12/3/00 - Sunday, Commonwealth Ballroom - Blacksburg, VA

https://archive.org/details/db2000-12-03.mastered.flac

Image: The recently renovated Commonwealth Ballroom (source: Virginia Tech Daily)

Review:

The Story jam is a short and bombastic one; it has all the hallmarks of a great Story jam—the ambient and melancholy beginning, the slow build, the triumphant peak—just condensed. Pat and Dex in the number two slot is an interesting choice. There is a short (and I mean short—less than thirty seconds) jam out of Onery Funk into the Munchkin hits. The Munchkin jam begins as a standard, mellow, blissful trance vehicle, but it soon breaks down into a more tense mood and evolves into a dnb jam. The band locks into a vaguely Ape-like theme, and shortly after the 10 minute mark Magner introduces the Gates of Hell to great effect. The jam begins the triumphant build to a Munchkin ending shortly afterward, and the peak heading into Munchkin is spectacular. Munchkin has a short instrumental passage (less than ten seconds here!) that drops back into Liquid Lazer, completing the Pat and Dex. The jam out of Very Moon enters spacey ambient territory immediately, but Barber soon develops a simple, driving theme that pushes things forward. It builds with eminent patience and steadiness across a variety of themes to a powerful crescendo section beginning shortly before the 15 minute mark. From here the jam reaches dizzying heights, building to peaks not attainable by mere mortals. What follows is easily the strongest jam into Helicopters, and some of Barber’s finest shredding, ever. The Helicopters jam is some light airy trance. It’s patient and atmospheric, and gradually and subtly makes the return to Very Moon territory without much fanfare. Barber takes over with a delightful theme at the 7 minute mark, which he builds into one of the best Very Moon peaks ever. The Very Moon funk never leaves type one territory, but it manages to still be interesting throughout. Magner and Barber layer ideas on top of each other, building to a lovely crescendo before some of the amps cut out. The band unconventionally returns to The Very Moon to close the set.

A standard standalone Chemical Warfare Brigade opens the second set. A massive Floes segment follows. After a characteristically drawn out intro and composition, the jam gets off to standard Floes business around the ten minute mark. After about 4 minutes of expansive, percussive jamming, the passage breaks down further into spaciness. It treads water for a bit until Sammy kicks up the tempo around 16:30, and the jam rebuilds into a House Dog intro. The final minutes of this jam are especially fun, with Barber and Magner linking up for some cool teases of the intro before they finally drop into it. Cool jam, even better segue. The House Dog jam is nowhere near as exploratory as some of the other versions from the year (it’s actually pretty straightforward), but the final build to the peak is excellent. The first half of the Party Favor jam, by contrast, is almost too experimental. Magner’s effects are unconventional but not particularly enjoyable. Around 17:30, he begins to move towards more traditional trance synths and builds on a sinister marching theme as it heads back into the song’s ending. House Dog has an outro jam, based around the signature rhythm of the ending but quickly taking on a life of its own. Here, unlike the preceding Party Favor jam, the weirdness works in the band’s favor, with a variety of dissonant sounds coming together for a coherent theme. The transition is smooth and eminently patient, and results in a massive build into the Floes ending. The Humu jam is spectacular. It begins in very mellow territory, with Magner delivering a strong theme on a distorted trance synth right out of the gate. The theme forms a surprisingly strong backbone to the first half of the jam, even as it breaks down further and further to more sinister waters. Around 9:30 Magner briefly comes in with the 11/9 synths, used in a much more melodic way here than elsewhere, and from here the jam breaks down completely into a psychedelic type two passage. This part of the jam is absolutely demented, and one of the major highlights of the show. Barber delivers some gorgeous and soulful minor key riffs before building up to the spectacular Humu ending. The late set two M.E.M.P.H.I.S. gets off to a very promising start. The main jam is atmospheric and haunting in the beginning, but the band quickly settles into a more uplifting groove defined by Magner’s distorted synth lines. The jam alternates between the triumphant and melancholy, building to a vaguely sinister crescendo around 8:30-9:00, and then doubling back and rebuilding to a strong M.E.M.P.H.I.S. peak over several minutes beginning around the 11 minute mark. Barber’s peak work around the 13 minute mark is fantastic, reminiscent of the legendary 10/30/99 version. The M.E.M.P.H.I.S. outro forms a bliss trance theme that builds to a strong, if somewhat perfunctory, Helicopters peak.

One of the strongest shows of the tour, with two consistently strong sets, and a much more satisfying culmination to the tour than night two of Philadelphia was.

Highlights:

The Very Moon > Helicopters

A spectacular jam. While the pairing of The Very Moon and Helicopters was anything but new, this was still a landmark version, with the first ever segue out of the first jam section. Barber retains a commanding lead of the jam the entire time, building a simple and effective theme into a monstrous peak.

Humu

A stronger than average Humu theme in the first half breaks down into a demented lysergic carnival in the second half. Likely the strongest Humu ever played, standalone or otherwise.

Munchkin Invasion

Perhaps the strongest version yet, with a deep and fleshed out foray into jungle.

Helicopters > The Very Moon

The best Very Moon peak ever.

House Dog > Floes

The first ever House Dog outro, and it’s a doozy. The band somehow manages to forge a medley of cacophonous sounds into a coherent theme, one which builds with eminent patience into a drawn out Floes ending.

M.E.M.P.H.I.S.

Possibly the strongest M.E.M.P.H.I.S. first jam of the tour (with the exception of the far more exploratory 10/6/00). The theme weaves delicately between tense and triumphant moods before building to a spectacular peak.

Stray Observations:

There is a Story tease in Liquid Lazer.

This is the first split Very Moon.

This is the fifth pairing of The Very Moon and Helicopters, the first and only of the year, and the last until 10/5/02.

This is the first “finished" Very Moon funk since 5/26/99, and first extant since 5/8/99.

If you don’t count 8/25/00 (and I don’t) this is the first House Dog outro jam.

There is a Run Like Hell tease in the Humu jam.