11/18/00 - Saturday, Odyssey - Ithaca, NY

https://archive.org/details/db2000-11-18.mastered.flac

Image: A pretty waterfall in Ithaca, NY (did you know that if you Google "Ithaca Odyssey" you get a whole lot of irrelevant results? source: New York by Rail)

Review:

I’ve always been partial to the Tricycle opener. It’s completely type one, but it’s such a cool and unique groove, it’s perfectly executed, and it provides an excellent drop into Hot Air Balloon. The rarity factor doesn’t hurt either. Completely perplexing that this one sat on the shelf for so long. The Hot Air Balloon jam spends the seemingly requisite time in shreddy type one territory before breaking down into a bliss theme. Magner layers on melodic trance synth themes while remaining on the piano for a while. Even more impressively, the drum rhythm completely breaks down shortly after 7:30, losing any resemblance to Hot Air Balloon. The theme gradually leaves this blissful territory for more sinister moods over the next several minutes, in an impressive, patient and ultimately utterly demented build to Plan B. Plan B is an excellent version. The main jam is stretched wide open, and even though it remains type one the entire time it is an impressive version. The Floes intro develops organically out of the Plan B ending; though it’s pretty immediately clear where the band is heading, they take their time before dropping into Floes proper. Floes is a thoroughly Magner-dominated vehicle, nothing like the recent dnb version from 11/11. An excellent theme ensues, in which Magner makes use of a variety of effects. Barber attains some prominence toward the middle of the jam, but the beginning and the end are all Magner. The build to the ending is absolutely glorious. Shelby Rose has a frenetic dnb jam. It begins as a Barber-led vehicle with the synths falling in line to complement the main theme. Magner takes over around the ten minute mark, delivering the theme that leads to the ending, and he adapts it masterfully to the tempo and key changes as Sammy adroitly shifts the jam towards the Shelby peak. Confrontation has an expansive trance jam that settles into a hypnotic groove. Magner holds down his theme all the way through the jam as Barber takes on a more prominent role and shifts back into Hot Air Balloon. Excellent stuff.

The Crickets jam immediately enters into a sinister type two theme, more reminiscent of a Shimmy jam than a Crickets. Around the 10 minute mark it begins to shift toward the triumphant mood of a Confrontation ending. The rest of the jam is a fantastic build into a Confrontation ending. The Unspoken Rhyme is yet another strong version. The first half is a slow burn, more Barber-dominated vehicle, but shy of the 8 minute mark Magner takes over and begins building on a captivating theme. The theme builds to a spectacular ending. The Rhyme ending gives way to a Run Like Hell intro. It’s a very enjoyable trance-heavy jam, although short, and the drop into the song comes very suddenly. The mid-verse jam gets into a cool groove with Magner making use of distorted trance synths and 11/9 synths. I actually find this jam far more interesting than the intro. The jam out is a bass-heavy groove. It settles into a mid-tempo trance jam, with excellent Magner work, although it loses a little bit of its luster as it builds in tempo heading towards Crickets. The transition leaves a bit to be desired (although it would be attempted with a much greater degree of success a few weeks later), but the build up to the peak, with frenetic Gates of Hell usage, is pretty sweet. The funk jam has a heavy Gates of Hell presence too but it’s otherwise pretty standard. The Dribble jam is smooth and groovy. It remains in a kind of Dribble theme until the final seconds of the track, when, during the Dribble hits, Sammy brings down the tempo into Floodlights territory. The jam out of Floodlights is a cool groove, but it’s too short to go anywhere interesting.

I’ve never paid much attention to this show, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how strong it is. Even though it falls off a bit in the fourth quarter, it’s still more consistent than most shows from the tour.

Highlights:

Crickets > Confrontation

Even though the first set is considerably stronger than the second, this type two Crickets jam edges out all of the first set highlights. The jam immediately gets into sinister territory and explores a type two theme before building up to a fantastic Confrontation peak.

Hot Air Balloon > Plan B

After a few minutes of standard shredding, the jam breaks down into a somewhat predictable HAB groove, expansive and atmospheric. It becomes really interesting, however, when Sammy completely breaks down the tempo, and the jam spends several minutes building its way back up into a Plan B intro.

Confrontation > Hot Air Balloon

Excellent stuff. The main theme from the jam carries into the transition and makes for one of the smoother segues of the night.

Unspoken Rhyme

A characteristically strong version. The first half of the jam is solid, if a bit restrained, but the second half, in which Magner takes the reins, is excellent and explosive.

Shelby Rose

Another powerful standalone dnb vehicle. Like the Rhyme, Barber forms the foundation of the first half of the jam and Magner takes control in the second half. Sammy’s shift in tempo is accompanied by a key change from Magner, and the transition into the ending is smoothly executed.

Stray Observations:

This show contains the first ever Tricycle, which was not played again until 4/18/08, a gap of 533 shows.

Amusing banter alert between Floes and Shelby Rose. Barber shares an anecdote about getting thrown out of a breakfast being served to a football team, and then apologizes to the vegans in the audience.

This is the last Crystal Ball until 5/9/01, a gap of 49 shows, and from there it is not seen again until 7/26/02, a further gap of 100 shows.