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.