11/4/00 - Saturday, The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA

https://archive.org/details/db2000-11-04.mastered.flac

Image: The unique exterior of Atlanta's Masquerade (source: wikipedia.org)

Review:

The show opens with a second rendition of the Cherub Rock cover. It’s a strong cover; I wouldn’t have objected if it entered semi-regular rotation but I wouldn’t have campaigned for its return either. I-Man follows, and although there are considerable synth flourishes in the intro jam, I wouldn’t classify it a techno I-Man. The mid-verse jams in I-Man are solid, but the middle jam is excellent. Atmospheric and moody, it hovers in a mellow space before turning towards bliss around the 11 minute mark. Brownie begins introducing the Pygmy bass line, and the jam segues masterfully into Pygmy. The Pygmy jam locks into a focused trance theme immediately. It begins to break down around 6:30, with some breakbeat flourishes from Sammy and droning synths. It settles into a theme characterized by a mellow passage from Magner underscored by thunderous percussion from Sammy. This theme melts into the middle of I-Man for an excellent transition. The main jam has a cool groove in the first half, characterized by Brownie using a heavy distortion a la Floodlights intro, but the second half is a standard Barber-dominated jaunt. There is barely a jam going into Humu, but it’s a well-executed segue. The Humu has a drawn out type one bliss jam, with Magner utilizing some digital synths. It breaks down into a briefly tense passage towards the end before building up to the ending. The Lai that follows is an excellent version, with a playful, bouncy trance jam that culminates in a lively Barber-led build to the peak.

Floes has a drawn out intro, and a drawn-out, lumbering main jam. Solid jam and great build to the ending. The Very Moon has an excellent first jam, easily the best since 10/6/00 and maybe even better. It breaks down completely into tense, spacey territory with melancholy Magner synths and Barber strumming. As Sammy and Brownie return to Very Moon territory, Magner and Barber craft a mellow trance theme, and the rhythm section ebbs and flows in and out of type one territory while the melody remains largely type two. Shortly after the 13 minute mark the jam begins to creep up towards the peak, and Barber delivers a monster. Over top of the peak, Sammy lays down the Munchkin hits for a DJ segue into Munchkin. Munchkin is an excellent version as well, beginning as a blissful trance jam but shifting toward more tense territory. The band crafts an excellent theme in this dark space before returning to a powerful Munchkin ending. Easily the strongest full Munchkin yet. Shimmy is a strong standalone version. The jam departs traditional Shimmy darkness, not quite as decisively as the spring 1999 versions. Around the 10 minute mark it begins to gradually build back to a monster Shimmy peak. After Shimmy, the band leaves the stage and returns for a long encore. The Radiator has a very deconstructed jam, which treads water for a while but builds to a cool, Barber-dominated bliss jam. The Confrontation jam has great Magner lines and strong complementary riffs from Barber. It settles into a less uplifting theme, and Magner introduces the Gates of Hell, around 5:30. It builds to a vigorously psychedelic theme, with Magner using aggressively psychedelic trance synths verging into harsh noise. This theme gradually heads to major key, and at 9:15 Barber takes the lead decisively for a great peak. An excellent standalone version, coming on the heels of another excellent standalone version. Dribble barely has a jam. The tense Dribble theme does not innovate much, and builds to some soft Dribble hits before shifting towards a Big Happy theme. The band intersperses some Dribble hits throughout the Big Happy theme, keeping the two ideas pretty closely connected.

A strong close to the southern leg of the tour, with a few big jams.

Highlights:

The Very Moon

I’m a sucker for pushing the envelope in familiar sections, and this is probably the strongest version of the first jam in The Very Moon yet. An eerie trance jam that builds to an explosive ending.

Munchkin Invasion

Another strong non-segue jam. Very dark type two jamming in the middle of this Munchkin.

I-Man > Pygmy > I-Man

Both jams into and out of Pygmy are characterized by the same droning trance, mellow themes and smooth transitions. Excellent sandwich.

Confrontation

A version on par with 11/2. Excellent Magner-led bliss trance leads through more sinister territory to an explosive and cacophonous build to the peak.