Best show of 2014 so far. Nice acapella start with the de rigeur Star-Spangled Banner. Happy birthday, good ol' Murrica! Solid versions of 555, Kill Devil Falls, and Moma got the crowd dancing. Reba was just right - spirited verses, gentle jam interplay, good enough peak, and yes the whistling! Long pause? Must be a new song. Waiting All Night was nicely done, with a slightly extended instrumental section that floated on the summer breeze. Then BOOM! Runaway Jim kicked the show in the pants! Inspired version, with Trey employing some wild effects and dizzying cosmic bass from Mike. The big fun continued with a typically stomp-tastic 46 Days. No frills - just goods delivered. Rift was marred by guitar solo flubs, but at least it was quick. The parade of jaw-dropping highlights began with a big, juicy SPAC Open & Melt - adventuresome collective improv like last year's stumbling behemoth, but this one kept its footing through some dangerous dissonance and stuck the landing like a Romanian gymnast! A truly majestic Squirming Coil felt like an encore - the screech (Mike, or Fish...it's a Mikeorafish) kept it from being too serious. Fireworks booming in the distance provoked big cheers from the crowd, and Page obliged by extending and embellishing his piano solo coda. What a jaw-dropper! ...and that was just the 1st set!

Set 2 kicked off in style, with Fuego definitively making the jump to the big leagues. Wandering and searching, yet cohesive and purposeful, this was a 20+ minute mind-frick. The jam culminated in an explosion of distorted noise which neatly segued into Mike's angry DWD intro snarls. Bump-bump, badonka-donk, and now we're on our way! Top-notch Disease, with Trey tearing into the iconic solo sans shortcuts, and then a quick drop into a rhythmic flow that hinted at Steam before a percussive interlude punctuated by Trey's mouth-popping and Mike's kick drum. This swerved into a strong Twist - herky-jerky polyrhythms, dirrrty guitar and keys, and a spacy outro jam. Light emerged from the bliss in the wrong key, and the abrupt correction made it even more jarring. As usual, the jam atoned for the intro's transgressions - a distorted, thunderous chord progression that is still echoing around my skull >12 hours later. Magnificent! Back to terra firma with an awkward and jagged Theme, followed by an unusually understated BDTNL. Big set salvaged by a big finish: First Tube was well above average - simultaneously angry, celebratory, distorted, and anthemic. Character Zero slammed things home with a second exclamation point, as a show like this one clearly deserves. Phaith restored!!