May 08, 2001

Kamaole is a pretty dull, standard version, but very pretty. The Spacebird, in contrast, impressed me greatly (mainly because so few of these spring 01 Spacebirds have). The jam breaks out of the traditional Spacebird groove into an expansive trance exploration. Brownie brings it back to familiar territory before long, but still probably the strongest Spacebird yet. The Story jam is absolutely evil in the best way. After a thrilling, demented trance theme, the mood turns to triumph around the 10 minute mark as the band moves towards Confrontation, and builds up a monstrous Confrontation peak. There is a great, sinister and atmospheric jam coming out of Confrontation, built around a unique bass line. Around 7:30 they begin to move in a new direction, but they maintain the sinister atmosphere and return to the same iconic bass line a bit later. The jam begins to build to a strong crescendo around the 11 minute mark. It sounds a lot like a possible Aquatic Ape ending, or maybe something evil like Shimmy, but around 13:30-13:45 Brownie subtly signals toward Confro (????) and Barber follows suit. Magner takes longer to leave behind his evil, psychedelic synth theme, and the band builds up to a more demented (and second????) Confrontation ending. Why? The Confro ending drop segues into a Story ending. Hey, don’t ask me, but the Confro jam is one of the coolest I’ve heard.

Crickets features DJ Mauricio, probably because they were playing in his hometown. It’s interesting to hear a Mauricio Crickets after the song has developed so much without him. The first jam is considerably better than any from 2000, with a great atmospheric section and a strong peak. The funk jam is pretty boring overall, but there’s a pretty funny moment around the 20 minute mark where the theme they were building on just randomly gets faster. The “We Want the Dub” jam sounds like a Hope intro, complete with breakbeat flourishes, until Brownie starts the titular chant. It’s very pleasant but nothing crucial to hear. Ape is played dub style again, and segues into a Dub Dribble and back into Ape. Yawn. This is pretty much standard all the way through, but for whatever reason the band decided to do a standard Dribble chorus and Dub Dribble verses. Odd, and jarring. Waves is a solid, standard version. Hope is considerably lighter on Magner elements than typical. It has a Barber-heavy blissed-out dnb passage that’s enjoyable, but nothing essential. The final minutes of the jam are the most interesting, with Barber employing a cool distortion effect and building to a strong ending. Smoothie King is standard. The Archive copy has a -> into Don notated, but there is a full stop after which an ambient jam resolves into a Don intro. The Don jam is mellow, and builds to a strong ending.

2/5. The Story > Confrontation (><) > Story saves this show from a 1 star rating, but the entire second set is pretty much a wash. It picks up in the fourth quarter but nothing there is required listening. Also, check out the Spacebird! Still a ways to go, but it’s nice to hear that one developing.

Stray Observations: Confrontation ending is played twice. The Crickets is the first Mauricio jam since 8/26/00. There is an Ape ending fakeout before the Dub Dribble. This is the first Smoothie King since 12/28/00, a gap of 41 shows.