Lots of banter and Gamehendge narration to be heard in this show. It's interesting in retrospect to hear Trey casually talking about the band's plans for the NYE show and joking about not being able to fill the Worcester Centrum. Little did he know they would be playing there only two years later. David Bowie and a Mockingbird with some strong Trey soloing during the brief improvisational section were the musical highlights to me.

Trey is especially chatty this evening, and they seem to be in a punch drunk good mood from a long-ass tour, which creates a fun looseness to the music, though certainly they're locked in as well, if that makes sense.

However, worth the price of admission (or at least the download time from the spreadsheet) is the "restrained" version of Terrapin. Fish does almost a singing version of the old bit of the shorting-out mic. It's very amusing to listen to the lyrics as sung, though it's actually hard for your brain not to fill in the missing words. The restraint carries over into the beginning of the vacuum solo section, both with Fish's style and the backing trio's quasi-reggae funk groove. By the end of the solo, Fish is hitting it pretty hard, though; the restraining forces no longer a match for the power of the suck. It would have been impressive to see him carry the restraint back to the last verse, but one can hardly be blamed at that point.

I have the original SBD of this show. chalkdust was the last song after sweet adeline. pretty sure..

An incredible digital audience source is available for this show, huge thanks to Rob Harrison for keeping the streak of stellar DAT audience recordings alive on this southern run!

The show kicks off with a tightly played Landlady > Jim. It’s Ice is solid and dialed in. After Cavern, the band shifts into a fun Rhombus Narration that adds some unique character to the set. Sky is gorgeous. Showboat Gertrude, the master of restraint, holds back on the vacuum solo during I Didn’t Know…an unexpected and amusing move. The set-closing YEM is absolutely killer!

Set two launches with a nearly four-minute hi-hat hijinks section in Bowie, packed with secret language and some playful jamming. Forbin > Mockingbird comes next, with Trey circling back to the Rhombus theme from earlier in the show. Before Coil, an audience member shouts out a question about where they’ll be playing on New Year’s Eve. Trey answers Worcester and shares a hilarious story about the venue they’ve booked. Hard to believe that just two short years later they’d sell out The Centrum! Llama is another strong outing. Then we get a reprise of Showboat Gertrude, the Master of Restraint, who delivers a love song in the Love Auditorium…a delightfully restrained take on Terrapin complete with a laid-back reggae vacuum solo. Naturally, the song wraps up in unrestrained fashion. Possum closes things out in high gear, featuring a full-on DEG tease. For the encore, Trey encourages the crowd to check out Bruce Hampton if they haven’t already. He jokes that they’ll play a sad song followed by a happy one…and that’s exactly what they do. Sweet Adeline caps it all off. As fans head out, Elton John’s Rocket Man plays over the PA, a perfect send-off to a truly memorable night.