12/28/00 - Thursday, The Silo - Reading PA

https://archive.org/details/db2000-12-28.mastered.flac

Image: The interior of Reading's Silo Nightclub

Review:

The Overture is an excellent version, probably the best standalone since 4/29/99. Simple Magner grooves characterize the first theme. The middle portion of the jam features excellent Barber/Magner interplay, and builds to a strong peak not always seen in Overture jams. Fiddler follows, and while it’s no 10/13/00, it’s got a little extra mustard compared to standard versions. The first jam is short and typical, but the second is nice and drawn out. House Dog takes the #3 slot, dashing any hopes the audience might have had about another performance of the full Hot Air Balloon (which would have been the first since 10/23/99). The House Dog jam is standard and unremarkable. Interestingly, like the version from New Year’s 1999, the band splits the song up between the jam sections, and drop segues into a portion of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. I’m not familiar with the composition, but by 3:30 we are definitively in a Biscuits jam. It segues smoothly into a Bernstein and Chasnoff intro. The B&C is an excellent version, reminiscent of the best of the various monster versions of fall 1999. The jam stays close to blissful B&C territory for the first several minutes, stretching and spacing this theme out as far as it will go. It moves with eminent patience into an expansive space, and from here moves into a considerably more tense passage. Though it never quite reaches the sinister territory of the spring 99 B&Cs, it is a very interesting departure from the song’s structure. The jam appears to be heading back into B&C bliss before a breakdown into a chaotic and bizarre theme immediately before the peak. Incredible version and easily the best since 1999. Voices has a drawn out intro jam, considerably more pleasant than the 11/24 version. The main jam isn’t anything special, but it is a pleasant groove and transitions smoothly back into the ending.

The Grass is Green that opens set two is a stunning version. It begins with a strong, if standard, repetitive house theme. At the 6 minute mark, Magner introduces the acid synths to the theme, and what follows is a demented psychedelic carnival. Around the 9 minute mark, the jam begins to gradually build to its triumphant ending. A spectacular version of Grass is Green, easily the strongest standalone yet. Crickets follows, another strong version. The first jam begins with very minimalist and spacey jamming. Magner soon begins to incorporate a high pitched droning synth effect, which characterizes the next few minutes of the jam. After a breakdown around the 6 minute mark, the jam rebuilds into a far more sinister theme, with Magner tossing in some Gates of Hell lines shortly after. This invites obvious comparison to 11/25, and while it doesn’t get quite as evil, it’s significantly exploratory. At 12:30 the band shifts back into Crickets territory for a triumphant build to the peak. The funk jam has a few cool themes but nothing lasts long and it overall isn’t very cohesive. The Biscuits debut of Triumph follows. It is played as the Maui Project and Electron versions were, with the same jarring tempo differences between verses. Like the other versions, it is segued into Home (another full-band debut). Triumph is still a long way from the heavy hitter that it would become in later years. Besides the roughness in the composition, the jam section is still far less distinctly defined. However, this is easily the most exploratory Triumph yet played, even though the exact pairing was nothing new. The jam is tense the whole way through and dominated by Magner, who delivers a catchy repeating theme that he modulates over several minutes. The jam builds up to that faux ending that the song used to have, and then drops into Home. Unlike the other debut, Home was not destined to have a long future with the band, and this is the only version they ever played. By this point it had largely been made redundant by Home Again, and it is interesting to hear the parts that would later be incorporated into that song here. Home segues into another part of Beethoven’s Ninth. Cool. Jigsaw has a decently drawn out trance jam before the chase section, with cool Magner themes and a crescendo that threatens to send the whole thing careening off the rails. The jam in between the chase sections is not quite as cohesive, a dub influenced trance jam that never sticks to a single theme for longer than a few minutes. The dub jam is pretty cool, but short—the entire version is, actually, perhaps signifying the end of its rather short-lived tenure as heavy hitter.

Honestly, this show really isn’t anything special (nowhere near as good as the night before), but it is a lot better than I anticipated it would be based on the setlist and timestamps.

Highlights:

Grass Is Green

Dare I say best ever? This Grass Is Green is exciting and thematic, and easily the best thing that has happened with the song so far.

Bernstein & Chasnoff

Probably the best of the year (10/27 and 11/3 offer the only real competition, and I think this version smokes those). It proceeds along the normal trajectory, going from blissful type one to a tense passage, but fakes out a return to the peak in favor of an even more sinister breakdown.

Crickets

Another very strong iteration of the Crickets first jam, with a detour through sinister territory before a massive peak.

The Overture

A strong dnb jam with a rousing conclusion in the strongest standalone Overture of the year.

Stray Observations:

Some fun banter before The Overture.

There is some digital distortion towards the beginning of the Overture jam.

This is the first Grass is Green since 11/1/00, a gap of 16 shows, fairly significant for such a new song.

This show marks the debut of Triumph and Home. This would be the only performance of Home.

There is a Thieving Magpie tease in the second half of Beethoven’s Ninth.

This is the first Smoothie King since 5/19/00, a gap of 43 shows. It is the first and only with the full band of the year.