after ripping deer creek apart in '96, the boys came back for another 2 nights.

they came out guns blazing with a nice bathtub gin opener. page destroyed the keys in the intro. after a pretty typical but solid bathtub gin, they find their way into sparkle. i lively sparkle leads into a nice first set down with disease. this one does not go out too far, but it entertains none the less. dirt is a nice little cool down, and ctb gets the crowd up and moving again. this momentum is promptly killed by billy breathes. a good song, but maybe not the best spot for it. soa melt makes up for it though. they really hit a free rolling, hendrix'esque jam before they roll into bye bye foot. good to get fishman on stage. ginseng was a nice up beat break before they delved into a monster harry hood. gordon sounded very strong on this hood.

the cities set opener is a real barn burner. they take this one way out there going through funk, to space, and back up to rock and roll before slamming into good times bad times. this good times gets into a very cool weird jam, especially when page moves to the theremin. unfortunately, they move to the rotation jam, which causes some weird inner band turmoil. you can read the review pulled from the phishing companion. it about covers the rest of the set.

overall:

there are some great jams in the first set, especially the back half. meanwhile, the quality in the second set is very much front loaded. cities kills!

highlights:

set 1
bt gin, melt, hood

set 2
cities>good times bad times