2023-07-23 Syracuse, NY

 7 23 23 Syracuse

Set 1

Free - Killer version! Awesome opener! Maybe not list worthy, really, but it was still the bees knees, yo.

Steam - PURE FACE MELTING AWESOMENESS!!!! MUST HEAR!!!! WOW!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

MCGRUPP - !!!!!! YES!!! 2ND VERSION OF THE YEAR!!! BEST PART?! THEY FRIGGIN NAIL IT!!! A+ MCGRUPP!

Evolve - STUPENOUS!!! Good Lord, the X Factor energy is raging tonight! This is an outstanding type 1 version. A+++ Treys soloing is downright exhilaratingly jubilant. Creative melodic leads that will put a massive grin on your face!!!!!! Must hear!!!

Stealing Time - Smashing! Destructive!!! Wah pedal insanity!!! Holy crap. Must hear! Freaking POWERFUL version!! Listen to Cactus and Fishman just thump it up! My goodness!

>Meat - Awesome, strong version and the segue into it was fun. Excellent, but more like a great stopholder for us to go into...

Walk Away - Uptempo. Kick ass. Raging, red hot fire from the sky. Must hear! Headbangers delight! GET IT, LEO!!!! YES!!! LETS FRIGGIN GO!!!

Theme From the Bottom - Excellent Type 1. Great stuff!! Nothing special but strong as ever!

Kill Devil Falls - FRIGGIN 18 MINUTE BEHEMOTH TO CLOSE THE SET!! WHAT THE HELL!!! Excellent Type 1 until roughly the 6 minute mark. At that point, the jam takes a quick turn into more blatantly upbeat, feelgood territory. Meanwhile, the guys are rocking the F outta this! FRIGGIN EXPLOSIVE!! ALL HAIL THE X FACTOR MAGIC! Trey does a Divided Sky hold and then sets a loop of it!!! So you now have this one sustained, droning note in the background while the guys play atop it. SICK!!! 8 minutes in and my neck is about to break - I CANT STOP HEADBANGING! Thankfully, before injury sets in, around 9:30 the jam drops hard and fast into a spastic, dark funk jam of fire and heat. This quickly evolves, if you will, back into the hottest Type 1 of the night. Just as quickly, they move BACK into a robo funk area!!! Whiplash! They are all over the place in the best way possible. Freaking awesome. Slowly, more blissful waters begin to rise. This goes until about 15 minutes. Right at that moment, as if on friggin cue, a peak begins to build. The crowd ERUPTS and we are off to the Peak Grand Prix!!!!!! YES!!! IVE GOT GOOSEBUMPS!!! IVE GOT CHILLS!!! THIS ROCKETSHIP IS OUTTA CONTROL!!! MY HEAD IS IN MY HANDS. MY BRAIN HAS TURNED TO MUSH. IM LOSING MY FRIGGIN MIND THIS IS SO KICKASS!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

THEN AT 17 MINUTES, TREY HITS IT!! THE PEAK! THE PEAKIEST OF PEAKS IN ALL OF PEAKVILLE!!!!!!!

MAGIC! MAGIC!!! MAGIC!!!! MAGIC!!!! MAGIC!!!!! MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAGIC! MAGIC!!! MAGIC!!!! MAGIC!!!! MAGIC!!!!! MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then Trey derails it by reprising the song to finish it off ... oh well....

Um, so, 7 23 23 set 1, eh

Anybody wanna tell me how they be doin that like so?
The whole set, from the get go, had that "next level", special kind of feel about it that you cant describe but you know it when you hear it. EVERYTHING was excellent.
McGrupp, Evolve and Faulty Plan were all genuinely next level, must hear performances.
Then came friggin KDF and the universe exploded with the best peak ive heard in ages. Reminded me of one of those Alpharetta 2021 jams - the Chalkdust, I think.

What the crap. And the "meat" of the show is still to come?! Im already dead!

Set 2

Suzy Greenberg - Set opener! That's refreshing!! Great stuff.

Tweezer - up next is ......a friggin 28 minute Tweezer!!!!!!!!!!!!! The jam begins around 4.45 with a super chill funk groove. Trey is doing melodic leads and Page syncs up with him. Immediately, this causes the funk to completely evaporate and we are heading into chill bliss land. This goes for a long while and is pretty enjoyable. Definitely patient and they are laying it down thick. Around 9 minutes, the smallest hints of funk begin to return and the bliss slowly starts to get a hotter feel about it. They are building this sucker back up . It keeps going until finally, at the 11 minute mark, the jam just EXPLODES and Machine Gun Trey comes out to play again.

PEAKVILLE VOL. 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

After this quick and volcanic peak, the jam begins to slowly head for funky darkness!! Weird rhythms emerge and porno scratching loops are set!!! Welcome to Type 2, everybody.
Around 13.45, Gordo begins a new bass groove that the others latch onto. Funk rock heat!!! They ride this groove motif HARD and by 16 minutes the jam is like a fiery, funky monster just STOMPING everything in sight.
Soon after, though, Page comes in on the piano and the jam moves back to blissful power rock. This jam is a POWERHOUSE. Everyone is laying into HARD and it has so much OOMPH to it!!! This is sick.
Around 19 minutes, they have successfully moved through this section and Trey reintroduces the Tweezer riff. At this point, the jam is funky and piano driven. A total dance your ass off vibe.
Finally, just when the bliss is reaching overkill status, at 22 minutes, Page introduces the first synths, Trey returns to the Tweezer lick and Cactus kicks on his GrooveMachine FX.
Its. Friggin. ON. Things are finally getting strange!!!!!!!! Outerspace hyperfunk!!!!!!
HOLY CRAP LISTEN TO PAGE HE RAGE GOING NUTS ON THE SYNTHS FOR LIKE 2 WHOLE MINUTES AROUND THE 23 MIN MARK!!!! PLAY IT, LEO!!!
Then comes Trey to pick up the slack, but he is laying back, content to vamp with his looper, letting Page lead. My god, this thing is hotter than the kiln in a pottery class.
At 26 minutes, everyone briefly syncs up on a new motif, and the jam moves swiftly into darker, "ambience approaching", hazy kind of funk waters. Very sick. The jam basically "fizzles out" from here.

>Oblivion - and out of the murky depths of the deep sea, Trey comes in clutch, leading us into a 21 minute Oblivion!!!!!!!! HELL YES LETS GO!! BRING ON THE SOUPY DARKNESS!!!!! Red hot, dark psych type 1. Around 6 minutes the jam slowly starts to stretch.
Around 9 minutes, the jam begins to slowly go deeper and deeper. Trey begins his loopers and bckwards fx and the THX Synths come out to play! We are slowly getting sucked into the black hole!!! Lord help us!!! This is terrifying!!!!
Around 12 minutes, the murky soup becomes upbeat vamping. Pleasant melodic noodling from Big Red ensues. Synths give way to watery keys. Rhythmic, stoccato jamming. Slowly building by the second but they are taking their sweetass time with this.
At 15 min, Trey starts chord slashing and a rock and roll peak building section follows. Sick! 17 min to close see the band reaching an explosive rock and roll peak before reprising the Oblivion chorus to finish it
Freaking awesome!

Miss You - Excellent breather. Nothing more. Great as always.

Wolfmans Brother - UBER funky!!! Must hear! Maybe not that unique, but this freaking killed. Awesome funktastic Wolf! A++++++!!!!!! MUST HEAR!!! INSANELY FANTASTIC!!!!!

Possum - MUST HEAR! DESTROYS WORLDS!

Encore:
I Didnt Know - All hail the hometown hero Jon Fishman!!!! Vacuum jazz shenanigans!

Whats the Use - Strange to get as an encore but its great!!!

Tweeprise - of course you have to close with Tweeprize!


All in all....jesus christ. Top 3 or 4 SHOW of the entire year so far!!! Not a single weak link, three minblowing jams (one in a new song, one in a classic, and one out of a song you wouldnt expect!!!), inspired setlist choices, hometown fun....Easily the best show of the summer so far, tied with Alpharetta #1.

Classic. Classic. Classic.

A solid 4.5/5 for me!