2021-08-29 George, WA

 Welp, since Big Cypress was a bust today and im home for the afternoon due to rain, that means its time to pick up 2021 with Gorge #3, 8/29/21

George, WA 8/29/21

Great looking setlist tonight!

Set 1 -

Cool Amber and Mercury - I never understood the adoration for this song, but I do very much enjoy it. A fun dance party tune to get things started! Page goes nuts with the "faceplant into rokk" samples. Killer opener, great song choice to spice it up. Great stuff! Nothing super special but great nonetheless.

Moma Dance - See Cool Amber. A terrific Type I rager as usual. Trey is having one of those nights where he is hitting zero wrong notes, and every single right note. Really, REALLY nice intro jam section!!! This is one that doesn't do anything special, it's just really, really, REALLY good!

Free - SUPERFUNK DELUXE!!! Right off the bat at the start of the jam, Trey is using one of his synth patches while Gordo tears it up. It sounds like two basses playing at once. Killer. Trey doesnt shred this one up, instead content to merely be team player. Not an all-timer, but as good as the first two songs. Excellent Type I workout. This one was a wonderful "team effort", if you will. Nothing super must-hear, but still excellent. Highlightable? Eh, not really. That ain't a knock though.

Lonely Trip - Good spot for it!! Worked great as a cool down after all that came before. Great version. Tender and beautiful and tearjerking all at the same time. This is one of the best Trey ballads I think. Come at me, haters. Love it. This version is great but nothing special.

How Many People Are You - Hell yes! One of my favorite Gordo tunes. Sounds a little stiff tonight, as they usually do since they rarely play them. Fishman has a new shuffle-type drum pattern going on (think David Bowie). The song itself has energy but is a little "overly eager", if you will. Around 5 minutes we go into a legitimate jam which is unexpected and super cool! It even shifts into quasi-Type II with Page throwing in synths and whatnot. Ultimately it's more of a tease than anything satisfying, but at least they almost took it out there! Incredibly annoyingly, they are at the point of "liftoff" into outer space, then Trey decides to 86 it for Gin. BOO! THAT WAS GOING SOMEWHERE AWESOME!!

Bathtub Gin - Well, at least we get a 15 minute Gin out of it, so I guess there's that. Not gonna try to narrate the whole thing, but this jam is kinda 2021 in an abbreviated nutshell. A bit of uptempo robot spazzing, some cool semi-ambient dueling guitar/piano. Raging Fishman. A but of the waterfall delay here and there. Capped off with pounding piano leading to a raging rock and roll peak. This one builds to an absolutely ASTONISHING hose peak!! Think Camden 99 Chalkdust!!! HOLY MOLY SOMEONE GET SOME WATER EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE! THIS WAS FRIGGIN AMAZING!!!!


No, seriously, go revisit this. You will have your face ripped off. Oh my goodness. Now THAT was hose!

Up until now, the set has been "pleasantly unimpressive". Nothing at all to complain about (other than the aborted HMPAY jam), but nothing really exceeding "hey, that was pretty good as usual" levels. Then Gin came and just sprayed us with the X Factor Peak Hose of Destiny......

Back On The Train - Sounds like you expect. But it's damn terrific tonight. Basically, see Moma above. Terrific Type I out the wazoo.

My Friend My Friend - Good as always, but not even all that hot. A fine reading, but absolutely nothing to label it unique or must-hear in the slightest.

Rift - A strong version!! Trey basically nails it and the band are tight. Not lightspeed like days of yore, but not the doldrums of 2019 versions either. A fine version. See Moma and Free and whatever else. Good stuff but nothing special. Actually, ya know what? It's so good (by 2021 standards) that I will throw it a bone and highlight it. If you MUST hear a 2021 reading of Rift, this will likely be your best bet. They nail the sucker. Good job, guys!

Character Zero - Destroys! Trey's new robot FX breathe new life into and, shockingly, it ends up as one of the clear cut highlights of the set! KILLER!


All in all a slightly odd set. There was nothing that wasn't at least "average great", with Moma, Free, Cool Amber and BOTT all getting darn close to excellent (though Moma is the one that really gets there), but at the same time there wasn't much in the way of "oh my god you need to hear this version" going on. Bathtub Gin is a monster that you NEED in your life, but outside of that, the rest of the set is just kinda...there. It does not offend, nor does it seem to try particularly hard. It's just "AVERAGE GREAT". If we are giving ratings to SETS, then this set would get, like, a solid 3.7 or something.

Nothing to dislike or scoff at, a few things a pretty darn nice, Gin is essential, C Zero was surprisingly killer....Felt kinda like they were "coasting" in this set a tad bit. But that's ok sometimes!   

Ok, so I had a hard time describing how set 1 felt. But I guess the simple takeaway was that it felt like it lacked much "oomph" to it (play that Character Zero or the Gin, then play the rest of it). But at the same time it wasn't sleepy or overly chill or even just relaxed. It was in some weird middle-ground where it felt like they were just "playing it safe" despite the exploration in How Many and Gin. The Type I songs were excellent, but not super noteworthy. Etc etc. One of those "this was excellent, but you've heard this all before" kind of sets, if that makes any sense.

Ok, now that I have that out of my system, on to set 2!

Set 2

Mr. Completely - A 19 minute MC to open the set? Hell yea! Right at about 2:45, the jam starts out pretty laid-back and calm. Trey begins by doing some cool wah/volume-pedal sounding stuff. Somewhere around 4 minutes he returns to the basic "Type I" jam structure for another long while before reintroducing the FX from before yet again. By 6 minutes, the jam is veeeerrrryyyy sssllllooowwwlllyyyy turning dark. Page is tinkling around ominously on the piano, and Trey sounds lost for ideas for what to do. Fishman is going bananas but this jam is kinda just sitting here, not doing much. The darkness is quickly jettisoned in favor of bliss (as we should come to expect by now, lol). By the 7 minute mark, it sounds like the band are building to a blissful peak, slowly driving this thing onwards and upwards. By about the 8 minute mark the intensity is continuing to slowly build. Fishman pushes it forward with his drum fills, as if to say "WAKE UP!". By the 9 minute point, Trey flirts with his FX for a very brief moment, but it still feels like he/they are holding back. By 10 minutes, Trey is carefully using his FX to add color without going full Robo Goose on us. Just pleasant, melodic soloing. FINALLY, at the 10:30 mark, we head, legitimately, into Type II playing. Those first 10 minutes were pleasant, but honestly, kinda boring. Being honest here. Around 10:30, things shift into a much funkier and colorful, BOAF-style jam, if you will. Not that insane, but the drumming is spastic, Trey is finally doing some stuff, I guess, and Page is over on the synths and watery keys. Around 12:45, things change once more - Trey is playing with a clean tone, but Page is doing interesting background stuff on the synthesizer. All watery swirls and squiggles! Trey goes from melodic soloing to a more rhythmic, chord-based approach. Just vamping it out, basically. Things continue as such until about the 15 minute mark or so. Trey is using some steel-drum-sounding effect and Page is tinkering with his synths, unsure of whether he should do washes or tear it up on the keys. Throughout all this, Fishman is still going bananas....FINALLY, around the 17:30 mark, the jam truly begins to spread its wings. Trey "wakes up", the other guys follow suit, and they slowly build a head of steam. Not quite the Bathtub Gin hose explosion from set 1, but a nice little capper to send this jam on it's way.

This was enjoyable but also kinda annoying - it's like this jam just WON'T. GET. OFF. THE. GROUND. They are primed for takeoff, but can't light the fire. This is the biggest "nothing" jam I think I've ever heard (IT Chalkdust notwithstanding ). All that is not to say this isn't enjoyable, but it's nothing compelling or essential. A+ for effort, but it's one of those jams that feels as if it just doesn't really go anywhere, ya know? Great while it's there but it's like "huh, that was 19 minutes? Really?" I mean, I'm being petty here, perhaps, but it honestly wasn't even highlight-worthy, really.

>Meat - Now we are talking!! A genuine, legitimate, unexpected segue into a song not normally in second sets, and certainly not expected to follow a 20 minute jam. Awesome!!! And this sucker is TERRIFIC!!! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE VOCALS?!?!?! EVERYONE IS SINGING DIFFERENT STUFF ALL AT THE SAME TIME! WHAT IS HAPPENNING?!?!?! I'm going to say it right now, this destructively fun and funky version of Meat is better than the entire 19 minute Mr. Completely that it came out of. Trey turns on his bass synth effect again and we get dueling basses from him and Cactus!

Crosseyed and Painless - After a proper conclusion to Meat, we get C/P from a dead stop (which is always great to hear them just BURST into!). Loaded with energy, right off the rip Trey has his nifty Beatles Revolver backwards guitar FX coupled with his wah for some super unique stuff. At 2:45, before the first "Still waiting!", Page throws in the greatest synth fills ever, just giving this that much more flavor. All throughout, Trey is still using the backwards guitar effect! Sick! By the 5:30 mark, there is more going on than the entirety of that Mr. Completely non-jam. At 6 minutes, Fishman keeps the beat going, but things get quiet! Nice and dynamic! He slows the beat down for a second, then perfectly times the re-entry. Page is over on the electric piano. You know they aren't going to, but it's got that late-night, budding darkness feel about it. All we need now is for some of those THX synths to make an appearance. But then at 7:45 we get a complete, legitimate, return to Mr. Completely! A for effort, it's kinda botched (that drum pattern, I imagine, isn't easy to just toss in there, lol), but still...A+ for effort! They ALMOST pull it off! Thankfully they notice the folly of their ways and jettison it for a return to Crosseyed, this time dissolving into a super dark, scary, Carini-esque bit of ambiance. This doesn't last, however, and at this point they leave it behind for....

>Saw It Again - Another genuine segue! YES! That was terrific! This feels like the ominous precursor to "Egg In a Hole", lol. All outer space, black hole synthesizer and noise. No bliss to be had here!!! This sucker spends several glorious minutes deconstructing as expected. It's Saw It Again. You know exactly what you are getting. And it's glorious!

>The Mango Song - Not sure where the hell this came from coming out of SIA, but I'll take it! All day, every day, baby! #mango4lyfe Good lord, Page's piano sounds SPECTACULAR on this...Also, did they rehearse this? Because this sounds rehearsed. Fantastic!!!! All hail Page the Rage. His piano is just terrific....And Trey's soloing his so on point as well! Just PERFECT! Ugh, this is so great!

Everything's Right - And it appears the set has "turned the corner". A really wonderful, funky kind of Type I version. Rages hard, grooves great. Excellent! Give this one a listen!!! The final seconds see it threaten Type II liftoff, but alas, 'tis not to be.....

>Beneath a Sea of Stars - Well, if ya gotta scrap a budding jam, I will accept this song in it's place. "We're all here together and the weather's fine". No, it most certainly is not. It's pouring rain right now It's a dark, rainy day and I have the window open to the pitter-patter outside....Gotta tell ya, it fits this song perfectly. And then at 4 minutes Trey gives the command to turn the lights off!!! I can only dream of what this would have been like in person at The Gorge!!! It's only 7 minutes and doesn't go that deep, but boy is it nice and, again, just imagine what it was surely like in person.

I Always Wanted It This Way - The song nobody wants that refuses to die, lol. Why does it always show up in the strangest set locations?! 11 minutes on this one, and it closes the sucker! And ya know what? This is pretty darn enjoyable! Gotta love the Mr. Completely tease/reprise around 5 minutes!!! This song is kinda confused sounding tonight. It doesn't know if it wants to be techno or bliss rock. Full blown Crosseyed reprise at 6 minutes! STILL WAITING!!! When all is said and done, this sucker delivers the Type I goods. It RAGES to a conclusion finally finishing with the Mr. Completely lick in PERFECT set capping manner!!! Talk about a bookend!!!! MUST HEAR! THIS IS KILLER!

Shine a Light - Is SaL. Great as always.

First Tube - Is FT. Friggin' kills.


All in all, a slightly confusing set. It's all over the damn map. It's massively enjoyable but also feels a bit "what shall we play next" at times. I maintain the Mr. Completely is an enjoyable almost-waste of 19 minutes, but Meat, Crosseyed>Saw It Again>Mango, Everything's Right, Sea of Stars and I Always Wanted It This Way are all MUST HEAR!!!!

The Meat through Mango is what is TRULY essential, in addition to the insane I Always Wanted to close that reprises the Crosseyed and Mr. Completely themes. How perfect!!!

All in all, again, a highly enjoyable show that tries damn hard and achieves a hell of a lot, while still not quite managing to really go "all the way".

Great show, I'd call it a sleeper hit!!!