12/31/00 - Sunday, The Palladium - Worcester, MA

https://archive.org/details/db2000-12-31ck.shnf/

Image: The Disco Biscuits at the Worcester Palladium

Review:

Kamaole opens the show with a festive, tropical vibe (one undoubtedly at odds with the late December weather in Worcester Massachusetts). The jam is a patient, driving trance vehicle, which settles down just shy of the 9 minute mark into a steady groove. The groove crests a wave around the 13 minute mark and breaks down over several minutes, rebuilding as a House Dog intro. The band actually drops into the final verse of House Dog (as in the fourth set of 12/31/99, completing the first half from 12/28). Some confusion muddles the transition into the jam, but the band quickly recovers. The Party Favor jam is kind of dull at first, but it builds to a hot ending. The outro jam is fascinating. The first half is tense, featuring droning trance synths from Magner, and gets into some bizarre territory around 18-22 minutes. After this it begins to build to the Kamaole bliss peak. An excellent sandwich with some very creative jamming. Dribble follows, and the intro jam incorporates the same bizarre digital synths from the Basis intro from the night before. The main jam is an excellent version, except for a questionable synth choice from Magner. Shrill and abrasive, it pervades the first half of the jam and makes it hard to listen to. Underneath this, there is still a solid groove, and when he calms down on these synths around the 9 minute mark the jam becomes several degrees better instantaneously. Around 10:15 the jam briefly moves into a dubby interlude, and covers some unique territory before returning to the Dribble hits at 11:45. From here the jam builds to a furious crescendo, vying with 10/25/00 for the strongest Dribble ending of the year. Unfortunately there is no outro jam, and Frog Legs follows. Frog Legs is played standard and outro’d, and the outro jam is almost entirely tracked out as Run Like Hell. The outro settles immediately into a mid-tempo bliss trance jam. It’s mellow and blissful in the first few minutes, with Barber’s playing giving continuity from the previous Frog Legs. Just shy of the 5 minute mark, Sammy’s four on the floor drumming gives the jam new focus, and it builds in energy to a spectacular Run Like Hell ending, capping a very strong set.

Set two, in contrast to set one, gets off to a slow start. The opening Haleakala Crater is standard. Crickets is interesting right from the get go. The jam begins in a more melancholy territory than typical, and Magner latches onto a theme immediately. At times it’s reminiscent of the Reactor from 9/8/01: Magner’s playing is similarly dominating, captivating, haunting. After the first, more sinister theme, the jam enters a more expansive passage around the 8 minute mark (or perhaps even earlier). Around the 10 minute mark, the jam begins its push towards the ending, and it builds and builds into an explosive peak that has to be heard to be believed. After this stunning first jam, the second isn’t much to write home about. Magellan is a standard version, shorter than the more drawn out fall versions. The New Year’s Eve countdown happens over the Magellan peak, and it’s well done (though it’s no 12/31/99 obviously). In the reprise section, Sammy comes in with the Munchkin hits, and the band launches into Munchkin Invasion. Like Crickets, Munchkin features another trance-heavy Magner-dominated theme. This triumphant theme breaks down into some eerie type two around 8:30-9:00, and the band explores this space until about 15:30 when they begin to build back to the Munchkin ending. The Munchkin ending is mashed up with the Hope ending and, bizarrely, there is another countdown. At this point, according to eyewitness accounts, a roadie threw hundreds of Dunkin’ Donuts “munchkins” into the crowd. Munchkin and Hope both have happy New Year lyrics, and the mashup is followed by the now-standard happy New Year Helicopters (at the time, the third performance in three New Year’s Eve shows). 12/31/99, this is not. Tracked out at less than 10 minutes, this Helicopters is a perfunctory rager, a fiery conclusion to another strong set.

The third set opens with Shem-Rah Boo. Another strong Magner performance makes this a version worth hearing. Magner develops another excellent trance-heavy theme right away, and develops it over the course of the jam. He seems to play off of himself around the 9:30 mark, which is interesting and surreal to hear. Shortly afterward, Barber comes in with complementary riffs, although the jam remains firmly in Magner’s control, and he leads the jam to its thrilling conclusion. Even the MOTH MOTY section is stronger than usual, chilling and focused as opposed to the standard blues noodling. Excellent version. Floes has a drawn-out, type one intro (as always). The Floes jam has the characteristic thunderous percussion. The jam is Barber-dominated, and his playing moves from blissful to melancholy as the jam progresses. As the track changes, Sammy begins to commit to a more standard trance beat. Magner’s playing becomes more prominent, but the jam is still firmly Barber-dominated. The buildup to Boop is unconventionally melancholy, and the transition is well-executed. The Boop funk jam has some strong full band jamming with Magner on the rabbit hole synths before Barber brings it in for a strong peak. The jam out of Boop is pretty much a Floes jam from the get-go, and it culminates in a strong Floes ending.

I have never listened to this show before, as with all of the shows from this New Year’s run. I was pleasantly surprised by how strong it was. Though nothing really gets next level, it’s pretty consistently strong with almost no wasted time, and is a perfectly solid conclusion to the year 2000.

Highlights:

Munchkin

The jam is strong and thematic from the very beginning, and moves through a passage of strange type two before a beautiful conclusion. The Hope mashup is the icing on the cake.

Shem-Rah Boo

Almost symphonic in its beauty. The main jam is excellent, but the MOTH MOTY is unconventionally strong as well.

Crickets

The second Crickets of the run (oddly, the other song that is repeated is the compositionally dense Haleakala Crater) features a spectacular first jam, which begins in tense territory, moves through a chaotic breakdown and builds to a monster of a peak.

Party Favor > Kamaole Sands

Multiple passages of experimental jamming out of the House Dog outro finally conclude in a Kamaole peak.

Floes > Boop

A mournful and very Barber-led jam leads to an unconventionally sneaky Boop middle.

Stray Observations:

This is the first New Year’s Eve show played outside of Philadelphia, and the only until 2003. It is the only NYE played outside of Philly and New York City until 2011.