Jones Beach Amphitheatre is a great place to see a show. The stage is surrounded by water on three sides, and you can see the boats anchored around the stage catching a free show (although I’m sure the sound is not too great from there). I had seen numerous shows at the venue in previous years, but this was this one was different – this was not the “good band past its prime” that I was used to seeing there (Steve Miller, Moody Blues, Santana etc. – not that those weren't good shows), this was an up and coming underground powerhouse train that we were happy to be in on.

The first set was solid, but the undisputed heavyweight was the Split Open and Melt. From about 6:30 (on my version) to the end, it is an evil steamroller with sights set on flattening your mind till the grey matter reaches the far corners of your skull.

In the second set, the Letter to Jimmy Page intro was a great treat – had no idea that it was busted out earlier in the month – and it was the last time it would be played for 587 shows! Aside from the historical interest, it made a really cool transition to Bowie – kind of like an explosion with the stunned aftermath being the spacey Bowie intro (and the Bowie itself was pretty cool).

Reba was nice, with loads of funny business going on. Looking back on it, the whole second set was pretty strange and the boys must have been feeling especially goofy. Apart from strange “Letter to Jimmy Page > David Bowie” and “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav > Dog Faced Boy” pairings, the ultimate and obvious goofiness of the set was setting sail.

And where do you go after performing humanities first ever solar powered vacuum solo? Sailing off into the sunset, I suppose, as the song was never performed again (as of this writing…). It Set sail with the whale, ran away with Jim, and went home on the train with a sleeping monkey through the rest of the set - where it probably found home sweet home on Rocky Top Tennessee.

I got my ticket for this show as a present from my parents and was totally psyched by the time show day rolled around. I went to some other shows in the month but those were more spur of the moment. I had a lot of time to build this show up in my head.
We got there and started drinking very early. Not the best plan. Especially on the beach in the middle of July. I got a ticket for open container which kind of put a bummer on my whole day. In general drinking at shows is not a good idea if you want to enjoy the music. Between constantly getting beer and going to the bathroom you miss a lot of the good stuff.
I remember Gumbo being great and totally new to me. I thought and still think that it's a great beach/summer song. Bowie with the full Jessica riffs was fantastic. And of course Letter was a great bustout but I was bummed they didn't play Alumni along with it. Sleeping Monkey is a great encore and we left all smiles. We had a great time though because we decided that night that we would go to Sugarbush which was a great idea....

The short first set contains solid playing, but not much jamming until Split Open and Melt, which is very good. I also like the combination of Gumbo>Foam in the first set. The second set begins with Letter to Jimmy Page, which was busted out a few shows before this one. This is the only time LTJP has opened a set, and it is only one of three times that the song has not been played between Alumni Blues. The biggest highlight of the show comes next, in a great David Bowie. It has a long intro with Trey playing with an unusual effect that he would also use later in the set in Reba. The first half of the jam builds a lot of tension, before breaking into a Jessica tease, much like the classic 5/8/93 version. The evil ending includes Fishman maniacally laughing. The Reba which comes later in the set also has a darker tinge than usual, before concluding with a thrilling peak. It's Ice contains an unusual, excellent jam. This show also boasts the fourth and final Setting Sail ever played. Runaway Jim rocks hard as an uncommon set closer, while the encore consists of the common pairing of Sleeping Monkey and Rocky Top.