This was my second show of the summer tour and 13th overall. I must insert a disclaimer that the other show I saw this summer was SPAC on the Fourth of July, and that 7/4 was probably the best I have ever seen the boys in person. This show was a bit doomed to be a let down for me because of that, but it was still a really good show regardless.

First set was rather average. It felt pretty low energy, and rarely (if ever) brought us to any new, weird, and/or interesting places. The highlight was Antelope. Not to hate on the song, but, if that's the highlight of the set, chances are it isn't the best set.

I'd be lying if I said the second set wasn't a monster. Couldn't have asked for a better second set opener than PYITE. Hell yeah. The transition to Carini felt a little unnatural, but whatever. Carini was a lotta fun; I'll have to re-listen it, but overall it was a solid jam. Then came Ghost. GHOST WAS THE INDISPUTABLE HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT IMO. Such a natural, glorious, D-Major guitar-led peak. And then, after that peak, Trey backed off for a bit and the boys discovered some weird-ass wonderful out-there shit that kept on going and culminated in one mind#%@# of a jam that I'll have to relisten to again and again. And Wingsuit was beautiful. One of those tear-jerking moments where you just want to give Trey a prolonged hug. Then came the perfect bustout that we all needed - Rock and Roll. Really well placed, and a nice version that went to some cool places. The hood was great too, built off the Mansfield tradition of breaking from the typical guitar-led jam within the realm of the D,A,G chord progression and letting the jam go in various directions before returning to the D,A,G, guitar-led build to the peak. All-in-all, the entire second set is definitely worth a listen.

And the encore kicked ass. When it's sandwiched b/w as bumping of a Tube and as rocking of a First Tube as those, I'll let Trey have his American Idol moment with Joy any day of the week :-)

One last note: As I said before, the two shows on this tour that I've seen are 7/4 and this one. 7/4 easily beats 7/12 out. One reason is that 7/4 had a much much better first set. Another is that the 7/4 Fuego just blew my goddamn mind. Still another reason, though, is because SPAC had a much better audience than Randall's did. People were talking so so much during just about every note last night, and that really brought the energy of the show down. There was one particular person right near me who was driving me crazy. After a bit of post-show reflecting, I think the lesson I learned from this show is that it is not too dickish to say "Excuse me, could you please stop talking so loud? You're making it difficult for me to enjoy the music." I wish I had politely asked him to shut up. Or maybe I should have just punched him in the eye.