Notes From The Drop Zone - 2/5/21

Slow, chugging riffs as the band took the stage indicated a M.E.M.P.H.I.S. opener, and my instincts were correct. The first jam is nothing special, but it gave the band a nice opportunity to shake off the rust, such that there was any. After a strong peak, the band locked into an outro jam with Magner providing a strong trance backbone and Barber using a distorted phaser effect. The band built this theme up to a crescendo, and broke down into a groove that had me screaming “Rivers!” but we were even more blessed: the band instead broke down into a minimalist techno passage, which gradually settled into a Rapture intro. After Rapture, the set lost me for a bit. Rapture had a type one groove jam, and a quick bliss jam into Hero. Hero had a decently long mostly type one middle jam of about 7 or 8 minutes, long enough that when they returned to the song I was surprised (I don’t remember if the song had two parts before, or to what extent the middle was jammed). The Hero jam started out as a dirty groove but soon resolved into a bliss jam that built to a Lai peak and the first inverted Lai in over 14 years (and only the third ever). The jam out of Lai is where the set started to get interesting again, although the first several minutes didn’t really move me. Once Magner introduced the digital synths and the band settled into a sinister theme in the “Tractorbeam” style, however, I was hooked. The theme yielded a strong transition into the introspective instrumental Bionic Helix, not seen since Holidaze 2018. I feel confident in saying this is the best version yet played. Bionic Helix had a jam that wove in and out of type one (I hesitate to say they jammed it out and returned to the song, but the case could be made) before a quick build into a perfunctory Confrontation ending.

After something of a mellow first set, the dyslexic Confrontation completion got things moving immediately. The band developed a strong theme right out of the gate, which continued for 5-7 minutes before breaking down into mellow bliss. The remainder of the jam was essentially a sleepwalk into Rocket Science. Rocket Science likewise took a while to capture my interest, but when it did it was mesmerizing. The jam broke down into entirely structureless ambience, and rebuilt itself into an amazing passage of full-band improvisation. This jam reached a dizzying crescendo before settling down slightly in the transition to Spraypaint. Spraypaint likewise took a while to get interesting, as the first several minutes saw the band hold pretty closely to the Spraypaint pattern. But when they broke free of it, they began to develop an excellent, sinister trance theme with eminent patience over 5-6 minutes. Barber took the lead, using some grungey distortion effects and building the jam up to an unconventional segue into Voices. In keeping with the theme, Voices too took some time breaking out of the song structure. Once the jam settled down a bit, Magner laid down some infectious 80s style dance synths and the band coalesced into a cool theme. The end of this jam wasn’t particularly strong either, as Barber signalled the segue into Helicopters well before a satisfying crescendo had been reached. The Helicopters jam more than made up for it, and might have been the most consistently strong jam of the night. The jam began as beautifully simplistic digital minimalism, building to a passage of Ableton madness and a sinister theme. Just as the jam was reaching Shimmy-esque levels of darkness, the band pulled back into triumphant bliss territory for the return to Spraypaint.

Overall, a pretty strong show, especially considering how long it’s been since the band has played. I thought it was a good bit stronger than the first night of drive-in tour, and we all know how the second night went, so I have pretty high expectations for tonight.

Highlights:

Rocket Science > Spraypaint

A very unconventional jam which appears to be heading into a fall 2019 style “Tractorbeam” segment, but instead rebuilds organically into an inspired passage of jamming. Probably the most Phish-like jamming the band has done recently (take that as you will).

Helicopters > Spraypaint

The most consistent jam of the night saw the band move through minimalist techno to Abletonian insanity and finally to a beautiful Spraypaint ending.

Spraypaint > Voices

The jam and segue into Spraypaint were unconventional, and the segue into Voices was perhaps equally so.

Lai > Bionic Helix

The set one highlight is this impressive and sinister jam into the Bionic Helix bustout. Include the symphonic Bionic Helix jam itself as a highlight as well.