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PLEASE READ!! - Welcome to Warewolf95's "Idiot Review" archive!!

 Howdy folks! As the title says, welcome to my archive of live show reviews as I have posted on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums website! I pr...

Friday, March 29, 2024

2018-10-16 Albany, NY - 2023 revisit

 Currently in my dump truck on the side of the interstate.

After about 10 days off, Im beginning the legendary Fall 2018 again today for my 2nd run through of these shows.

Super excited. The summer shows blew me away on relisten and I cant wait to replay all of these. I remember Vegas and Nashville destroying my mind :p

On paper, these two Albany shows have pretty damn terrific setlists as well.

Anywho, 10 16 18 Albany starts the tour with a fine, if slightly restrained Moma.
Thankfully they get it together and turn it into and absolute FIRE FROM THE SKY RAGER! SHRED IT, BOYS! HOLY CRAP!

MOLTEN LAVA MOMA!

Ooh, an 11 minute Tube to follow! And it is killer. Page Synth Heaven. Seriously, this is dark funk paradise. Trey doesnt shred much, but he leads the way with a sick ascending wah motif that leads the song to a fiery, raging peak/conclusion.

You cant ask for much more from a Tube! Every version deserves this! No more 5 minute quickie versions. :)

Theme is up next. Seems rare to get it so early in a show, but its very refreshing and great to hear after that insane FireFunk opening duo.

When all is said and done, its nothing that special, but its an excellent Type I rager with Trey going ham on the fretboard. Always a plus. Great version!

Theme concludes with a surely-planned-out segue into Free that nobody saw coming! :D

Free has a really unique breakdown jam in the middle where Page and Fishman completely drop out for about a minute or two, leaving Gordo and Trey to "duel"!!!! Very unusual and frickin cool! Then Page comes back in with his piano and Trey turns on the Leslie...

Ooh, baby this is some special stuff right here!

THAT WAS FRIGGIN AWESOME! :D

Army of One is up next. Good spot for it! Not my favorite song but it seems that each one I hear is better than the last. Flawless soloing from Trey and this sounds super tight and rehearsed. Great version!

Halleys is up next. It sounds excessively chill tonight. Thankfully, Page busts out the Clav/wah combo and turns up the heat, prompting Trey to keep it going. This ends up being a damn strong Type I reading full of firery energy by its conclusion. Awesome!!!

Up next is a 13 minute Everything's Right. For the first couple minutes, the jam is in laid back, funk groove territory. Then Page turns to his watery keys and leads the jam to a laid back bliss style. Definitely BLISS, lol. But its super chill!!

Eventually Trey stumbles upon a "Divided Sky" sustained note. The crowd roars and this signals the jam to change once more. Fishman starts pounding the skins and we are picking up steam. Things are getting a good weight about them.

This "almost" peaks and things turn dark! Trey on Leslie, Fishman returning to the ER groove....we are definitely not in Blissville anymore. If this was 2021, there would be Robo Goose honks all over

At one part, the jam dies out for a split second, then they have a change of heart and keep ir going! Huh!

It develops this syncopated groove that turns into a natural segue into... CITIES!!!!

That segue was some X Factor Magic stuff!!!!! I refuse to believe that was planned, but it was incredibly perfect!!!

AND WE ARE STILL IN THE FIRST SET!!!!!

Cities sounds great. It delivers exactly as you expect, but it also gets really quiet and mysterious as well! Pretty interesting little version. Awesome!!

And then of course a destructive Walls to close.


All in all, holy mother of hell what a first set! Nothing was less than excellent, and Moma, Tube, ER-Cities were all MUST HEAR.

That ER was 13 minutes, but felt like a 25 min journey!

First sets dont get much better than this!

:D 

Set 2

Ghost opener. Starts dark but quickly turns into a bliss jam. Warewolf95 Drinking Game, 2018 edition - take a shot every time a jam quickly goes "feel good".....I enjoy the playing but it's getting kind of old at this point.

Also, everyone blames Trey, but actually go listen - 90 percent of the time its PAGE that forces us out of the dark!!!!!

Ok, back to Ghost. Nothing super special, but it is an really excellent "get your feet wet" kind of version. Just hot on the whole. Trey is being patient with his playing - if you like sustained notes, this is the version for you.

In the back half, it gets downright rockin. Page hints at some synths but returns to piano instead and it turns into a straight up face melter rocker. Killer. I mean, it has one of those "unresolved" anti-peaks going on that they keep doing.

Instead of EXPLODING, they opt to reel it all back in. Kinda annoying but sometimes cool, like the one in this Ghost - it leads to a Twist ish style jam, but fades out into ambience quickly before launching into......

No Men In No Mans Land. A perfect 1 2 punch like thar Moma and Tube in set 1!!!! When all is done, its an A+ Type I rager of the highest order for the first 7 minutes. Then around 730 the synths creep in and things get dark. The jam is slowly going sideways. The final 4 minutes see the whale siren make an appearance and the whole goes into outer space!!!!

And then Trey ruins it with a Piper audible.... JUST LET THINGS EVOLVE, DANG IT! I forgive him, even though this was a super clunky transition. He basically shoved Piper in there by force when he easily could have just started strumming it and let it naturally blossom.

But whatevs.... :p As with most modern Pipers, the jam aint long but its very sweet. It gets a kind of darkish, slightly latin tinged feel about it, but its still very uptempo at the same time. I dont know how, but it winds down and Trey leads us into....

Twenty Years Later? Ok! The famous Albany 2018 version! :) 14 minutes tonight. The jam is a red hot type I heater for a while. Then eventually everyone latches onto a rhythmic beat, sending us DEEP into Type II outer space like that MSG 2012 Disease and Carini!!!!

Weird drum beats, dark synthesizers abound....this is incredible unsettling. If this doesnt frighten you....holy hell.

It just keeps getting darker and crazier and zanier!!!!!!! Dude!!!!

Hold me, im scared!!!!! :faint::faint::faint::faint:


No joke, thats gotta be in the top 10 "scariest" jams theyve ever played! And it even returns to the song proper to close!!!

Somehow we manage to escape the fiery hellscape of doom and return to dry land with the most perfectly placed Show of Life.

Is this the only version NOT played as an encore?! :p

Wow.....Great version that even has a jam!!!!! Dude!!!! What even is this show?!?!

A nice but nothing special red hot duo of 2001 and C Zero lead us to an A+ magical Harry Hood to finish the show!

Hose bliss! Hose bliss everywhere!! Insane Hood!


All in all, the Ghost through SoL as well as the Hood was all must hear. A terrific set and an astonishingly great show! :D

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