2025-01-31 Rivera Maya, MX

 1 31 25 Riviera Maya

Set 1

A rare Cars, Trucks, Buses opens the show tonight. The energy is high, the playing tight, and, honestly this is stronf enough to call must hear. Its really fantastic!!!

Even better is the following 12 minute Moma. Hot off the rip, this one goes in a different direction, slowly working itself through the funk, everyone building this fantastic jam. A+ in every way. It doesnt explode - its a "take your time and enjoy yourself" kind of jam. Genuinely must hear. Its fantastic!!!!

Sigma delivers an outstanding type 1 reading tonight. Extremely tight, energetic and ENTHUSIASTIC. Really awesome little version. As with Moma, Trey never goes off, but everything else about it is 10/10. This one is POWERFUL.

Tube follows and absolutely delivers. Borderline must hear (definitely comp worthy!), as with Moma, its funky as hell and they jam for a long time, just diving on in and enjoying it to the fullest. Excellent Tube.

And then, outta nowhere, big boy 21 minute Wolfman!!! And this Wolfman is downtown spectacular!!! Total X Factor magic from the start!!! Multiple sections, A+ band interplay, phenomenal and perfect FX usage.This is, simply put, one of the greatest Wolfs Ive ever heard. Exceptional robo funking gives way to killer type 1 rocking. Somehow it morphs into a dark and much heavier kind of POWER ROCK thing. The back half of the jam sees them absolutely laying into this sucker like I cant even describe. This sounds like a late 90s Mikes Song jam or something. This Wolf is one of the most BADASS things ever layed down. Truly must hear in every sense of the word.....

Maze follows and like Sigma is absolutely EXPLODING with energy on all sides like a balloon about to burst. Definitely must hear, its just a damn EXCEPTIONAL reading on all fronts!!! Like Sigma, this version is just downright POWERFUL. Probably in that borderline must hear area like Tube. Definitely comp worthy though.

After a nice Lonely Trip to give a respite from the absolute headsmashing of the set so far, we go into Possum. Slow building, it sounds average at first until it becomes unhinged and goes absolutely NUCLEAR for a lot of it. Possum is Possum but this is another straight up killer reading.


All in all, HOLY CRAP WHAT A SET!!! Wolfman was an all timer, Tube, Sigma and Maze all turned in exceptional readings, Possum melted faces, Moma was damn essential.

A+++ first set. Super high energy and powerful. They are absolutely INSPIRED tonight!!! 

 

Set 2

15 minute Oblivion to kick things off! A terrific reading, it spends its time slowly exploring major key bliss rock. Lots of substance, never meandering or boring, slightly psychedelic with a great peak finale. Definitely some slight X Factor. Must hear.

Then we have the shock surprise 13 minute Sightless Escape!!!!! Only the 3rd ever friggin played! The song sounds tight and excellent. Rocking version. Unfortunately, the jam is non existent. Its like 8 minutes of basically nothing happenning. It never evolves, it never peaks, it never escapes "extremely lukewarm type 1". What a bummer - a genuine disappointment!!!

Even worse, we get Caspian'd next, lol. It's just a type 1 Caspian but at least it ends up being a really excellent one. No, really, its fantastic!!! They go HAM on this one big time. Must hear for sure. A shred your balls off reading!!!

Immediately they LAUNCH into Fuego. And holy mother of Icculus what a Fuego it is. 23 dang minutes, this Fuego is a MONSTER!!! The song itself is extremely tight and HIGH ENERGY. It ROCKS harder than anything, spewing nothing but pulverising, head smashing nuclear destruction. Around 10 minutes the jam begins and they immediately go type 2, launching into this heavy and dark rhythmic thing. It goes into this really unique funky rock kind thing. Heavy and dark. Around 15 minutes Trey's playing becomes a lot more melodic and reflective with excellent use of the Leslie pedal. They are deep in the outer space black hole kind of heavy whatever. Full tilt type 2. This jam is absolutely magical and amazing. This has to be in the top 10 versions of the song ever. Easy. Around 19 minutes the robotics come out and things get wackier before they return to the song proper and send us out.

That was one of the most high quality jams of the last few years and lays waste to something like the MSG 7 Fuego. Absolutely incredible complete x Factor magic. Where in the hell did they pull that from?!?! That Fuego was HEAVY

The perfect cooldown follows with a GORGEOUS 14 minute Sea of Stars! Genuinely an outstanding version. The song is so high quality. Then then jam is just terrific. Around 8 minutes the gorgeous starry sky playing suddenly takes a completely unexpected shift towards darkness!!!! They spend the next 6 minutes creating a downright scary and evil dark ambient soundscape!!! This has to be the most type 2, out there version besides Camden 2019!!!! This is an absolutely EXTRAORDINARY and utterly unique version!!! Its just unbelievable!!!!!! X Factor from Hell!!!

After a hot type 1 Chalkdust to pick things back up, the set proper concludes with a heavy and hot Most Events! Its a terrific reading with extra funkiness and tons of porno scratching from Trey. Not must hear but still compilation worthy.

Awesome encore of Saw It Again into an extra funky a nd blazing hot SANTOS. Perfect! SANTOS is must hear. It just goes OFF and then some!!!


All in all, this was an EXCEPTIONAL show!!! Almost nothing that wasnt excellent with multiple unique jams up there with the very, very best of anything from the last few years.

This was at least a "Dicks 2024 tier" level show. I have no hesitancy calling it a solid 4.4 or 4.5. Just...wow. What an effing show ....