2023-04-15 Seattle, WA

 4 15 23 Seattle

An ok Axilla 2 opens the show. Moma follows and increases the heat considerably.

Then comes Wolfman!!!! They go full blown Type II dirty bliss right out of the gate!!!!!!!! X factor alert!!! A patiently soaring rendition. Some funkiness creeps into the back half. This thing is a steamroller! Killer peakage!!! Wow! This then morphs organically into a NASTY , funky kind of rage, almost as if we are back in Moma! LISTEN TO GORDO TEARING IT UP!!!!!!

AND THEN IZABELLA COMES IN OUT OF FRIGGIN NOWHERE!!!!! YES!!! X FACTOR MAGIC!!! HELL YES!!! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!! WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?

Trey first plays the Freedom riff then moves into Bella. Sick.

Its song 4 of the set and im already spent. Oh my god.

A gorgeous and rare (though becoming less rare) Leaves is next. Terrific.

After Leaves is a good Reba - I say good merely as Trey gives us the sloppiest run through of the composed sections in recent memory. Bummer. Not a total waste, but I wont call it great. However, the jam is must hear! Way too short but unique and magical!

That was the most FRUSTRATING Reba ever!

Thankfully, we get a classic, all-timer Chalkdust to finish the set!!! A+ on every level, this one goes Type II almost immediately, exploring all manners of sound and style during its 14 min duration. Absolutely mandatory listening. As good as the Wolfman!!! HOLY CRAP!!!


All in all, not my favorite set - it felt a little uneven at times, but good golly you cant argue with all the highlights!!!!!! You already know this, but you NEED the Wolfybella, as well as the Reba jam and the "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!" Chalkdust in your life!

For my money, the Wolfman was incredible but also slightly....overrated. Sure it was killer and the genuine "accidental" move into Izabella was SO FUN!!! But Bella concluded way, way, WAY too soon and almost felt like an extended tease.

Leaves was gorgeous but stilted from Trey.

Reba was terrible from Trey, but then the jam totally redeemed it, only to, again, be cut WAY too short, so points lost there

But that Chalkdust....ok, gun to my head, THAT was the jam of the set.

Good lord....

Set 2 opens with a hot but ordinary Free before a super goopy, aquatic, rapid fire rager of a Ruby Waves. Not quite the beast from Mexico, but its awesome and gets the job done!

Unfortunately, Trey axes it for....yay, set killer Caspian....Caspian is excellent with a very lengthy jam. Only 7 minutes but they take it for a dang ride!!!! I would almost say this is better than the Ruby Waves!!!!!

Yo, check that slow segue into Piper!

11 minutes in length (why do they REFUSE to stretch it out?!). Piper is ok, but on the whole doesnt do a whole lot besides noodle aimlessly. The last few minutes build some serious steam, but that dosnt mean anything when they axe it for friggin Circus....

Oi vey, come on, guys....

Tube is a pretty hot 11 minutes. Excellent but its too little too late when they kill the set AGAIN.

Then Wading Sea and Hood to close....shoot me....


What a bust of a set! There was NOTHING must-hear. Ruby Waves, Caspian and Tube were all excellent, but only on a basic level. And the set flow was non-existent - every time they got going it came to another screeching halt! Everything was played fine otherwise, but good lord this set just kept dragging its feet!!!!



At this point, im resigned to my fate and must accept the Train Song and Brian/Robert encore. Love both and I will admit they are potent with the SANTOS to rage us to the finish line.

So all in all, this was one of the must uneven shows ive ever heard. Nothing was played less than excellently, but the first set is really summed up by the Wolfy and Chalkdust, maybe the Reba jam (the song itself was atrocious).

Set 2 was an exercise in futility. Several good attempts to give it the gas resulting in "eh, pretty good" jams followed by constant application of the brakes.

Hood, Waves, Caspian and Tube are probably what to take away from it, but none of them transcend beyond "hey, that was real good!"

Count me in the sure minority that STRONGLY prefer night 1....