April 03, 2001

Shelby opener gets things off to a raucous start. Great spring 01 dnb theme and strong peak. Crater is Crater. The Shimmy jam is hypnotic and sinister the entire way through. There are a couple of breakdowns and shifts to new themes, although the jam never really leaves Shimmy territory. The still somewhat inchoate Triumph actually has a really solid jam, reminiscent at times of the iconic “pirate funk” jam from 12/30/01. This jam is essentially type one, though it’s very solid, and it builds to a kind of Triumph ending reprise around 7:30. After this, it breaks down into a cacophony, which settles down into a B&C intro. The B&C jam is pretty monolithic, but the type one build into the ending is gorgeous.

Voices opens set one. The mostly standard version has an extended passage of spaced out jamming in the main jam section. It doesn’t fully depart from Voices territory, but it is certainly unique. Cool version. The first Three Wishes of the year follows. The House Dog jam begins with a few minutes of mellow space, but quickly builds to a peak. The Party Favor jam breaks down within the opening minutes as well, but it goes much deeper. An excellent and unconventional jam, which only makes its return to Party Favor in the final few minutes. The Dribble jam too starts off in completely unfamiliar territory. It’s definitely influenced by the Dribble from 3/31, although it isn’t a happy Dribble: it has the same percussive effects and a distinctly chiller, dubby vibe. It reenters Dribble territory around the 9 minute mark, and seems to be building to a Dribble ending. Instead, the jam breaks down almost completely around the 11 minute mark. The band builds on a huge major key jam with a fantastic crescendo going back into the minor key territory of Dribble. Incredible jam. Dribble has an outro featuring Magner on the flute patch synth over a driving trance rhythm. Before long, Magner fades into the background and Barber takes the lead on the jam, leading the segue into Helicopters. As with many this tour, the segue into Helicopters seems to come out of nowhere. The Helicopters jam is very Barber led, and starts off kind of slow, but once it gets going it’s a great theme.

2/5. The Dribble jam is the easy highlight, but check out the Party Favor as well. First set highlights include Triumph and Shimmy. And as much as I don’t typically enjoy Voices, I must concede that this is a worthwhile version.

Stray Observations: After House Dog, Barber announces the new album, They Missed The Perfume, which was released that day. There are numerous calls for Dribble, and the band (whether relatedly or not) plays it next. There is what sounds like a Highwire/Big Happy tease shortly before Helicopters. It’s slowed down, but Magner uses the same patch and hits the same notes.