2023-09-03 Commerce City, CO

 Been a bad week for listening - family stress + a not-show-friendly truck route.

So it's taken a while, but today we shall finally conquer the beast that is Dick's 2023.

On to night 4, the "rain delay" show. On paper, this looks highly enjoyable to me - love the songs picked to play and it's a full 2.5 hours with a great looking set construction. Even if this ends up just being an average show musically, it's primed to be a blast to listen to.

9/3/23 Commerce City, CO

Set 1

Sigma Oasis - Great type 1 version as usual. Really nothing that "special", but it's another in a long line of excellent versions!! GREAT ENERGY!!! Worth a highlight for being such a kickass rager version. Fishman is absolutely going bonkers and Trey peaks this sucker hard towards the end. Awesome!

>Down With Disease - 16 minute version coming in slot two!!! Please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck....2023 has been an incredibly inconsistent year for Disease!!! And unfortunately the beginning of this one doesn't bode well.....And that about sums up the song itself - very LOOSE and free with the playing....not in a good way. Almost funky because of how much Trey is just "not really playing the song", so to speak. That's overstating it but if you hear it you will catch my drift. Yea, definitely just skip the song on this one. Ouch! This reading of Disease isn't AWFUL, but it's certainly nothing to write home about. The jam begins as expected, lukewarm Type 1....then around 5:50, you'll perk up and take notice - out of nowhere the jam gets a dark and suspenseful feeling about it!!! Not sure where this came from but this is cool! We have the potential for liftoff! They keep it in "darker Type I" territory for a few minutes before another SUDDEN shift at 8:30 into blissful jamming. Page and Trey link up and do a cool section where they try to mirror each other. This blissful Type 1 goes until around the 12 minute mark when they decide to start shifting gears again. Around 12:45 the jam moves into murkier waters for a bit before Trey ripcords them awkwardly back into the Disease riff to close.

All in all....not a fan of this Disease. It was yet another in a long line of "trying hard but not really achieving much" versions of late It had a few minutes worth at various points where they were clicking good but on the whole the song itself was trash and the jam just did that "wandering aimlessly" thing for far too long. I'm sure others will hear this totally differently and it was definitely an A+-for-effort kind of thing, but I just didn't think it was very good, if I'm being honest.....It was just an AWKWARD Disease....

The Moma Dance - Predictably, ordinarily hot for the first 2/3, then Trey wakes up and the guys absolutely EXPLODE this sucker to a smashing finale. Must hear for the final 2 minutes or so of facemelting. Not really highlightable though.

>Kill Devil Falls - Unexpected segue but the guys catch it quickly and it turns out to be a strong segue!!! Pretty nice bliss-fire jamming on this one. Regular length instead of the jammed out versions of recent times, but that's ok - sometimes you just want a great Type 1 blitz! Strong Type 1 version!!!

Free - Very, very nice version!!! Surprisingly funky and chill vibe on the soloing. Definitely different from the recent Saratoga version. Great little version worth a re-visit!

Everything's Right - Another 16-minute sucker! Trey sounds alive and alert in a way he honestly hasn't for most of the night. The jam begins with a SICK dive into a laidback, funky chill-fest!!! This is the most "together" and patient jamming of the night so far. Everyone sounds LOCKED IN with each other and the jam itself sound like it has purpose! Around 9 minutes, the patient chill jamming moves into darker Type II waters. The jam gets a watery darkness about it!!! Page on synths playing off of Trey, this thing is very rhythmic!!! Hands down the best playing of the night so far. This is awesome! Page is hamming it up on the synths and Trey starts to play off of him. Gordo then begins funking it up heavy-like behind them. THIS IS SICK!!! The next few minutes see Trey patiently soloing his heart out while the rest of the guys lay a gorgeous, aquatic bed of funky blissfulness beneath him. Similar to the 8/31 Tweezer, this one gets in it's "lane" and builds to a great climax. Definitely doesn't feel "aimless". A good strong peak section begins to develop around 14 minutes! They don't explode, but it's definitely a peak and hits the right spots.

Yo, that Everything's Right was terrific!!! Maybe not an all-timer, but as good as anything else played at this run. Easily the best music of the night so far. By a MASSIVE margin!!!

Roggae - Nice spot to ease us out of that ER. Works better than you think!!! Wonderful Roggae! Even by the "every Roggae is beautiful" metric, this one stands out!!! Extra chill and gorgeous with an outstanding peak section!!!!! MUST HEAR!!!

The Wedge - Excellent as always but not particularly must-hear. Great Type 1 Wedge!!

Gumbo - A rare and surprisingly-placed Gumbo is up next. Love Page's soloing and the crowd goes nuts. Overall, Gumbo is Gumbo, but it's always great to hear!

>2001 - Well that's a strange choice for segue! 9 minutes, super funky, and it does exactly what you expect. Great stuff! Really nice patient and rhythmic jamming featuring strong interplay between everyone. They are actually jamming it and not just doing the whole "play until it's time for the theme" again. Maybe not must hear, but it's excellent!

>Fuego - Hell yea! Bring it on! 12 minutes and super tight! The boys just NAIL that intro! 2023 has been the best year for Fuego probably since 2014, no?! Add this one to the pile of awesomeness. Yea, it stays basically Type I, but it just kicks absolute ass from start to finish! Let the headbanging commence!!! Super STRONG reading!!!! A+++++ TYPE I!!! DON'T SLEEP ON THIS SUCKER!!! Spectacular version!!! Ultra-powerful with a crap ton of peaking. Wow. Where did this come from?! MASSIVE PEAK!!!! THIS IS A NUCLEAR BOMB!!! THIS IS AWESOME!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!

YO!!! THAT FUEGO WAS SOME X FACTOR AWESOMENESS!! PLEASE GO REVISIT THAT!!! IT WAS OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>Runaway Jim - Yo, what the hell was that segue?! Kinda awkward to start, it takes them a bit to get the tempo/feel dialed in, but it's nothing drastic. This Jim turns out to be incredibly worthy. I'd call it must-hear for a modern version. The guys click HARD and the chill vibe is so great. Trey is hitting all the right notes at the right times and the whole thing just has a powerful feeling about it. Super excellent with another great peak section where EVERYONE is just going exploding together!!! KILLER!!! Must hear!!! WOW!!!! SICK!!!! Classic!!!!

>Twist - Ah, and just like that the fun is over. Here comes yet another "hot but nothing special" Twist to gum up the works. Ok, enough negativity - it's another very strong Type 1 version that leans heavy into the latin vibe. Great stuff!!! Honestly? This is strong enough for me to label it must-hear. It does what you expect but does it FANTASTICALLY. Kinda like that Fuego!!! Just totally next-level in it's commitment to being an ordinary, Type I Twist. Oh yea, and the massive rock and roll peak is worth the price of admission all day.

About to Run - If I'm gonna bother highlighting that Twist (which definitely deserves it), then I gotta highlight this too. Another "does exactly what you expect" rendition that just slaughters and snarls and gnashes and roars from start to finish. Killer as ever.

Harry Hood - Solid as ever but not particularly special in light of the several terrific versions preceeding it. I mean, there is nothing wrong with it, but there is absolutely nothing that good about it either.

More - X FACTOR SWIRLING TORNADO OF ROCK AND ROLL PEAKAGE!!! LETS GO!!!! FANTASTIC VERSION!!!!!

First Tube - Is First Tube

Tweeprise - Of course!



All in all, for a long while, this show was kinda the "disappointment" I was expecting, then with the impressive Everything's Right they seemed to turn a corner and the show became downright excellent! The whole stretch from ER through, say, Twist is terrific. I'd say the true must hear material of the night is the aforementioned Everything's Right as well as the "WHY IS THIS SO FREAKING GOOD?!" trio of Fuego>Jim>Twist!!!!

Seriously, don't sleep on that Fuego! No idea why this one is so particularly strong like that!!!!

This show won't be winning any awards any time soon, but there was a ton to like, if not love!!! Give this one a chance - you won't regret it!