Set 1
The show opens in masterful manner with a giant 20 minute Carini>Plasma>Carini. Heck yes, if that doesnt bode well!! Carini
immediately moves into this darker kind of textural area. It spends its
jam in a more kind of menacing yet not completely dark zone. Very cool
and very soundscapey almost yet still rhythmic. Not a barn burner type
reading this is definitely more "jammy". It's really excellent and
eventually and eventually morphs into Plasma. Plasma is basically Carini
part 2, following the exact same template. Really awesome version it
eventually picks up a major head of steam and they Rock The living F out
of the place going back into Carini as well and burning it to a close. Definitely some X Factor all over that duo, absolutely must hear. Talk about your high quality opener!!!
Then, outta nowhere, we get the friggin debut of the album version of
Quad Toppling for a few glorious minutes like an outro to that beginning
pair. WHAT IN THE LOVE OF X FACTOR IS GOING ON?! And So to Bee debut tier??
As if that wasn't enough they continued to lay waste to our minds by launching into The Curtain. Wtf is this awesome opening section!!!! I
don't think it reaches true must hear status but that is not a knock on
it at all - it is an absolutely fantastic version just exploding with
energy. They play it tightly at lightspeed and just rip through it
better than I've heard in a long time. There are some bum notes in the
solo and it doesn't quite pull it off like it should 100% would still
excellent. Absolutely would recommend even if I don't think it's
completely must hear. No, really, this is excellent!
The energy continues with a 12 minute Gin in slot 4. A pure type 1
rager, this one DOES reach must hear status for me. It absolutely soars
to the sky almost having a late '90s quality to it. Ethereal hose
explosion rather than volcanic eruption. Page jumps on the organ and it
gives it a whole different flavor than your typical type 1 rager Gin. SICK AF.
And perfectly they sliiiidddeee into a flawless NICU! Very energetic and
just as TIGHT and locked in as the rest of the set has been. Great
little version.
Evolve comes next and I'm going to call this must here as well. It's
terrific and magical as most versions and Trey's solo is just immaculate. Utter perfection. 10/10
Continuing the magic is a must hear Mountains. This one is quiet as a
friggin mouse - you can hear a pin drop. Trey delivers one of his finest
solos of the year! Very quiet, using feedback swells in a lovely way.
This is a Stella Blue-tier solo. Dang.
This fantastic set concludes on a nuclear bomb level with yet another
must hear, Fluffhead. Compositionally it's loose around the edges, but
it's bursting with energy and the crowd is going insane. What you really
want this for though is the final finale section. The typical Fluffhead
outro jam is terrific as usual and then they shift into MAXIMUM FREAKING OVERDRIVE and somehow spray the hose even further. Just pure magic it is...
All in all this was a pretty exceptional set on the whole. There
is definitely a vibe that the boys are LOCKED IN tight. The energy is
high and Trey is having a wonderful night playing wise, a complete 180
from the uninspired playing of night one. Hell, most of this set Id call
must here in one way or another.
Actually, excluding NICU, I think the whole thing is must hear! I change
my mind on Curtain and definitely would include that as well.
Wowzers!!!!!
Set 2
The second half of tonights show opens with the inspired triplet of Mike's>FINAL HURRAH>Weekapaug. AND HOLD ON TO YOUR MOTHER EFFING HATS THIS MIKE'S SONG IS GD FACE SMASHING HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. No,
seriously, there is definitely x factor magic at play here. The band is
locked in tight tighter than Fort Knox, the groove factor is off the
chart in the extreme. Trey lets it RIP in the truest sense
of the word delivering one of the most nuclear bomb solos of recent
years. Mexico 2025 Crosseyed tier, ok? He absolutely pummels this song
into the ground showing how much this band can crush anything in sight
when they really want to. Must hear at all costs, run out and hear this even if it means you have to skip your first born's birth. Dang...
Hurrah is super welcome to hear. Kind of loose on the lyrics but the
jamming is really really nice. Excellent robo type 1. The following Paug
is like Mike - just explosive. Not to the point of being must hear I
don't think but it's as excellent as a type 1 version guess these days.
The first big jam of the night comes with a 20 minute WOPE. The song
itself is just excellent and it's pounding and exploding with.
Unfortunately the jam seems like it takes forever to get going. For at
least four or five minutes until about the 10 minute mark, they are
stuck in this low-key meandering kind of brooding melodic whatever. It
actually sounds pretty good but it definitely reaches a point where
you're going "okay is anything going to happen now??....".
Unfortunately, nothing does and it falters for a minute or so. Trey
recognizes the jam is dying and decides to go for broke. He very much
"forces" them to follow his lead, going to a very hard rock section.
From here, its straight to the effing moon!!!! HOLY CRAP ON A
CRACKER, LETS MELT SOME DAMN FACES!!!! CHICAGO 2023 GHOST GOT NOTHIN ON
THIS SUCKER!!! Like Mikes song before it, they proceed to FLOOR IT and then promptly break the shifter in half. Just a runaway tornado of facemelting lava for like 10 solid minutes. This might honestly rival the SPAC Piper as peakage of the year. And the return into WOPE is actually executed flawlessly for once. This
jam was a bit of a mess and definitely not my preferred type of jam,
but you absolutely cannot deny the ridiculousness of the lava poured
upon us in the final eight or so minutes. What in the love of God.
Another nice selection, we get 20 Years Later as our "cool down but keep
the energy going" song. It doesn't come close to the heights of the
Mexico 2025 reading, but I would still call this a "textbook go-to,"
excellent type 1 reading all around. Nothing must hear but it's great.
And into the second big gym of the night, a 15 minute Golden Age. The
song is EXTRA tight tonight. Not sure what I mean, but it just sounds perfect. Whatever
I mean by that...The jam begins low key, Trey doing his melodic noodle
thing. Page echoes him. Fishman, thank god, off the rip does something
different and switches to a rolling kind of marching beat. The jam
spends a bit in this, again, moody and brooding kind of zone. Very late
night. I hate melodic noodling but Trey's playing is SO on point tonight
that he could do chord vamping and Id enjoy it. Hes having one of those
"hitting every single right now at all the perfect times" kind of
nights, ya dig? His playing is flowing like water tonight. They spend
WAY too long in this noodle zone, no matter how enjoyable. Finally
around 12 minutes the jam picks up steam, Trey hits a looper, and some
ethereal haze permeates proceedings. Its energetic but not rocking,
exactly. Its excellent though. From there it rocks to a close. This
was a really excellent jam even if, for my preferences, it was kind of a
letdown. Definitely must hear though, it's excellent regardless. In
other words, just ignore my nitpicking...
UNFORTUNATELY AGAIN , the jam lacks a proper ending and
really just full on fizzles to an unsatisfying non-close, leading into a
typically fine Character Zero to end the set proper
Encore of The Lizards into Possum
All in all, I'm kind of not sure completely how I feel about this
gig. On the whole, as a top to bottom listen, I definitely think it
blows away night one. Trey is just on another level entirely and the
band are completely LOCKED IN throughout.
The only real letdown of this night is that the jams in set two
kind of are not that great. Theres amazing PARTS of them, but as
complete jams, both WOPE and GA definitely fall short in my opinion.
It feels like a pick your poison scenario - night one basically
sucked aside from the MASSIVE highlights. Night two was better in almost
every way except the jams were far inferior.
Again, pick your poison I would still say this show is good enough to warrant a solid 4.1 or something like that.
Set 1 was awesome. Set 2 was a mess, but a LAVA FROM THE SKY mess.
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