May 01, 2001

The Very Moon has a spacey and gorgeous first jam. It flirts ever so briefly with a more tense, chaotic theme, but remains pretty true to form overall. Strong peak. The funk jam soon quickens, and the band, with Magner at the helm, deliver a solid atmospheric theme. It builds to a crescendo around the 18 minute mark and settles back somewhat into another strong theme. It breaks down in the final minute for a smooth segue into Pygmy. Excellent version of The Very Moon overall. Pygmy jam is fairly standard until it breaks down around 4:40 heading towards Voices. There is some very pretty ambient jamming in this section, but it’s short-lived and really only superficially interesting. Voices is standard. The Magellan has a somewhat spaced out and patient jam, but it is mostly standard except for the ending, in which the usual reprise section is replaced with Magellan Reprise. Jamilia is standard.

Helicopters is standard, enjoyable but fairly short and unremarkable. The next stretch is unappealing to me both on paper and in execution: a partial Bazaar Escape, drop segued (and not very well) into Stone, drop segued into Liquid Lazer. A few neat rarities, but zero jamming. After the medley, the show concludes with three standalones. All three are standard, although the Lai and Story both have strong endings and peaks.

1/5. After the incredible Very Moon there really isn’t anything worth hearing more than once in this show, a rare miss for spring 01.