, attached to 2014-11-02

Review by HarpuaTheBulldog

HarpuaTheBulldog So the band ended their surprisingly great, and no doubt wonderful Fall Tour 2014 with the only Sunday show. The last two nights were filled with great jams and even better segues to back it up. Tonight would prove to be the icing on the cake.

The first set started with Runaway Jim which was decent, for an opener, which led into Foam and the bustout of Mexican Cousin. Ocelot through Halfway to the Moon are just fairly standard takes, but the Bathtub Gin > Free wins for best jam of the first set and then Walls of the Cave finishes the whole thing off. Good inclusion of Martian Monster quotes.

Of course, as we all know, the second set can make or break a show, and tonight's was no exception. Chalk Dust Torture provided a solid, fluid Type II excursion with a stellar transition into a dark Piper which in turn produced a buttery segue into Theme from the Bottom, which reaches a nice peak. The better of the two settle-down songs is Wombat, which I like, so that was nice. David Bowie is in an interesting place here in the middle of the second set, and provides its usual energy burst and fun groove.

The only low point of the entire show occurs now. The band goes into The Line which is a song that cannot be jammed well and is nearly at "Jennifer Dances" level in terms of bubbly quality. It kind of deflates the energy of the show, but to put it in the fourth quarter of the show is a bit of a stretch even for people who like the song. Anyway, the familiar 1,2,3,4 kicks off the YEM and all troubles are forgotten. Man! Talk about show closer and tour closer! That 26 minute monstrosity is a good candidate for jam of the tour, plus all the fun craziness that happened during it. Trey and Mike running around, megaphone, fight bell and drum kit theatrics, I highly advise the listener to find a way to view the spectacle as well. I also don't think that it would be an understatement to say that this is the best YEM in years; all to close out the best Tour in years.

The first-ever Moma Dance encore that flows into Slave To The Traffic Light is just icing on the cake to a wonderful show, and one of the few encores this year to pass 15 minutes in length. You could tell the band was just having fun out there.

In closing, I think that there was doubts in the Summer Tour that Trey's guitar work was not up to par, but this 10/17 to 11/2 stretch proved me wrong, and I think that whatever he has done (probably practiced a lot) has worked, and it is a pleasure to listen to.
I nominate this tour as best in 3.0 so far, and I think there was a little something extra in these last couple weeks that made it so great to listen to and enjoy each show. Not to mention the surprise of the decade Halloween show.


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