10/20/00 - Friday, Fox Theater - Boulder, CO

https://archive.org/details/db2000-10-20.archive.flac16

Image: The exterior of the Fox Theater (source: foxtheatre.com)

Review:

Shimmy begins with a Middle Eastern sounding uptempo trance jam, which builds to a solid peak. The Story is also pretty straightforward. It has a short type one intro jam, and the main jam is melancholy trance rock that builds up to a glorious theme. Spaga is an excellent version in which Magner goes off on the trance synths. He crafts an evil theme, but subtly shifts the tone to a more uplifting territory around 6:30. Just shy of the 8 minute mark, the jam breaks down. It maintains the dnb tempo, but the energy winds down, and it ultimately melts into a Fiddler intro. Awesome jam. The Fiddler > Spaga is a drop segue—so an average Fiddler (disappointingly so, considering how groundbreaking the past two were) followed by an average Spaga second jam (once again featuring Magner on heavy trance synths, to great effect). Lai has a drawn out triumphant jam, with extremely patient Barber work. It builds to a solid ending.

Confrontation is an excellent version. Magner starts off on the traditional echo synths, but soon latches onto a more playful theme. The jam builds to an uncomposed bliss peak, around 10:30-11, shortly after which point Brownstein comes in with some distinctive Floodlights cues. The segue into Floodlights is masterfully executed. The jam out contrasts pleasant riffs from Barber with some more tense, droning synths from Magner. Barber’s riffs grow more melancholy, and the jam finds a cool theme. The jam builds to a crescendo and then begins to ebb away around the 7:45-8 minute mark. As the jam slows down, it distinctly becomes a Hope intro. The Hope intro, most of which is tracked with Hope, is a very long type one segment. Barber teases the first lick from Hope a couple of times before he finally begins to play the song. The Hope jam immediately settles into a dubby Magner-led theme, which builds over the next several minutes. Beginning shortly after the 13 minute mark, Sammy begins to incorporate more breakbeats into the jam, giving it an added edge. Barber becomes notably more involved, coming into the forefront of the jam at around the 15 minute mark with some very involved riffs. It sounds like the jam might begin to build toward the ending, but it settles back around 16:30. From here, the jam builds up to a demented crescendo around 18:30 that shifts smoothly into the ending of Hope. Over the ending of Hope Sammy begins to play the Munchkin hits, and the band pulls off the first ever “DJ segue” into Munchkin Invasion. The Munchkin is a pretty standard version, with some great Magner work, especially in the buildup to the ending. I was expecting very little from Grass is Green > Confrontation, based on the timestamps, but that segment managed to exceed my expectations. There’s a solid little trance theme in the middle, which builds to a massive Confrontation peak.

The encore, though, is where this show really shines. The Svenghali jam immediately drops into tense dnb territory. Magner utilizes the more subtle sounds in his repertoire, and Barber quickly latches onto a busy riff that highlights the atmosphere without overpowering it. Around the 7 minute mark Barber comes in with the muted distortion effect and Magner leans more heavily on the drone synths. This theme builds to a dizzying psychedelic crescendo around the 10 minute mark, which then breaks down into another tense dnb groove. This builds up over the next few minutes around an infectiously catchy synth line from Magner. The drop into the Overture ending comes without any kind of slowdown or loss of steam, which was far from a guarantee in these days. Fantastic stuff. The jam out of Overture has a kind of chugging sludgy riff from Barber and some haunting synth lines from Magner. The transformation in Barber’s tone beginning around the 12 minute mark is absolutely heavenly. He goes from the muted distortion to an electronic violin sounding effect. He will make great use of this effect, or a similar enough one, in the Jigsaw Earth from 11/9/00. The jam stays in this demented territory for the rest of the track, building to a frenetic pace as the track changes. Barber comes more into the forefront, and the mood changes with the track, as the band builds up to an excellent Svenghali ending.

The first set is pretty unremarkable, while the second is actually very solid. The encore, however, is excellent from beginning to end.

Highlights:

Svenghali > Overture

Two-part dnb jam with monstrous peaks.

Overture > Svenghali

Basically on-par with Svenghali > Overture. More psychedelic and experimental, but less focused as a consequence.

Hope

Probably the strongest Hope so far. It covers a wide range of territory, from blissed-out dub rock, to more tense dnb, to a psychedelic caveman rock ending.

Confrontation > Floodlights

It builds to a pretty cool bliss theme and uncomposed peak, but its the masterful segue into Floodlights that is really worth your time.

Spaga > Fiddler

The only real segue in set one, in which a pretty standard Spaga theme shifts towards bliss territory before breaking down completely.

Stray Observations:

Amusing banter alert prior to set two. “The guy from IOWA wants us to play. Apparently he doesn’t like our stand-up routine.”

This is the first segue into both Hope and Munchkin Invasion. The segue into Munchkin uses the distinct DJ style segue that would be the favored way of segueing into Munchkin for years to come.