I grew up in the area, so the fact that they were excited to play Weekapaug (named after a town located only a few minutes away from my parents’ house, which is my very convenient lodging option tonight) meant a lot to me! I loved that they acknowledged the song’s origin story in such a special way (I read earlier that it’s only been played without Mike’s in two different shows, both in 2003). My parents have never been interested in coming with me to a show, but they’ve always liked the Weekapaug connection, so I was really happy to text them that tonight.

Musically, the big highlight for me was (probably unsurprisingly) Sea of Stars. I was lucky enough to see one of the NYC GOTF shows and the composed section was incredible on both occasions. I’ll need to relisten, but my immediate impression of tonight’s jam was that it started out in the gentle arms of a 1974 Dark Star and seamlessly made its way into the crushing nightmare of 1974 King Crimson (the album Red). In other words... it was amazing.

One more thought: I was in the back of the floor next to the tapers section and it was both the danciest and least talkative section I’ve ever been in at an indoor show. I’ve only been on the floor one other time so maybe I just picked the right spot, but I really loved being surrounded by such a focused, joyful, and unselfconscious crowd. Thank you to my neighbors for helping create such a special night!