11/3/00 - Friday, Georgia Theatre - Athens, GA

https://archive.org/details/db2000-11-03.archive.flac16

Image: The exterior of the Georgia Theatre, with letters as big as your head (source: axs.com)

Review:

This show has one of my favorite opening sequences of all time: the GAYFM (or tag) section of Basis, drop segued into Helicopters. The Helicopters is very Barber-led, beginning with a theme based around a descending riff. Around the 4 minute mark, Magner comes in with the trance synths and Barber shifts to heavy amelodic distortion. It holds its ground in a tense space after this, and then later builds to an unconventional crescendo. Barber develops another descending riff theme that he incorporates into the Helicopters peak. Excellent version. The Crickets first jam is probably the best iteration yet: a monolithic bliss trance vehicle built around a few uplifting Barber riffs. Around 6:30 it begins to enter more tense territory, but begins to make its way back at the 7:30 minute mark. It breaks down shortly afterward, and begins to build to its momentous peak. Great theme in the funk jam, which does not stay confined to funk territory. The jam features considerable Magner presence, with liberal use of acid synths. Excellent Crickets, at least on par with 10/13 and maybe a notch better. M.E.M.P.H.I.S. follows, dedicated to a fan from Tennessee. The first jam is excellent. It builds in true 99 fashion on a few simple themes to a raging peak. The outro jam is very mellow. Magner finds a great theme, and around the 12 minute mark Barber comes in with muted distortion. There is some atonal Magner, and the jam descends into chaos before breaking down into a Hope intro. The Hope jam begins as a blissful dnb vehicle that quickly becomes tense, entering a sinister, hypnotic passage. By the 11 minute mark the jam begins to build towards the triumphant Hope ending, and culminates in a gorgeous crescendo before returning to the composition. A standard Wet closes the set.

Svenghali opens set two, and the jam immediately departs bliss territory. It enters into a sinister dnb passage. Around the 7 minute mark Magner begins to incorporate the Gates of Hell, further enhancing the evil mood of the jam. It gradually builds in energy as it returns to bliss territory for a gorgeous Svenghali peak. Bernstein & Chasnoff follows. The jam starts out very pleasant and light on electronic elements, with Magner on piano, but soon evolves to a blissful trance jam. It never quite gets evil, like the great 99 B&Cs, nor does it get as bizarre as the 10/27 version, but it gets into some tense and sinister territory and is overall a very strong version. Basis follows, a dyslexic completion of the tag section that opened the show. The intro jam is very mellow and groove-oriented. It does not feature anywhere near as catchy hooks as the 10/27 version, although it isn’t exactly fair to hold it to such a standard. The drop comes very suddenly without much buildup out of Barber’s theme. There is a short middle jam that ends before it can cover any really interesting territory. The main jam in Basis is fantastic, and more than makes up for the shortcomings of the first two. There is a great old-school Magner-led trance theme, punctuated by occasional Gates of Hell lines. Barber is a near-constant presence, keeping the jam from turning too dark. He steps into the lead around the 16 minute mark, going from clean playing to a dirtier distortion, and building the jam up to a sinister, Shimmy-esque crescendo that maintains the evil mood all the way up to the Basis peak. The Basis drop segues into Barfly, a solid segue but a bit of a perplexing late set two choice. Besides a short bass intro before the bridge and a somewhat spacier Barber solo, it is a standard version. The set closes with Magellan, which has a longer middle jam than perhaps any other version chronologically. The main jam is very different from the other Magellans of the year, which have usually featured Magner on a kind of shimmering synth effect. Here, Magner stays on piano for a more “traditional” Magellan sound. Yet the jam still manages to feel interesting, but it’s interesting the way a Phish jam would be. Cool version. The band encores with a standard Home Again.

Like 11/1/00, a show with only one real segue. However, the standalones are more interesting and better-executed, and the one transition doesn’t even register as a highlight.

Highlights:

Crickets

A spectacular first jam, probably the best so far and one of the best ever. Excellent theme-building from Barber.

Svenghali

Not many better ways to open an all standalone set in fall 2000 than with Svenghali, Bernstein & Chasnoff, Basis. This Svenghali is downright evil.

Basis

The first and middle jams are both unremarkable, but the main jam is excellent, with a sinister Shimmy-esque build all the way up to the ending.

Helicopters

A very interesting Helicopters, Barber-led in the beginning, with an atonal trance theme in the middle.