For me, last night's show at Reading was an enjoyable one, but so far ranks the lowest for me this year out of the five shows I saw: SPAC 1,2,3; PNC and last night. Highlights for me include some songs I heard for the first time like Cars Trucks Buses, Taste & Walk Away and a very enjoyable DWD.

So, first let's talk about the arena. Since I have mainly been seeing the boys play outdoors and not indoors (aside from the past few MSG NYE runs) it was nice to actually road trip to Reading and check out a new town, a new venue and meet a few new folks to hang out with at future shows. It was also nice to hear the band in a small venue that holds no more than 9,000 people. All of this was worth the price of admission in my book. Plus the beer stand of Stoudts Brewing Company was nice too. (anyone else feel like we were seeing a show in Canada with all of those Labatt Blue & Molson beer stands?!? That was a first at any venue I've been to. "Not that there is anything wrong with it" ….I'm just saying…)

So, on to the show as they say. The show started at roughly 8:05 and the boys slowly kicked off the night by starting into Cars Trucks Buses. For me it was a nice treat to hear (my first time) and fit my own mood that I was in. Kinda nice…. I felt the show kind of slowly progressed through the first set and the band was in no hurry to speed up the tempo. Things kicked up for me when Wolfman's started up and to be honest, kind of fizzled out when hearing Divided Sky. The song was played fine (I couldn’t hear any flubs from where I was), it's just that I wasn’t in the mood to hear it and I felt that Walk Away was played so strongly that another song choice could have been better…maybe Moma Dance?? Even a KDF would have worked better IMO. I loved hearing SOAM but wish it was finished but they transitioned nicely into Julius. When they closed the first set after barely over an hour of playing, I felt a little unsatisfied but was anxious to hear what was waiting for me when I returned with more beers and some crab/cheese/delicious fries a half hour later.

The 2nd set started off very nicely with a very well played and thoroughly enjoyable DWD. Clocking in at over 20 minutes and providing some really nice experimentation during the 2nd half of the song, it left the crowd very satisfied and ecstatic when they transitioned nicely into Taste. I really liked this segue and would recommend you download the show just to hear these two songs. Although Taste ended sorta abruptly and Trey started into Twenty Years Later which resulted in a lot of bathroom breaks for a ton of folks, I enjoyed its performance. I wasn’t' a fan at first but after a few minutes of intently listening to what the boys were offering with this song and in particular this performance of it, I immediately enjoyed it and was thankful I didn’t leave for another Molson. YEM was standard and nothing to get excited about and they closed out the set with a whimper and not a bang with Grind. Nothing to complain about however.

BATR was a great way to kick off the encore and I wish they kept it going a little longer but I could tell they were trying to pack a few goodies in the encore before heading off stage, so I knew it wasn't going to happen. Loved, loved, loved hearing Reba as an encore song choice. I think this was only the 4th time the boys have done that. Well done guys. The crowd went apeshit when Trey struck that first chord. GTBT was a great way to close the encore too. Personally, I never get tired of hearing it and think they do an amazing job of covering it.

On to Atlantic City folks! Although I have to take the kids trick or treating tomorrow night, I will see you all there on Friday & Saturday! Happy Halloween everyone…..