2022-05-27 Orange Beach, AL

 5 27 22 Orange Beach

Set 1

Not my preferred choice but I cant complain about the freshness of getting a 13 minute Twist to open the show, as well as getting it out of the way for the rest of the run!!! A wonderful version, it goes type 2 early, morphing from really nice chill jamming into full throttle up tempo robo-rocking. If every Twist was like this I would never complain!! AWESOME version! Must hear!!

Halley is next and unfortunately is a stumble, the boys fumbling the arrangement. Trey doesn't even allow a chance to jam and instead the boys execute one of the sickest segues ever into Sand.

And right away its obvious that this Sand has extra written all over it. A truly magnificent FACE MELTER, this one has so much extra oomph and groove. Then Machine Gun Trey comes and unleashes the trill hurricane supreme and just crushes all in sight. Must hear! This San was FREAKING AWESOME!!!!

We get a short break with the first Old Home Place since Fall 2019. Good stuff. Martian Monster is short but hot as hell, robo Trey all over. I would venture to cal this must hear - it kicks ass!! Really great interplay on this!!! Super funky and BOPPIN!!! And Trillmaster Trey continues to reign as best guitarist in outer space!

Following a rare (and honestly excellent!) Dogs Stole Things comes Halfway to the Moon. Not essential but still very good, check it out for Pages exquisite piano solos!!

Up next is a powerful 13 minute Stash. The composed parts sound tight and punchy. And it ends up being a 10/10 type 1 reading. The boys are ON in the best way. Trey is crushing and the whole thing is tight. Its nothing unique, but it is friggin GREAT!!! Go check this out!!

Beautiful Shade is our cooldown next. Excellent.

After a standard INNYLTB to get us rocking again the set comes to a close with Bathtub Gin. Really good type 1 version with a hot peak but nothing must hear. Its excellent, just not anything special.

All in all, I really felt this was a great set!! Some bustouts, lots of Machine Gun Trey, very high energy, tight playing, "colorful" song choices...this was my kinda set!! It wasnt the greatest set of all time but by golly was it FRESH, and that goes a long way!!! It really felt like everything FIT together well too. The only real issues were the fumbled Halley and the last couple songs seeming to lose slight amount of steam.

Id say Twist and Sand and Martian Monster are must hear and Stash is WELL worth your time.

 

Set 2

Llama into a 21 minute Soul Planet to open set 2!! Lets friggin go! Slow Llama is absolutely nuclear tonight. Totally must hear, we get a robo annihilation nuclear bomb version. MUST HEAR!!! Wow!! KILLER!!

Even better is the following Soul Planet. Complete and utter X Factor Magic. This is as good as any jam played in 2021!!!! This is freaking amazing!!! The energy is through the ROOF! Everyone locked in tight and the jamming is SO fluuuiiiiddd!!!! Many different sections that flow seamlessly and perfectly without a hint of awkwardness. Total inspiration from start to finish!! This was easily better than any jam played at the MSG run, imo. EASILY. THIS THING IS FRIGGIN MAGICAL!!! ALL TIMER SOUL PLANET!!!!! WOW!!!!

And they execute another terrific segue straight into a 14 minute Ghost. Ghost is extra funky and murky, less rocky than usual. Soupy and thick!!! Ghost slowly gets a good rock jam before slowly devolving into a lengthy, rhythmic kind of robo chill. It slowly fades itself out kinda over a good long while. Great little Ghost. Maybe not must hear on its own, but terrific in the context of this set!!!

At the precisely perfect moment as Ghost is closing, Trey leads them ridiculously smoothly into the Scents intro and by God that worked so friggin great holy hell!! Scents is a short type 1 workout. Solid stuff but inessential, serving instead, via another great segue, to be the launchpad for a damn 17 minute Chalkdust!!!!
Total beast of a jammed out version. Not much to say. Of course this was essential!! It goes FAR into the outer reaches of outer space textural soundscape type 2, holy mother of X Factor insanity!!!!

The set ends on a fantastic note with a killer as always Loving Cup before a nice encore of Waste and SANTOS.

All in all, this was a great show!! Not an INCREDIBLE one, but it's definitely a lot better than the 3.6 rating on .NET. Id honestly give it more of a 4.0 or 4.1, imo. For set 2, Slow Llama, that Soul Planet and of course Chalkdust were all must hear. And dont forget Twist and Sand from set 1!!!!

I can understand why folks might not view the show as highly as me - lots of "new songs everyone hates for no reason", the fumbled Halley, the abridged Scents, etc. But honestly, I LOVED this show. I thought it was a really great listen and I will definitely revisit it down the line at some point!!!