April 09, 2001

Great review Zan. I was at this home turf show and was really happy with the result. I must be honest that most of my memories come from the tapes we recorded the show on but I do remember the magner-tude Shimmy as well as a terrific MEMPHIS. anyone ever see the video from this? there was a dude near us who had a tripod and pretty elaborate rig set up with nice video equipment. We would love to see that. peace on you merry Infractalizing Marine Mammal.

The Overture has a quick and unconventional intro jam, short enough to justify not tracking it separately, but different enough that it feels out of place on the Overture track. The Overture jam is a one of a kind iteration from the start. It begins in a groovy dub territory, in sharp contrast to the usual sinister dnb. The first half of the jam is cool for the uniqueness factor, but the second half, in which the theme shifts to trance and builds with eminent patience to a Helicopters intro, is excellent. The build is huge, even if the transition itself is somewhat sudden (in keeping with the other versions of Helicopters from this tour). The Helicopters begins with an eerie descending synth line over a thunderous beat. As the jam builds in intensity, it shifts gradually to more triumphant territory. Triumph is a pretty simple groove that builds in intensity but never really explores any interesting territory. Not my favorite jam but the transition into M.E.M.P.H.I.S. was very well-executed. The main jam in M.E.M.P.H.I.S. is exceptionally solid, and distinctly darker than a typical M.E.M.P.H.I.S. jam. The atmosphere is excellent, and the return to the song is flawless. The outro is moody and thematic from the start, and yields a great Mulberry’s intro. Mulberry’s is a standard version, slightly more drawn out than usual, and both jams are strong. Shimmy is a Magner dominated vehicle, with a hypnotic trance theme that is far happier than the typical Shimmy jam. Around 16:40 the theme breaks down into typical Shimmy territory and builds to a massive peak.

Spectacle has another pretty intro jam, but of course no jamming in the song itself. The first jam in Boop is far more than the typical dance party rager. The jam gets into some tense, spacey atmosphere in the middle, before Magner brings it around for a big peak. The Boop funk is pretty standard until just after the 15 minute mark when the tempo begins to drop significantly. The track changes shortly afterward, and the band settles into what is clearly a Crickets intro. It’s pretty dull for the first 4-5 minutes, never really departing Crickets territory, but after that it takes on a life of its own. A solid 4-5 minute type one exploration follows, settling back into Crickets just shy of the 10 minute mark. The Crickets trance is spacey and somewhat exploratory. Though the tempo doesn’t vary much, the jam explores a few tenser passages than typical of a Crickets trance. The peak going back into Crickets is great. The funk jam is short, and pretty aimless overall, but there is a strong bliss theme in the final minutes before the track change. The Trooper jam begins as a mellow and mournful piano-led vehicle, but quickly evolves into a locomotive trance rager. It is cut short, as the power goes off at 8:45, but there is plenty of catharsis in this version. Because of the outage, the song concludes unconventionally with a drum solo. It is for this reason that the band chooses to encore with a song that can be performed without electricity: Ducks and Geese are Free.

4/5. A remarkably solid show. The part I was looking forward to most was also the part I found least interesting: Boop > Crickets > Trooper. However, this segment has interesting moments as well (just less so in the segues than in the song jams). All of the standalones are varying degrees of interesting (except the Spectacle), as is the Overture > Helicopters which is probably my favorite complete segment in the show

Stray Observations:

There is a “My Favorite Things” tease in the beginning of the Trooper jam.