10/15/16

Set I:
A Blaze On opener, the first Lengthwise since the MGM run in 2014, Ass Handed and a great little Wolfman's which features some fantastic soloing from Trey makes for a nice first set.

Set II:
Mercury (why the motherfuck wasn't it on Big Boat, DIE EZRIN YOU BASTARD ::tears up cushion: opens Set II, but the jam feels a bit aimless; like it has no solid direction and it's feet are stuck in the mud, so the band opt to > into Twist. Twist initially seems just as perfuntory as Mercury's jam, but after some nice WTU teases, Fish brings the tempo up and Page starts some tension on the Lil' Pumpkin, before fading into strange effects laden territory and going into I Always Wanted it This Way. This is one my favorite tracks from Big Boat, so it's great to see it debut here. The jam afterward rode a nice funk groove, before Page went to the organ (in a creative way, not just spamming it like a... spastic on 9/4/16, but the jam filtered out before it could reach any conclusion and/or it's full potential (a recurring theme throughout tonight) and the band went into Miss You.

Also, just a quick aside, I Always Wanted it this Way has some pretty good potential, in the same vein as Crosseyed or the Great Curve (the latter if it got played more than once), as does More, whose jam last night was fantastic. Anyway, back to zee review.

Another Big Boat cohort, Miss You, seems like it'll be destined for Halfway to the Moon type placement in the future aka Set I. This version pretty much follows the studio format, which I see being the case for the foreseeable future, and frankly, it almost seems un-jammable (though it is a good song), but the next song, is: Fuego. Fuego has tried and failed (for me) to jam this past summer. Many have said otherwise, but in my opinion, it's never clicked. This version is no different, but maybe you'll think different. Then there's a nice -> into Sand, which had a nice funk jam with proficient Trey soloing, especially with some nice peak-y stuff toward the end. Joy brought things down after the high-octane Sand. After that, was Possum. But I couldn't really hear it, as the guy who was streaming it decided to take a shit (bringing his phone/mic or whatever with him) , and then, getting lost on the way back to his seat, decided to sing along drunkenly, before finally finding his way back to his seat by the end of Possum and, the set.

The encore was Good Times, Bad Times; obviously untouchable, bringing an end to 15/10/16.

OVERALL: A good show overall. Maybe it was just that it was the first full first show I'd heard live since Dick's N3, but this night was a lot of fun, despite an admittedly limited amount of jams that really went anywhere. There was a real energy and willing to get some jamming done, and that alone counts for a lot, even if a lot of efforts tonight didn't really bear all that much fruit. But still, this show has heart and is overall a fine show, at least it was in the moment.

HIGHLIGHTS: Wolfman's Brother

RATING: 3.5 - 4/5

''-19 can't do shit!''