Onwards to show 4 of Fall 2023
10/10/23 Dayton, OH
Set 1
Sigma Oasis - 13 minute Sigma to open the show! Things rage hard
as expected until around the 7 minute mark. Then the jam begins to take a
dark turn! It never goes totally off the deep end, but it instead
slowly turns back towards the light. The end of this sees the song
peaking out in a massive, monster-sized bliss-peak of triumph and glory. This is MUST HEAR!!! FRIGGIN SPECTACULAR SIGMA!!!! WOW!!
The 9th Cube - Only 2nd version ever played!!! As with Sightless Escape in Nashville, WHERE
THE F DID THIS COME FROM AND WHY HAVE THEY NOT BEEN PLAYING IT ALL THIS
TIME!!! The guys NAIL it - obviously extensively rehearsed, this is
arguably even better than the debut version!! MUST HEAR!!!! SICK!!!
Theme From the Bottom - An absolutely SOARING Type 1 version! Seriously,
this is utterly ridiculous - rocket fuel multiplied by nuclear bomb
multiplied by hose on top of hose on top of more HOSE!!! FRIGGIN
HOSE!!!! HOSEPOCALYPSE!!!! Damn!
Cool Amber and Mercury - This sucker is jam charted, so that's a
great sign! Arguably the finest version yet played! Bustout alert #2,
first version since The Gorge 2021!!!! FACEPLANT INTO ROKK!!! The
jam immediately gets cooking hot with Page taking the lead, going NUTS
with strange keyboard sounds and vocal samples. Then Page lays back and
lets Trey solo it up all chill-like. From here, they slowly ramp up the
heat bit-by-bit until the song reaches yet another explosive apex. Pure
machine-gun Trey facemelting of the NUCLEAR HOSE EXPLOSION variety!!
HOLY FRIGGIN CRAP LETS GO!!! MUST HEAR MUST HEAR MUST HEAR!!!!
555 - Unfortunately, 555 is up next and bring the set to a screeching
halt. The "clumsy" nature of this tune just feels like it sucked all the
energy out of the set, but thankfully the dark jam in the back half is
excellent as ever. For the sake of not highlighting friggin' everything
once more, I'll restrain myself with this one.
Bathtub Gin - Well of course we HAVE to highlight a 15 minute Gin! 
Right away, Trey is playing fast and loose with rhythms, giving this a
herky-jerky feel that is pretty fun. Then around 6:30, the jam starts to
take off slowly with some dark heat. Trey sets some psychedelic loopers
and it's off to the races. By the 7:30 mark, the tempo has increased to
a good clip. Trey is soloing it up with Page doing his electric-piano
thing in the background. Gotta say, the spacial placement of the
instruments is not great - it's like everything is placed in the center
of the stereo spectrum, making it really hard to pick out
Gordo/Page/Trey from each other. It's like they are sitting on top of
each other in the mix....Around 8:30, Trey turns on the 1999
pitch shifter and Gordo kicks on his FX. The jam keeps increasing in
speed, ultra-funky-like, and it's like a crazy, not-really-danceable
funk tornado! GOOPY FUNKY GROOVE TORNADO!!! By 9:30, the
song is now basically speeding along at TWICE the original tempo!! By
10:30, we are in a chill-yet-fast Birds of a Feather type zone! Then
Page jumps back to the piano and it's ON!!! Impending bliss-hose finale incoming!!! Get your seatbelts on!!!! And this is what happens for the final few glorious minutes of this X Factor Magic Gin!!!! Stellar!! MUST HEAR!!! Very unique!!!! WOW!!! 
CHECK OUT THAT ULTRA SMOOTH TRANSITION BACK INTO THE THEME AT THE END!!!!
This fall tour is just getting better and better and better!!!!
Broken Into Pieces - Only the 2nd version, if memory serves! Great
set placement!! Great song - play this more!!! Damn strong, this is
total classic-rock ballad perfection. Killer. Play this more, please!
Reba - Very good Reba, if not classic. The composed section is 99%
flawless aside from 1 or 2 very brief moments of blink-and-youll-miss-it
flubbage. The only downside is that the slower tempo gives it a more
tired/relaxed feel that kinda hurts it, imo. The solo isn't amazing
either. Tries hard but overall this Reba misses the mark for no reason
in particular. Many people will call this excellent - and they
aren't wrong. This was totally a "feel" thing on my part.
Execution-wise, it was great!!! Still, worthy of a highlight! However,
the final minute or so when the solo peaks is downright magic!!!
Chalkdust Torture - And straight into CDT to close the set! Very
awkward transition and start of the song. Thankfully, it quickly
coalesces and the thing shoots off like a friggin rocket ****,
awkwardness be damned. Maybe not must-hear, but incredibly hot and does
the trick!
All in all, this set showed a ton of promise but felt like the smallest
of steps down from Nashville #3. This was mainly due to the "off" feel
to the playing tonight. Not exactly flubby, but not always as tight as
it should be. Still killer though - the Cool Amber, 9th Cube, Gin and
Sigma are all MUST HEAR!!! Theme gets honorable mention as well. Great
stuff! '
Set 2
Mike's Song - "yea...." Gotta love it when the set opens with a TWENTY MINUTE Mike's Song!!!! Return of the Son of the MSG version?! Not
gonna try to super-narrate the whole thing but here we go. Rages hard
as expected, then around 9 minutes we dive into chill-bliss, piano
territory. Very unique! For the next several glorious, heavenly minutes,
we are in a chill zone with Trey doing uber-melodic sustained holds
Page on the piano. Extremely magical!!! Magic Mike's! This sections last a very long time, going all the way to about 14 minutes!!! Then at 14:45, we switch to a dark and suspenseful section, all hard pounding and riffage!!! Slowly
they build and build and build until the whole thing is barelling down
the tracks like a train out of control!!!!! By 17 minutes, the jam is
friggin EXPLODING in a fiery, volcanic rage of guitar and band destruction!!! This
is friggin SICK!!! MUST HEAR!!! This was yet another one of the best
jams of the year!! Totally patient and slow-building!! No rushing, but
always moving forwards!!!! Fantastic!!!! MUST HEAR!! And then back into
the Mike's theme to close...
>Prince Caspian - A bit of an awkward (word of the night) follow on
from that masterful Mike's Song. The guys are not locked in at all and
the lyrics are a jumbled mess. It's all in fun and jest and it is just
Caspian so it gets a pass, but in no way, shape or form is this must
hear.
No Men In No Man's Land - Feels like we haven't had one of these
in forever! Great to pick us back up after that dreadful Caspian. This
sucker absolutely crushes. Basically, 12 glorious, fiery, rage-tastic
Type 1 minutes of insanity like it's 2018 all over again. Fantastic
little No Men!!! Must hear!!! Wow! A++++++++++++++ hose explosion!!!! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE FROM THE FRIGGIN SKY!!!! THAT PEAK! THAT PEAK! THAT PEAK!!!!
>Prince Caspian Reprise - As it says. Huh. How about that. HOW DID THEY FRIGGIN DO THAT!!! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!
It's Ice - First one since the MSG run. That version was
terrific, so how will this one fare? Slowish tempo on this yet again.
Trey is having issues throughout, but nothing dire. Just focus on Page's
glorious piano and all will be fine. MSG version this is not. The
composed sections are not a trainwreck, but I would definitely call
them rough. This is like a 2018/2019 version all over again! A fine Ice
for what it is, but you will never hear me singing the praises of this
one.
Pillow Jets - Is this seriously only the THIRD version
of this?! What the hell?! Play this more!!! This versions delivers as
much as the last two - pure sonic noize destruction. Like a booming
thunderstorm and crashing explosions of lightning from the sky. Must
hear!!! Fantastic! This one goes EXTRA deep and dark, Gordo even breaks out the power drill!!
>Weekapaug Groove - Cool segue back into Paug! Typical modern day
Paug reprise, except that this one reaches an excellent, red-hot
climax. Shred-tastic. Maybe not must-hear, but strong enough to be
considered highlight worthy!
Twist - Ah, a typical modern Twist to kill the set as usual....Thankfully, this one bucks the trend. Absolutely
must hear! Super slow and downright bluesy! Stuff gets HOT!!!! MUST
HEAR!!! Builds to the hottest finale you can imagine. Fantastic! Molten
volcanic heat!!!
Slave to the Traffic Light - Absolutely stellar. Must hear!
encore:
Joy
Buffalo Bill
Wilson
First Tube
^^^^all great, not much to say.
All in all, this was easily my least favorite of the 4 shows so
far. It started terrific then after Bathtub Gin it just became a bit too
scattershot without the tightness in the playing to make up for it.
This show felt all over the damn map - and it's long too, at 3 hours and
7 minutes on the LivePhish recording. There was a ton to like, and it
was a very good show, but it absolutely felt like a bit of a step
backwards, if you will.
Get the set 1 highlights I already mentioned. Then for set 2, I'd say Mike's Song, No Men, Twist and Slave are what you need.
It had a few minutes worth at various points where they were clicking
good but on the whole the song itself was trash and the jam just did
that "wandering aimlessly" thing for far too long. I'm sure others will
hear this totally differently and it was definitely an A+-for-effort
kind of thing, but I just didn't think it was very good, if I'm being
honest.....It was just an AWKWARD Disease....
Ok, enough negativity - it's another very strong Type 1 version that leans heavy into the latin vibe. Great stuff!!! Honestly?
This is strong enough for me to label it must-hear. It does what you
expect but does it FANTASTICALLY. Kinda like that Fuego!!! Just totally
next-level in it's commitment to being an ordinary, Type I Twist. Oh
yea, and the massive rock and roll peak is worth the price of admission
all day. 