March 30, 2001

The opening Vassilios is a very very slow burn. It’s extremely patient, verging on boring at times, but the theme they build on in the second half is worth it. The transition into Crickets is also very cool: the band essentially plays a Crickets ending, and then follows it with a full Crickets (leading fans to dub this version the “half-inverted” Crickets). Crickets is another characteristically strong version. There is a major deconstruction in the middle, with Barber utilizing the muted distortion pedal, and a huge peak. The funk jam is shorter than typical, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing? It’s a pretty cool groove but still a long way off from becoming anything more than that. Spectacle is played for the first time, and it has a perfunctory intro jam. It doesn’t really do anything for me, but I love the song to death so I can’t really complain. Triumph is played for the first time since the Biscuits debut. It’s a pretty pleasant groove, but it never really gets anywhere interesting (although the segue into Lai is pretty cool). Lai is a standard full-band groove.

Ladies is a strong standalone. Magner crafts a theme on the party synths, which he uses for the full jam. It’s pretty firmly type one, but I enjoyed it, and it leads to a satisfying peak. Munchkin is a bizarre version, in a positive way. It gets absolutely frantic in the middle with a great type two theme, and makes a strong return to Munchkin territory. Incredible version. Confrontation also breaks out of the box somewhat, but it doesn’t grab me in the same way. Brownstein dominates the breakdown, and he delivers a great driving riff, but the rest of the band don’t really gel with it. The return to the peak is strong. Story has a cool theme with Magner on a percussive marimba/steel drum type synth effect. I wish they had explored it for longer, but unfortunately Barber starts pushing the band back into Story territory way early. Crater has what might generously be described as a Phish segue into Spaga, which results in a pretty cool and short ambient intro. The main jam is type one, but it’s a strong version with a face-melting conclusion. The band comes out for an extra long encore, and opens it with a rare cover of Boogie Stop Shuffle. The Frog Legs outro stays in Frog Legs territory for a few minutes, until it enters Aceetobee territory. It’s a cool groove but not much more. The first jam in Aceetobee is standard, but the second is nicely spaced out. Brownstein seems to be teasing Hope early on. Great progression and great build to the ending. Highwire has a decent theme, but it’s very short: disappointing considering the strength of the previous version.

3/5. On the cusp of 2 and 3, the Munchkin was strong enough to put it over the edge. Vassilios > Crickets is the first set highlight, and most of the second set (Ladies, Story, and Spaga, in addition to the aforementioned Munchkin) is worth hearing.

Stray Observations: WOOO! Bisco! This is the first Boogie Stop Shuffle since 9/25/99, a gap of 91 shows.