2021-10-15 Sacramento, CA

 Onwards to Fall 2021!! I've never been more excited to hear a tour maybe ever. I've been dying to hear this tour pretty much since it happenned, lol.

We begin today with the strange-looking 10/15/21 - aka the "And So To Bed" show, aka the Tube>what was Trey thinking?!>Brother show.


10/15/21 Sacramento, CA

Set 1

The Final Hurrah - Hell yes, let's go. Maybe my favorite KV song tied with Turtles, I will ALWAYS be happy to get this in a set! Terrific Type I reading, and pretty dang lengthy, reaching basically 10 minutes!!

Harry Hood - 2nd slot, best slot! Hood is killer. Trill-city from Trey. Comparable to the Dick's version with a bit more "heat". Sick!

Corinna - Great stuff. Wish they played this a little more. Funny that I just heard the 2018 version this week as well. Page's soloing on this is the definition of "choice". And then Trey's solo to follow is even better!

The Squirming Coil - GEE, THAT WAS A SHORT SET! I'm honestly not a fan of this placement. It's pretty fresh, but this song is tailor-made for closing sets/shows. It just feels wrong in this spot. Pretty strong version!! Tons of energy, if a little sloppy on Trey's part (though not overly so). It honestly sounds like it has tons of extra passion about it. Killer version!

555 - No one will convince that 555 coming out of Coil like that sounds anything other than wrong This one is good but doesn't really jam at all. In other words, you'd be just as fine listening to the studio cut.

Army of One - I feel like this seems like it's played more than it actually is. Also, I feel like it always shows up adjacent to 555. Great to hear as usual. A fine reading, but nothing particularly great. Much better versions abound.

Beauty of My Dreams - First version since 2018 and only fourth time ever being played in 3.0! And yea, it's just a "simple" bluegrass tune, but the guys kill it! Gotta love a good rarity that probably slipped over the heads of most of the crowd!

Mercury - At this point, the set is kinda floundering a tad. The song choices and placements have been interesting, but after Corinna, we kinda hit a big lull for a while, so to speak. Then, boom, 18 minute Mercury! Let's go! Good, solid reading of the song itself. The jamming proper begins around the 8 minute mark. For several minutes, it's got a VERY chill kinda late-night-in-autumn feel about it. Trey lays back for a long while, seemingly unsure what to do, until BANG at the 10:30 point when everyone LOCKS IN together. The jam takes a sudden and drastic turn upwards, turning into a strange kind of bliss jam. This continues rather uneventfully until the 13:30 mark, or so. Pleasant but not really that interesting. Around 13:30, the guys start to really increase heat ever so slowly. Trey does lots of great "squiggle shredding", but overall it still sounds kinda falling apart and lacking cohesion. At about the 15 minute mark, we achieve Type I liftoff, with Trey absolutely GOING FOR IT, shredding it out! They keep the heat going and at about the 16 minute mark, Trey turns on the RoboHonker5000 FX and Page is playing with synths in the back ground, but it still sounds less-than, if that makes any sense. Maybe the best part of the whole thing is the final minute or so where they perfectly bring the jam to a close and return to the song, finishing it out!!! Now THAT was great!

Ugh, it pains me to not be raving about that Mercury. It just felt clunky and uninspired for the majority of it's duration. Honestly, it doesn't really start to "do anything" of note until the damn thing is almost over!!! Really annoying! A+ for effort though. I mean, it was enjoyable - I'll never NOT take an 18 minute Mercury, but it really felt like they never "connected" that well for the most part and it felt very "aimless" for much of it's duration. I guess I have to highlight it, but really, there are so many stronger versions out there.

Character Zero - Is C Zero. Good stuff.



All in all, a slightly underwhelming set. Enjoyable from start to finish, but it felt like they came out blazing, only to then kinda fizzle out the longer the set went. Nothing was poor or anything, but the "spark" at the beginning seemed to fade the longer the set went. And that Mercury was very good, but really just never coalesced like it should have. Again, A+ for effort, but sometimes I guess you just can't win them all, ya know? A fine set, but you won't be running out to scream the praises of this one on the street corner.... 

Set 2

Scents or Subtle Sounds - An oddly short, 7 minute version to open the set. Good news, this is a very strong, energy-laden reading of the song! But this shouldn't be considered a waste, because one of the best segues of all time happens and the band basically move into Plasma immediately at the start of the Scents jam!

>Plasma - Now THAT was a great segue! Right at the 2 minute mark, Trey hits on the RoboWah and starts honking it up good and nasty like. Aw yea, it's ON! Everyone else is just keeping the Plasma theme going while Trey delivers goopy wah soloing. But then he turns off the wah and switches to a very clean sound for some great melodic noodling. Around 4 minutes, Trey and Page lock in together and move the jam to a more chill vibe. Very cool section. The jam builds from here, slowly adding in synths from Page and more goopy soloing from Trey. Fishman gets some good fills going as well. This is super nice, yo! This is one of those jams that pretty much stays in it's lane, but you're glad that it does because what they are doing is so damn good. Around the 8 minute mark, the late-night, jazz club chillness gives way to a sudden BURST of energy that sees the guys ramping up the energy immensely. Hose peak incoming?! They absolutely rage this sucker to fiery conclusion. Killer. Immediately, this 10 minute Plasma is better than EVERYTHING in the first set. No, i'm not exaggerating. Terrific, A+ little jam!!!

>Free - ANOTHER A+ SEGUE! Free is similar to the 12/28/18 reading in that the guys once again forget the arrangement/structure here and there, but they make up for it in spades with fire out the wazoo. Good lord, the RoboWah5000Deluxe sounds SO good laid atop Gordo's funky solo section. Jeez louise. They friggin' LAY DOWN that groove tonight. Trey's soloing is so perfect, all patient and laid back, but with enough fire and energy at all the right moments. This Free is a dang GROOVE MACHINE! That Free wasn't even 9 minutes, but it was TERRIFIC!! Don't sleep on this one!

Billy Breathes - Quick! When's the last time they played Billy Breathes two shows in a row - 1996 or something?! Pretty good version on the whole. Perhaps a tad "loose" from Trey. Nothing really that great but fine nonetheless.

>Piper - 13 minute Piper up next. Right away, the jam gets going around the 2:45 mark with some super cool, intergalactic-sounding delay cascades from Trey. Page moves over to the electric keys for a water sound before moving to the THX synths. Trey quickly latches onto what Page is doing and everyone is jamming "together". At the 4 minute mark, the RoboBullFrog comes out to play. Check out the Super Synth at the 5 minute mark. The guys are going full-speed, spastic rhythms ahead! Trey is "vamping" it up while Page inserts a ton of gooey synths. Trey answers this with some SICK pitch shifting/reverse delay effects!!! By 6 minutes, we are being sucked through the wormhole!!!! By the 7 minute mark, with Fishman going all banana sandwich on the drums, Trey and Page link up on an ascending motif. Trey is on the RoboHonkers again and Page is on the electric keys, giving this part a slightly more chill vibe, despite the destructive drumming in the background. Around the 8:15 mark, Trey begins another motif, then hits a bullfrog loop, moving the jam into yet another area. He quickly realizes the loop is a tad awkward and jettisons it in favor of some killer melodic playing with a very "composed" feel to it!!!! Around the 10 minute mark, everyone syncs up once more on another motif and the jam gets a bit more chill. By the 12 minute area, the jam is winding down. The drums lay out and some murky Type II ensues for a brief, thunderous minute. Alas, this is the end of the jam, but what a jam it was!

>Ghost - You can hear the opening riff coming from a mile away. Extra "bluesy" and strong feel about this one. There is some weight to this Ghost. Super groovy and slinky, the jam flirts with bliss for a brief moment, but thankfully they quickly return to the hard-rocking playing they began it with. Finally at the very end the jam winds down and turns into blissful semi-ambience.... Overall, not must-hear, but in the context of the show, this is excellent!

>And So To Bed - FRIGGIN AND SO TO BED?!?!??! I didn't even know about this track's existence until this show was played! Is the jury still out on whether this was rehearsed or not?! WHAT THE HELL!!!!! Extremely cool but incredibly strange....

>Sigma Oasis - Great call! Picks the set back up after that weirdo (though totally welcome!) diversion. Extra-rousing rendition!!! LOADED with fire and energy!! LETS ROCK! Seriously, this thing RAGES!! This gives Free a run for its money!!! DANG!!!

Tube - Great choice to keep the momentum going!!! Super chill and "aquatic" sound to the jam tonight. Very patient and takes it's sweet time in the best way. Trey does some great vibrato/tremolo type stuff throughout. Around the 5 minute mark, he introduces a melodic motif along the lines of the intro to The Lizards. The guys latch on and a great chill jam continues. Absolutely GORGEOUS jamming ensues. Uptempo melodic bliss whatever-you-want-to-call-it. Hey, it's got my feet tappin' and my head bobbin', so they are doing something right! Then at 7:39, Trey introduces the Brother lick! To be fair, it was a great spot for it and fit perfectly, Brother just has such a strange rhythm that it was bound to fall apart in the transition. A+++++ for effort on that one!

>Brother - Yea, the famous "trainwreck" transition, but c'mon, give them some leeway. That is not the kind of thing you just move right into like that. Fishman quickly restarts it and off we go! Brother quickly gets down and nasty. Trey busting out the RoboHonker5000 and Fishman doing woodblock fills. The groove carries on! Around the 5 minute mark, Trey jumps on the wah for a GLORIOUS squiggle solo. Good lord, the X Factor is in the house tonight!!!! By the 6 minute mark they are revisiting the Brother theme in a big way. Trey continues his being head chef of the noodle shop (sorry Jerry!). Killer. YO! THIS WAS SICK!!!!


Some terrific, lengthy banter after Brother concludes: Trey: "What other song ends with the pulling of the (guitar) neck? ....silence....Zero points to the audience!" Page: "I believe it's Rift!" etc....


When the Circus Comes to Town - Great choice for the cooloff! And good lord this is a stellar rendition! A+

Golgi Apparatus - Surprise set closer. Golgi is Golgi. Nice change of pace! Very good version relatively flub-free, though it's a little fast-and-loose on the tightness meter. Good stuff!!

Sand - A Sand encore! What the hell?! (How many times have I said that in recent shows...). For the first half, it sounds downright uninspired, but in the back half, Trey wakes up and delivers, honestly, the most EXPLOSIVE hose peak finale that we've been denied for a number of shows now. In no way an all-timer, but at least worth a listen. Holy hell, Trey is killing it...



All in all...the 3.3 rating for this show on .NET is total horse-s#!t. This wasn't an all-timer, and the first set was very inconsistent. But the 2nd set was a KILLER listen from start to finish! The boys took MAJOR risks tonight from the start of the show right through to the encore. They didn't always pay off but when they did it was glorious. Literally the entire second set right through Circus is MUST HEAR. This was a spectacular listen and the 2nd set was incredible.

I'd say this deserves AT LEAST a friggin' 3.8 or 3.9. Good lord, people.....