7 14 22 Mansfield
The show begins with an incredible 1-2 punch of Ghost into SYSF. Ghost
is a slow building melodic bliss rocker of the most excellent variety.
Terrific energy, it culminates in a pretty "heavy" kind of hose peak.
Sick as hell.
Even better, without any noticeable hitch at all, they segue straight into SYSF as if it was part of Ghost!! That segue was spectacular and worked so well!!! Set
Your Soul Free continues the awesomeness, delivering an extremely funky
rendition. They jam it pretty deep for a 10 minute reading, just about
going type 2 here and there. Ultra funk for most of its duration before
climaxing great and leading back into Ghost to close.
HOLY CRAP THAT PAIR WAS FRIGGIN SICK!! MUST HEAR!!! There
are longer and more "out there" versions of both, but these were both
standout versions regardless, and the PAIR was just fantastic. KILLER!!!
Definite X Factor all over this sandwich!
After a very nice Wedge (thank you for not dropping it late 2nd set!),
we get a super rare outing of Mound. Mound definitely sounds rusty - not
flubby, but Trey has a hard time throughout with his timings and
entrances etc. Still, always great to hear regardless! 
Way too early in the set for my taste, Mountains is next. Not must hear
but it is still really excellent. Exceptionally DYNAMIC version that
sounds like a dang Sea of Stars at points. Great version!
Up next is BOTT. Nothing special but its an excellent standard reading,
full of fire. Good stuff that youve heard many times before.
They pick things up quickly with an 11 minute Ruby Waves to follow. Ruby is absolutely extraordinary! Total x factor magic!! A synthy, gooey jam that evolves into an ethereal and magical slow build bliss with a spectacular return back into the song. This was incredible. This was the kind of jamming you expect when you are 20 minutes deep into a jam, not 4 or 5!!! MUST HEAR!!
After an incredibly rare I Been Around, we get a STUPENDOUS little
Tube!! Extreme robo funk awesomeness. Absolutely killer. Must hear for
certain.
Closing the set with an even bigger bang is a gosh darn nuclear freakin
bomb About to Run. Even by ATR standards, this is EXTRA hot. Absolutely
must hear. Holy mother of face melting!!!
All in all, despite feeling "lesser" overall, this was still a
really enjoyable set!! Good song selection and general heat throughout.
Trey is on great form with his solos despite not being perfect
technically.
Not every set needs to be the greatest thing ever played to be really
enjoyable. This was a great example of that. I would say the opening
Ghost/SYSF is essential MUST HEAR music, though Stars comes close for me
as well. Ruby, Tube and ATR are all truly essential as well.
Not a perfect top to bottom set, but the highlights were HUGE!
Set 2
Set 2 gets off to a very bad start with the worst Chalkdust Ive heard in
a hot minute. 12 minutes long, the song itself is extremely subpar and
limping along. The jam meanderd aimlessly through extremel chill bliss
picking for its duration. Basically, this Dust will put you to sleep. Right in the trash with this one!
The only good part is the exceptional segue out into an 11 minute
Plasma! Thankfully the following extended sequence of sequence ends up
being must hear, pretty much. Starting with Plasma, this one jams
excellently, winding up in a MINUTES LONG "burn down the friggin house"
hose rock and roll climax up there with the best extended outro jams out
there. Incredible.
The keep the jam going after returning to the songs and, magically, they
segue seamlessly into a 10 minute jammed out Weekapaug!!! Paug
basically goes type 2, spending much of its time in extreme robo land.
Absolutely SICK!!
Then, they execute another flawless segue out into Saw It Again for some
excellent craziness. It burns hot and goes type 2 for a genuine minute
before ANOTHER spectacular segue out into Caspian.
Alas, Caspian is below average, barely featuring any jamming, but my god
the segue was soooooop sick and worked a million times better than you
would ever think.
This really felt like some giant 30 minute jam that just happened
to feature songs instead of the other way around. The sequence is total x
factor and absolutely must hear!!!!!
Numberline picks us back up and we get a very high quality bliss rock reading. Not too long but very good.
The following Bug is another total must hear. This one EXPLODES. Trey soloing is just unreal. A+
Sand follows and delivere a very "laid back late night groove fest" kind
of reading. Very relaxed but not boring. Really nice version! Actually,
its excellent!!! Id call it must hear! As with Bug, it positively
EXPLODES!!! Meltdown Trey annihilation!! Holy crap lets go!!! EXTREME
PEAK ALERT TAKE COVER!
The show concludes with a killer encore of... Punch (!!!) into SANTOS.
Punch is noteworthy for sounding very rehearsed and tight, Trey flubbing
nothing!! It doesnt drag at all either. This is basically as good as a
Punch is gonna sound in 2022, hands down. Honestly? I would even say
this version is about 95% as good as the excellent one from 12/31/23.
Call me shocked!!!
All in all, this show is all over the damn place. A lot of "meh",
some average, and a good amount of genuinely terrific stuff. The whole
affair has that "2nd tier greatness" vibe going on but this is
definitely a VERY GOOD show, just not an amazing one.
Hell, the biggest flaw for me is the schizophrenic nature of it - this
show is like getting yanked this way and that. You need a Drammamine for
the motion sickness!
For set 2, the whole Chalkdust>Plasma>Weekapaug>Saw It
Again>Caspian is the most ridiculous segue fest this side of Summer
2019 (THE year of segues!!!). All of those are GENUINE segues, not
ripcords!!! ALL OF THEM. Plasma and Paug, musically, are the only
essential music of the quint, but you really need to hear it all in one
go just to revel in the "wtf?!" insanity of it all.
All that being said, for set 2 I would say Plasma>Paug, Bug and Sand are the must hear material.
This show was really enjoyable but just weird enough that I dont think
it reaches the 4.0 mark. Im comfortable giving it a strong 3.8 or so.
No comments:
Post a Comment