This capped my week visiting my aunt in Queens, but I was staying in Manhattan (score!). Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, all I had to do was jump on the LIRxR and I was in Uniondale for 2 Shows. I judged this far superior than shlepping across 2-3 states just for a single show. Just sit back, crack a Guinness, and ride the Train->Song.

While I was blown away by the strength of the transition between the evil Mike's jam into sweet bluegrass land of Old Home Place and the Crosseyed and Painless Jam in Weekapaug, the second set was, once again, where it was at.

The only two shows of fall '97 I caught were Champagne and The Palace, and they were JamFests. Here again was a four song second set. After bobbing to 40 mins of Ween->Piper, Loving Cup (the song they were born to cover) kicked the vibe into overdrive. The air was electric at the beginning of the show, but by now, they were ramping down east coast nuclear reactors and powering the US with the energy of Uniondale.

That crazy bastard jumped on the stage and then all hell broke loose. A Carini-lope ensued with Fishman repeatedly SCREAMNING "Carini" into the Antelope crescendos, followed by the 3-song monster of an encore, including Tweeprise because, although they didn't play Tweezer, apparently Trey wasn't done rocking. He was rooster-strutting back and forth across the stage (a VIOLENT display of emotion for him at this point) and threw in some "air-guitar" moves at the end. Check out the Youtube clip. Turn it up and you can hear the audio peaking out from the roar of the crowd.

Simply Legendary.