10/17/00 - Tuesday, The Crocodile Club - Seattle, WA
October 17, 2020
https://archive.org/details/db2000-10-17.mk21.flac16
Image: The interior of Seattle's historic Crocodile Club (source: thecrocodile.com)
Review:
The show opens with a few rarities: Stone drop segues into Liquid Lazer, a fun pairing not played since fall 1999. Hot Air Balloon follows, and continues along a familiar trajectory until just shy of the 8 minute mark when it breaks suddenly into a mid-tempo trance jam. It continues along at a modest pace until the 12 minute mark when it begins to quicken. The jam appears to be heading for a peak around the 15 minute mark, but breaks down into an eerie minimal jam as the tempo decreases. This theme carries the jam until about 18:45, when a keyboard flourish from Magner seems to signal an increase in the tempo. The jam maintains a similar eerie mood to the rest of the jam as it builds in intensity toward Boop. Magner’s work in the final two minutes of the jam is absolutely fantastic. A spectacular transition into Boop and an excellent jam overall. The Boop funk is solidly thematic all the way through. It doesn’t go deep but it’s still plenty interesting, and finishes strong. The jam out of Boop begins with a barrage of Magner’s acid synths, but by the 13 minute mark it settles down into a more regular theme as Sammy’s drumwork begins verging toward breakbeat. The jam settles into a strong dnb theme by the 16 minute mark. It is notably more cheerful sounding than the earlier part of the jam, and Barber uses his muted distortion to great effect. The jam steadily builds to a massive crescendo. Barber seems to be heading to a massive Svenghali peak, before landing firmly in Aquatic Ape territory around the 21 minute mark. After this excellent segment, a solid Wet ends the set.
House Dog opens set two. The first jam is easily the most interesting since the Camp version. There are moments here and there that hint toward the same brilliance. Although this jam never really leaves the box, it is considerably more spacey than the typical House Dog jam. The Party Favor jam pretty quickly jumps into type two territory. It too is far more spacey than ordinary, and much more blissful as well. By the 18 minute mark there is a key change and the jam begins heading back toward that dark territory typical of the Party Favor jam. Very solid build to the ending, and overall one of the stronger versions of the song I’ve heard. Three Wishes is a somewhat odd choice to follow, but provides some down time. Bernstein covers a vast expanse of territory in a relatively short time. It begins in island bliss, but begins to move towards darker waters around the 7 minute mark. The band’s exploration of this theme is perfunctory, however, as by 8:45 they are already heading back towards Floes. Great build into the end of Floes. Morph features a nice early use of the Gates of Hell at a considerably lower pitch than typical, which creates a really cool effect. It’s completely type one but it’s great atmospheric funk trance nevertheless. Run Like Hell features the same effect in the intro jam, although it isn’t quite as effective here. The intro jam is drawn out and very mellow throughout, making the drop seem rather sudden. There is a sizable mid-verse jam, and it actually manages to push the boundaries of Run Like Hell territory for a bit. This jam drops even more suddenly back into the song. The jam out is mellow blissful trance, and maintains that style for its duration, building up to an excellent B&C ending. A solid but perfunctory Aceetobee closes the show.
Overall, a pretty unimpressive show. The nice thing about fall 2000 is even the unimpressive shows will have a few incredible moments, which are delineated below.
Highlights:
Hot Air Balloon > Little Betty Boop
Head and shoulders the highlight of the show is this first properly jammed out Hot Air Balloon. It explores a variety of trance themes before a spectacular transition into Boop.
Little Betty Boop > Aquatic Ape
The back half of the set one segment is the weaker half, but it is still excellent. It leaves trance territory behind for dnb over the course of a few minutes, and Barber’s use of muted distortion gives the jam a distinctive flavor.
Bernstein & Chasnoff > Floes
Based on the time-stamp I wasn’t expecting much, but the jam manages to cover a lot of ground before reaching its destination.
House Dog Party Favor
Surprisingly excellent. It’s always a treat to hear the first jam break out of the box a little bit, and this one does (even if it doesn’t get quite as out there as the Camp version).
Stray Observations:
This show features a number of bustouts. This is the first Liquid Lazer (outside of Pat & Dex) since 10/19/99 (a gap of 39 shows), the first Wet since 12/31/99 (a gap of 25 shows), and the first Three Wishes since 10/9/99 (a gap of 45 shows).
This is the first Wet to not open with the bass intro.
—Mr. Zan