SET 1:

Crowd Control: cool. Forgot Trey used to call for this one a good amount in early 3.0. No complaints here, feel-good opener for this summer show.

My Friend, My Friend: perfect follow up, feels good in this spot. Give us some dirt, boys! >

Scent of a Mule: yee fuckin ha! This explodes out of the end of MFMF in style. No rest for the wicked so far! Raging klezmer section leads into some marimba lumina playing that almost sounds like an acid bassline, would go hard at a Shpongle show. The audience starts a clap-along, funny. To be honest this is a pretty uneventful Mule breakdown, pretty much just a marimba bassline with no accompaniment. They would go on to perfect the marimba-led Mule breakdown on 7/20, but I respect the attempt to do something different here.

Undermind: cool. A little funkier than usual in the composed section. Standard version otherwise. Fish is good at this whole drumming thing, eh? So good that Trey introduces ‘Moses Heaps!’ after the song finishes. Naturally they have to go into a Fish-led song next…

A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing: the 2.0 songs keep on coming. My opinion: don’t play this one unless you are willing to jam it. Doesn’t fully work as a type 1 tune IMO. This one has some good rage from Trey though.

I Didn’t Know: Trey highlighting Fish again! Cool. Fish is introduced as Moses DeWitt.

Foam: very nice. Another Fish-led song. Let’s see how they do. The answer is: very well! A little on the slower side but not many flubs to my ears.

Wombat: nice call, they’re having fun. Super tight, SUPER funky version. Good stuff - recommended.

Divided Sky: yesssss. I’m grinning ear to ear. Tight composed section, well done. The jam portion and ending are much less inspired. It’s still Divided Sky so who cares.

Wading in the Velvet Sea: okay cooldown placement. Good solo.

David Bowie: great way to end a set. Concise, raging, rocking Bowie. Good.

—

SET 2:

Carini: the ol’ 3.0 reliable. After the (slightly shaky) composed section, jam starts out in a typical rocking, tense zone, but very quickly moves to quiet major key playing around 5:30. Cute little space here especially with Trey’s strummy riff that starts up soon after. Good playing from Fish. Trey darkens it slightly a couple mins later and then commits to a rock-adjacent space at 9:30. Sounds like it’s gonna enter a cool Camden CDT-ish jam with whale call, but Trey abruptly aborts it for >

Waves: it was a solid Carini but they didn’t land on anything particularly special so I understand this call. Surprisingly nice major key peaks from Trey before they return to the head, then Page pushes a very pleasant droney ambient jam with fluttery Fish and plenty of Mike bombs. Remains me strangely of a Necks jam. Trey’s loops starting at 8:45 - lovely. I’m floating in the sea at night. Fades out naturally, no ripcord. Nice Waves here! Recommended. They found what they were looking for in Carini.

Wingsuit: biiiiig fan of this placement after the end of that Waves ambience. Nearly any song can be redeemed by a good placement - exhibit A here.

Piper: fast as hell to start. This is like an ‘00 Piper in the early going, minus the long intro of course. Trey is out for blood at the beginning of the jam with some aggressive playing but then he hits the wah pedal and we’re in funk zone. Holy clav @ 5 minutes! Really is the instrument of the tour. Back to rock at 6:30, then back to funk at 7:20. This section is awesome and sounds a good bit like the Fuego break, Page ripping the organ and all. Back to rock once again at 9m and with Page plonking those heavy rhythm chords we’re on the way to some nice hose. Totally shreds from here on out. Sounds exactly like a post-BD bliss jam but with that extra edge of a slightly younger Trey’s dexterity and Page’s swaggering confidence. You don’t hear too many jams like these in the first half of 3.0 so this is very cool. Good stuff, check it out! >

Fluffhead: wow, Trey’s feeling brave if he’s going for this here (and it’s fast too!) Interesting placement. Yep lol this is flubbed by Trey almost immediately after the vocals - figured this was a bit ambitious. Nothing irreparable. Pretty mundane version from there on out.

Heavy Things: Trey is for sure in a good mood if he wants to play this here. Kinda strange spot but I adore this tune. Page gets some time to shine on the organ here, the band (save Fish) cuts out for a portion. Cute. >

Slave to the Traffic Light: yesssss. Sometimes this can feel tacked on but I’m feeling this placement big time. Set ender? Standard, though I kinda enjoy some of Trey’s low-end work in the jam. Obviously not an all timer but this peaks convincingly. Nice Slave. You think the set is done and then…

You Enjoy Myself: hahahahahaha there’s no way. Fluff, DSky, Bowie, Foam, YEM and Slave in the same show - 1989 called and they want their setlist back! So cool. Opening arpeggios are majorly flubbed by Trey. A couple more light flubs later on in the composed section. A shame! Jam goes quiet almost immediately and the crowd claps along. Very funky Mike and Trey interplay here - reminds me of Khruangbin for some reason. Extremely cool stuff. Man if only Trey hadn’t fucked the composed section so badly. Mike is EVERYWHERE here. Gets dissonant and goofy at 14 mins in, Fish on the cowbell. Then Trey teases Wombat lightly at 15 mins and begins to angle towards a peak, but there isn’t much of one. Bass + drums with Mike’s crazy effects pedals and then a funny, weird vocal jam. Give this one a listen, but the flubs unfortunately preclude the listenability here.

ENCORE:

Suzy Greenberg: standard. Vibes.

—

OVERALL: don’t have too much bad to say about this show. Does it lack a ‘big moment’ or two typically present in the greats from this era? Sure - it’s a little vanilla. But there isn’t really a slow stretch here and the setlist is remarkably solid. Maybe not quite as relistenable as some other shows but that set 2 is pretty damn good, I’d be pumped after seeing that. Waves and Piper are quality as fuck, Wombat, Slave and Bowie aren’t too far behind. Check it out.

3.8 stars.