, this is the start of the "Esther-ssaince" - it's been played, what, 7 or 8 times since this?! @Crispy Rob - I know you don't recall it, but for some reason our exchange about Esther a few years ago will always stick with me, so sorry-not-sorry, you're the Esther Guy for me I am definitely loving this song the more that I hear it. I think it was hard for me to grasp for a long, long time as it's so densely complex. I'm not a lyrics guy, so that's a hard start for me right there, then to have the impenetrable music on top of it...It's not like Esther is "catchy", you know what I mean? But I'm definitely an Esther Guy now. Is it just me or does it sound a ton like The Lizards - besides Gamehendge, anyone know if there is any relation between the two at all? I'm always expecting them to bust into the Lizards chorus....ALL THAT TO SAY! Great Esther, played damn near perfectly....AWESOME!


This show is 4 big ones for 4 big ones so far!!!

555 - A good 555. The song itself sounds pretty ragged, but Trey does get to toss in a very dark and menacing guitar solo that is worth a listen. Not enough to make this list-worthy, but don't sleep on it either! Good stuff! On another night I'd definitely highlight this, let's put it like that.

Divided Sky - And out of the darkness and into the light!!! This version is wonderfully gentle and delicate in the best way. The perfect counterpart to that beautiful Esther. An absolutely terrific version. Like any, it's hard to narrate a Divided Sky, but know the prevailing mood of this is one of blissful easiness. This is a "everything will be ok" version. Excellent. Sent goosebumps to my arms!

>Swept Away/Steep - Yet another round of rarities! Guess the guys decided to jettison the darkness of that opening trio of songs and turn this into a feel-good set! No problem. Good stuff. Super rare. This one made me cry. For real. With all the crap going on in my life right now, this hit SUPER hard today. No wonder they play it so rarely!

Boogie On Reggae Woman - Good call! Things were getting pretty emotional over the last few cuts. Lets get up and dance and have fun. Something happens and Trey completely butchers the lyrics early on, making him laugh and eliciting a roar from the crowd. When all is said and done, Reggae Woman is Reggae Woman, but good lord this is tasty. The Robo Honk Deluxe Super Wah goes on and on through out this, Gordo's bass is tearing it up, Page is raging the Claivnet (I think?), using his own wah pedal...Killer type I.

Say It To Me SANTOS - Let's go!!! Fishman is POUNDING those skins!! Absolutely BLAZING Type I rager of the highest order!! Terrific, A+ set closer!



All in all, WOW WOW WOW!!! A friggin' STELLA first set!!!! The first the songs go dark and are must-hear. Then the set gets introspective and emotional, before turning to a raging shredfest to close. Holy crap.

The Carini, 46 Days, Esther, Swept/Steep and SANTOS are the MUST-HEARs, imo. The rest of the set is totally excellent as well.

BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!!!!  

Set 2

Sand - A 15 minute Sand to open! I'll take it! A tad too slow for my taste, but one can't deny it allows them to really sink into that groove. The jam rages hard as normal until around 8 minutes something unexpected happens. The jam suddenly starts to morph into an upbeat blissfest. Trey has a droning ambient note going in the background on the looper (I think) throughout this. Page is on the piano pounding it out and Trey can't decide to whether to rip it up on the Robo Honk 5000 or stay with a clean tone. By 10 minutes, he is still moving back and forth, undecided on what sound he wants. The looper is still going and the whole thing is being driven by Gordo and Fishman's powerful groove. Fishman keeps amping up the drumming, perhaps noticing that not much was really happenning. This unsure sound continues until around 11:30 when Trey finally decides to commit to a clean sound and does all kinds of excellent little bliss-trills, as I'm calling them. Just beautiful. By 12:40, this is still going on but Page starts to incorporate synth "washes" into the jam, leading to Trey going for a slightly darker and grittier tone. The overall feel is still one of blissful elation, but things are finally getting interesting. And from there they kinda just ride this wave to shore.... This is one of those jams where they settle on a sound and just ride it 'til the cows come home. Pretty good stuff but not that mindblowing. Still totally worth a highlight!!!

>Down With Disease - Nice transition out of Sand. ABYSMAL reading of the song proper from Trey. Tired and flubby sounding, memories of Arkansas. YUCK! The 10 minute run time does it no favors either, but at least the jamming that IS here almost makes up for the song. Downright spectacular Type 1.5, if you will, dark-funk jamming following a pretty excellent hose peak. This eventually winds down a bit and leads us prematurely (DANG IT!) into..... Not worth a full-blown highlight, but I'll give it an "italic" rating....If there was more to it, it would get a highlight, because the friggin' thing ends up being incredible, but the start was so awful and the jam too short, plust that fact that it gets jettisoned early for a friggin' Caspian.

IN OTHER WORDS, GOOD STUFF, BUT IM ALSO SUPER ANNOYED

>Prince Caspian - THANK HEAVENS THIS CASPIAN IS FRIGGIN MAGICAL!!!! This is the greatest Caspian in a hot minute!! Super inspired playing throughout, this sucker is downright spectacular, "yea" samples and all!!! SHORT, SWEET, AND NOTHING BUT HEAT!

>Mountains in the Mist - The flow of this second set is all over the map in a bad way, but I'll take another rarity (and we're due for a genuine cooldown anyways...). My goodness, this is must-hear. This is Sea-of-Stars levels of magical. Just night sky gazing to perfection. A+ A+ A+ A+ A+

>Scents and Subtle Sounds - An 18 minute Scents! Yes! And thankfully they don't half-ass the opening guitar riff section once the slow intro is over!!! This sucker sounds like a guided missile on a mission! Fishman is just destroying!!! POWERFUL!!! Right off the bat, the jam gets quiet and purposeful. The guys are moving this along but keeping it quiet. Trey is just doing nice melodic leads on top of a scattershot rhythm pattern from Fishman that is pretty cool. Around the 8 minute mark, things start to evolve just a little bit. Page sprinkles in some synths and the jam starts to build a little heat. But they keep it straight for now - Page reverts to piano and Trey is still just soloing with a clean tone. Fishman is moving us along by constantly changing his drum patterns, FORCING the other guys to do something new. THANK YOU, JON FISHMAN! Thanks to this, around 9:40 Trey jumps on one of his robo effects and Page moves to the electric piano. An upbeat bliss jam is being birthed. At 10:30, Trey turns on the Robot Oboe Super Honk Deluxe 5000 and Page moves back to his synths. The guys sound hesitant to do much - it doesn't sound like they are taking their time, but rather they are unsure. But maybe that's just me. The guys are just, well, riding that wave! Around 12 minutes, Trey sets another repeating honk as a loop. Fishman is going NUTS on this sucker. He's hitting his woodblocks, doing everything like an 8-armed Octopus or something. By 13 minutes, Trey introduces his cascading delay effect very nicely. This jam is groovin'! It's blissful yet strange at the same time. Then out of nowhere, right at 13:30, Page introduces his piano back to the jam and the other guys latch on, turning this into a straightahead, rock and roll kind of thing. Trey hits upon a descending motif and uses this to jump off of. They are slowly building to a peak, and it's gonna be a big one!! This is sick! By 15:30 this jam is like a soaring rocketship, just blasting straight for the sky!! APPROACHING PEAK! APPROACHING PEAK! BUCKLE UP!!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!! IM GETTING GOOSEBUMPS!!! X FACTOR!!!! BRING IT!!! Trey is tearing it up and the guys peak "smoothly" - instead of an EXPLOSION, Trey lands upon an insane sustained note that the other guys use as a landing pad to slowly bring the rocket ship back to earth. That comedown was insane. My arms and my legs are covered in bumps now, haha. And just like that, they bring this epic to a close.


Holy moly, my jaw is on the floor. For the first 10 or 11 minutes, the jam felt unsure of it's direction or that it wasn't going to really "do anything", but at some point it all clicked and away we went. 100 percent must-hear!!!

>Bug - Oh my sweet heavens, that was the greatest, most well-placed Bug I've ever heard. That set construction, yo! And the best part? ITS A FRIGGIN SPECTACULAR VERSION!!! SERIOUSLY!! THIS IS DOWNRIGHT MAGICAL!!! HOLY CRAP!!! MUST HEAR! MUST HEAR! MUST HEAR!

>Possum - And then of course we take the easy way out and lead into Possum. Like we weren't all expecting that, right? Really terrific Page piano solo around the 3 minute mark. Seriously, this solo goes on for damn near three whole minutes! Finally around 5:30 Trey shows up and lays down his most perfect, tasty Possum licks like we love and expect. Etc etc etc etc. This Possum goes friggin HARD!! Not joking, it is probably the HOTTEST thing played all damn show!!! THE FIRE IS BACK!!!! Possum is Possum, but this one really felt NEXT LEVEL!

Bittersweet Motel - 19th version EVER played! First since Charleston 2019. BS is BS. Sick. Mega rare. Excellent.

Heavy Things - Ooh, interesting choice for an encore! And it's played at the correct tempo! Not list-worthy, but an excellent little version.

About to Run - As show closer?! Huh! Cool! A raging version, closes the show in style.



All in all - I think I "enjoyed" the first set more, but the 2nd set was just as good, if not better. Some absolutely incredible stuff, that Disease was trash but the jam coming out of it was amazing. Then the greatest Caspian I've ever heard into a MUST HEAR Scents, followed by the best Bug and Possum I've ever heard....

The only problem was that it felt like the set never "congealed". Everything flowed, but at the same time it had this stop/start/stop/start thing to it that was really annoying.

An absolute beast of a show that easily topples night 1.

The 3.8 rating on .NET is a crime. This is EASILY a 4.2 or so level show. Terrific stuff and one of the best top-to-bottom shows played thus far in 2021!!!!