10/14/00 - Saturday, Palookaville - Santa Cruz, CA

https://archive.org/details/db2000-10-14.mastered.flac

Image: artwork taken from the Palookaville Facebook page (photographs were sparse, okay?)

Review:

The show opens with Plan B, which is played standard and followed by Magellan Reprise: an always welcome pairing even if it is pretty much guaranteed to stay in the box. The Voices intro has some neat flourishes but it too stays in the box. Voices has a very eerie jam, which, despite the fact that it too never strays far out of bounds, is actually pretty excellent and atmospheric. Easily the best Voices since 1/28/99 and arguably ever. Shem-Rah Boo has a playful and short Magner-dominated intro jam. The main jam starts off a bit slower than usual, and gradually begins to incorporate more mellow synth effects. The jam moves along at a mid-tempo pace, sounding completely unlike a Shem-Rah jam the whole way, until it begins to break down around 14:20. Based on the setlist it would not be unreasonable to assume that the band would break the jam down completely to head into Floes, but they build it back up to a strong psychedelic crescendo before finally beginning the segue around 18:30. The breakdown is superb, and the segue masterfully executed (not always a guarantee with slower songs like Floes). The jam out of Floes stays mellow for a minute, with blissful playing from Barber contrasted against more tense synth work from Magner. By the 17 minute mark the jam begins to depart Floes territory and build up into a creepy trance vehicle. The jam picks up tempo as the track changes and builds to a solid Shem-Rah Boo ending.

Confrontation is an excellent version. Magner uses the swirly synths to great effect during the first part of the jam, and around 6:45 switches to a stronger sounding synth effect, and the jam soon begins to head back toward Confrontation. Excellent conclusion to the jam with a great coordinated full-band build to a huge peak. It’s more type one than the previous versions, but the band is clearly becoming more comfortable with the song. Jigsaw Earth has a short jam before the first chase section that nevertheless shows the band trying to expand on this hitherto unutilized section. The jam is predominantly trance, but Brownstein’s bass lines give it a distinct dub feel. The main jam starts off based around a blissful keyboard line from Magner, but soon gets dark and weird. Sammy’s drumming becomes less uniform, and incorporates a lot of hi-hat work. The first theme breaks down around the 9 minute mark and shortly after the band begins building up a dnb theme. The jam moves through a series of creepy passages until shortly before the track change, where Magner’s synth line begins to move steadily towards the major key and into Svenghali territory. The Dribble jam is legendary stuff. It drops instantly into a type two dub theme, replete with eerie vocal samples and mournful guitar riffs. Around the nine minute mark the pace begins to quicken. The jam builds to a spectacular major key crescendo. Barber delivers some gorgeous riffs, and Brownstein’s pounding bass line (reminiscent at moments of a Confrontation ending) pervade the jam. As the track moves toward the segue the tempo quickens, and at the track change the jam strips down to minimalist trance almost immediately: a few simple riffs from Barber and Magner over Sammy’s simple trance beat, and Brownstein’s dubby bass riff. The jam yields another thrilling build, this one culminating in the Jigsaw chase section. Another dub theme emerges; however, this one gets off to a decidedly more upbeat start than did the previous jam. The jam is reminiscent of the best dub Waves jams of 1999. The build to the Waves peak is pure symphonic excellence, not quite as experimental as the preceding jam but perhaps more user-friendly for the same reason. The jam out of Waves is another dub jam. This one is probably the truest Biscuits style dub in the entire set; it is playful and adventurous, and reminiscent, for whatever reason, of sailing aboard a pirate ship. I’ve heard the term pirate trance used to describe 12/30/01 Triumph, and I have appropriated it to describe jams such as this one. The jam builds to a symphonic crescendo as the track changes, and in the ensuing minutes devolves into chaos, segueing into a ferocious Dribble ending. The Dribble outro is the first jam in the entire segment to not feature overt dub elements. It gets off to a fantastic start. Magner’s work on the piano is absolutely haunting, and he is complemented by some creepy and vaguely atonal riffs from Barber and, soon, some vocal samples from Brownstein. This segment is woefully short-lived, however, and it breaks down around the 11 minute mark. The jam that builds up from here is sinister as well, but nowhere near as unique as the theme preceding it. It builds into a well-executed fall 2000 trance vehicle, culminating in a third Jigsaw chase section. After the chase comes another dub jam, but this one is at least part and parcel of the song, so it doesn’t feel like the band is pushing it. The jam is fairly standard and doesn’t really go anywhere before dropping back into Jigsaw.

This show, and the second set especially, has always been lauded as among the best of the tour. I am not ready to make such a call. This is an incredible show, but, after all, fall 2000 is an incredible tour. I would be shocked if this ended up being my favorite show of the tour, and the second set (the stronger) is not even my favorite set of the tour so far.

But enough negativity. After the crowd-pleaser Plan B > Magellan combo, the first set is as inventive as they come. The second set, though it tends to lean pretty heavily on a single style, is so well-executed that that can easily be forgiven.

Highlights:

Dribble > Jigsaw (first)

Type two Dribble jams are such a treat, and this one is a monster. Perfect usage of dub jamming to build to a logical conclusion without becoming stale. The transition at the track change is one of my favorites ever.

Dribble > Jigsaw (second)

This likely would have been at the top of the list if the first part of the jam had continued for longer. The entire thing is worth your while, but those first few minutes are indescribably beautiful and disturbing. A remarkably strong showing for the pairing of Dribble and Jigsaw, which makes it all the more confounding that they were never combined again.

Shem-Rah Boo > Floes

Experimental and mellow, the jam has two distinct themes and peaks before settling into the Floes intro.

Voices

Voices had been steadily incorporating longer atmospheric jams since fall 1999, and this is a culmination of that progression. I make no bones about my general distaste for Voices, which should tell you that this is a pretty special version.

Waves > Dribble

I think this is slightly stronger than the jam into Waves, but it’s practically a coin toss. Playful, fun dub jamming builds to a thunderous conclusion as it yields to Dribble.

Jigsaw > Waves

Like the Voices, there isn’t anything novel about this jam, but it is still executed masterfully.

Stray Observations:

This is the first Magellan Reprise since 10/10/99, a gap of 43 shows.

In the banter before the second set, Brownstein references the band’s plans to move out west.

This is the first three-part Jigsaw Earth.

During the final Jigsaw jam, Barber wishes a happy birthday to Peter Tosh (only five days early, undoubtedly a reference to the numerous dub jams in the set). Brownstein wishes a happy birthday to their merch guy, Adam Davis.

This is the first show of fall 2000 to not have an encore.

—Mr. Zan