1999-07-04 Atlanta, GA

 7/4/99 Atlanta

Set 1

A spirited My Soul is a fun kickoff to this show. The vibe is kinda laidback and relaxed in a great way! Page rips it up on the piano. Then Trey takes over and melts faces. Excellent opener! That was great!
This version SMOKES!

The relaxed party atmosphere is cemented with the following Ya Mar. A torally must hear rendering, Trey's solo is delightfully patient and slow building while Pages organ playing is outta this world. A+!!!!! This sucker even goes type 2 for the final few minutes! It dissolves into a weirdo jungle groove fest that is incredibly unique and strange. MUST HEAR!!!!!!

A terrific Farmhouse keeps the laidback vibes a coming. Standard but powerful. I wouldn't call it must hear but its genuinely excellent.

Following a rare Oh Kee Pah Ceremony we get a 10 minute AC/DC Bag. Bag builds some major heat and rages red hot. In the end, it never surpasses ordinary, but its downright excellent all the same!

The Wedge is a great choice for this feel good and laid back set. Inessential, Trey is kinda flubby on this one.

Vultures (potato to the throat!) is absolutely evil tonight, Treys soaring seagull lead work giving such a vibe to this. Fantastic! Must hear!!!!! This Vultures is friggin ridiculous!!! Holy bird squealing apocalypse!!!!

The crowd goes insane for the following I Didnt Know, vacuum solo and all. Feels weird after that Vultures, but hey, its great either way!

Back to the laid back vibe, we get an always welcome Fast Enough For You! Terrific version, Trey delivers an outstanding solo, making use of/controlling his squealing feedback like hes Frank Zappa or something. Really excellent. Must hear!!!!

In classic fashion, the set concludes with a giant 16 minute David Bowie.

All in all, this was a pretty great set. The big word is CONSISTENCY! It was CONSISTENTLY great! Unlike set 1 of 7/3 which was all over the place. They set the vibe from the get go and stuck with it all the way through!!! Like a straight line!!!

This wasnt the worlds most amazing set, but it was 20 miles more enjoyable than the majority of the previous show!!!!

Ya Mar, Vultures, FEFY and Bowie are all must hear!!! 

Set 2

Set 2 gets off to a great start with a 13 minute Ghost. This one goes deep and fast, covering more ground than you expect in the time that it has to do so. From the outset it is oddly uptempo and rocking. It turns in a dark and grimy kind of jam that morphs into some ethereal bliss type playing during the final stretch. That was excellent! Felt like they crunched a 20 minute jam into 13....

Ghost begins to morph and change and an all timer segue into Slave occurs!!! Boy, that was FRESH!!!! Slave, of course, is excellent. Loaded with dynamics, its downright magical, posessing that mysterious X Factor that modern Slaves can only dream of touching. Must hear, this is a stellar version. Wow! Full of yearning and passion, this one just builds and builds, slowly climaxing in the greatest way. An absolute show stopper. INCREDIBLE!!! HOLY CRAP!!!

Horse/Silent is the odd choice to follow that epic insanity. Hell, anything is a letdown after that. Solid stuff, nothing special. Actually, the slow build into the uplifting Silent chorus works wonderfully, flow wise, coming out of Slave! This version isnt special, but the pairing of Slave into Silent is worth a listen!

In a bit of a satisfyingly strange move, the cheerful peakage of Silent gives way to the dark intensity of Whats the Use. The drop into the song will hit you over the head! This version is outstanding!!!! Trey quickly sets a loop that gives them extra space to play on top. Even better, this is the debut! Wow, talk about coming out swinging on a debut performance! Just like the Bonner Springs My Left Toe, this is terrific and must hear. Grab this!! Spooky and strange ambient bliss rock. Or something like that....

Unfortunately, its over WAY too quick and they move jarringly into Wilson. Reliable choice though to quickly get everyone on their feet again. Interestingly, they go nuts with lots of whacky rock and roll jamming on this, completely breaking down the rhythms and going nuts. Very fun and weird!!!!! Maybe not must hear, but its certainly worth a listen!!!

A ridiculous Mikes>Monkey>Groove closes the set proper. Self explanatory. Weird and killer. Mikes has a spectacular funk jam that unfortunately peters out all too quickly and they go into Monkey. Out of Monkey is Paug. Excellent but inessential.

An interesting encore of Carini into a Meatstick reprise followed by thr Star Spabgled Banner closes the show


All in all, this show curbstomped the living daylights out of night 1!!! At the same time, it was not flawless. Set 1 was excellent and had genuine highlights but still felt "lesser" than a truly great should would, ya know?

Same with set 2. Set 2 had a lot going on but it seemed like a lack of certainty was their downfall during it. It was like they lucked into the incredible Ghost>Slave to open and then had no idea how to follow that, spending the rest of the set playing "catch up".

Set 2 was loaded with red hot energy but the song choices often felt completely random. Not that it lacked flow (it flows better than youd think given the songs played!), but the song choices all feel totally disconnected, if that makes any sense.

Anywho, enough blathering. This was a great, if imperfect show. For set 2 grab Ghost, Slave and WTU.

You know what? This was like one of those shows where its a great listen in and of itself, but at the same time you can clearly recognize its not at the upper echelon level (does that make sense?).

Check out the highlights! A fine show!