2023-07-16 Alpharetta, GA

 7 16 23 Alpharetta #3

Set 1

Killer and totally unexpected Burid Alive into Wilson as the opening duo!!! BA rips with nary a flub in sight and Wilson is extra fresh coming so early in the show.

Awesome!

The following NICU is terrific! Trey is playing around with the melody a lot and it's just an absolute joy of a version. Best one ive heard in a while.

And then we get a 17 minute Gin!!! This Gin is a juggernaut. Not the bliss rager you expect, it takes its time slowly growing to massive proportions, crushing everything in its sight. An absolute beast and totally must hear. The jamming is so choice. A+ Gin!

Gumbo is absolutely delicious tonight. The choicest of rare, tasty delicacies. Perfect to go with NICU!

Man, is this set old school or what?!

A PHENOMENAL Limb By Limb is next and takes us to Peakville!! MAGIC PEAK ALERT! MAGIC PEAK ALERT! MUST HEAR!!!!

Wow.....

The set now seems to round a corner with the debut of The Well. Alongside Oblivion, this is definitely my favorite new song and Ill take any version I can get. Not yet the x factor wizardry of the later Philly version, this is still an excellent type 1 debut. Great stuff!!! I mean, it goes into the insane "FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE WELL!" black hole section, but that is expected. Killer stuff!!! And Trey just lets it friggin rip. Wah pedal annihilation. Sick!!!

Finally we get a well deserved cool down with a becoming -not-so-rare-anymore Mounains In The Mist. Good version. Great call! Ugh, this gave me goosebumps. Chill beauty.

A strong Halfway to the Moon gets us up and moving without straying from the more serious nature of Mountains. Good call to build us back up. As expected, Page turns in a wonderful piano performance. Sick. Trey then follows with a very good and lengthy solo, bringing it to a close. Maybe not must hear, but go revisit this one!

And we get a 16 min Split Open to close. I guess we already pretty much know what is gonna happen, eh? It does what you expect - it gets grimy and dark and slowly deconstructs itself. It's not the best one of the large-but-mostly-similar group of evil Melts since 2018, but neither is it the worst (Charleston 2019....). This one is pretty middle of the road. Kinda ainless overall but not a total mess. If something this out there is the "low" point of the set, well my god what a set it was!!!

All in all, this set was close to flawless!!!! The song selection was perfect and everything felt extra hot, if not inspired by magic. Bathtub Gin and Limb By Limb were both must hear and nearly everything else was merely a step below. Killer set - one of the most consistent of the year so far! Awesome stuff!

Set 2

Look at that setlist!! If this doesnt deliver....

A relatively brief Mikes Song opens set 2. It seems to lack fire during the first verses and feels kinda weak. But then then Page kicks off the jam and the groove begins...this Mikes ends up being nothing that strong in the end. Enjoyably rocking and all the usual hooplah, but its just kinda stiff and awkward until the jam coalesces for the final minute or two. Bummer! Its way better than Im saying, but you have high expectations for a MS, ya know? Nashville 2018 this was not, lets put it like that

And directly into a 16 minute Carini! LETS GO!!! Killer choice. The initial song portion sounds very rushed and kinda ramshackle - anyone know if they were having tech/sound issues or something? Its like they arent locked in together that well. Right away, the jam stumbles into a very strange major key section. It was definitely an "accidental" transition, but they roll with it and it at least gives this a unique twist. They stay in this mode for a very long time, slowly evolving from outright blissrock to something a bit more funky and aquatic, yet none less positive and uplifting! An uplifting Carini. Thats not a sentence you get to type every day! This is fantastic. The guys are locked in strong and delivering the goods. The playing is downright jubilant!!!

Then they build to a massive and lengthy peak section that sees Trey holding a note for upwards of a minute! YO THIS CARINI IS SPECTACULAR!!! BLISSFUL X FACTOR MAGIC!!! MUST HEAR!!!

After this, the jam evolves into a quasi psychedelic and riffy, tension building maelstrom vortex of insanity for the final few minutes...

My god, that was like getting blasted with an endless beam of sunshine for 16 incredible minutes...my god ....and that last 2 or 3 minutes was just... *Head explodes*

Weekapaug comes out of Carini. And the start is incredibly awkward, almost resulting in a trainwreck. Huh. Thankfully, this causes the jam to get real quiet and lowkey, laying hard into the funk!!! Tons of porno wah scratching like its 1997 or something. Paug ends up being a surprisingly strong and worthwhile version despite its glaring flaws. Cool version!

16 minute reading of Sand keeps the set going nicely. Sand does its funky thing for a long while before slowly drifting into blissful Type 2. Synthesizers droning, Trey doing melodic leads, etc. But through this, the darkness slowly reappears and we leave the light behind once more. This Sand is like a slow drive outer space journey or something. They take it out there big time!!! Must hear just like Carini!!!! Wow!!! The jam moves back and forth between blissful space and darker fare before winding it's way to a conclusion with a much rockier final couple of minutes...

This is one you need to sit back and sink your teeth into. Spectacular.

Reba - ok, something is definitely going on with monitors or something... terrible intro!!!

YO THIS REBA IS GARBAGE! HOT TRASH! BOO!!! YUCKY YUCKY YUCKY!!

No idea what happened between the nearly flawless Fluffhead from 7/15 and now, but Trey is having major problems in this Reba. Ultra stiff with no fluidity and a ton of massive flubbage, especially in the first several minutes.

Gross.

A decently strong solo isnt enough to redeem this. Bad night for Reba!

Thankfully a strong More closes the set and puts us out of our misery

The Night The Lights with Trey on drums and Fishman on guitar/vocals is the first encore. Incredible x factor zaniness that is so awful but SO much fun!!!

A shockingly bad composed section of YEM (2004 bad) before an absolutely nuclear bomb explosion jam to close it out. Must hear!

All in all, a terrific but mixed show. 2nd set had must hear versions of Carini and Sand but the worst Reba ive heard in ages. Encore was super fun if sloppy as a mother.

The 4.2 rating on .NET is accurate imo

Massive heights and ultra sloppy lows.