July 07, 2001

The band returns to Phil Lesh tour for their first show at Red Rocks. The opener, Plan B, is standard, with a strong solo from Barber in the second jam. Mr. Don is a brisk version, with some tease in the middle jam (not sure what it is, or if it’s an actual tease, but they’ve done the same thing in Jigsaw Earth from 12/4/99). The main jam is mostly straightforward until a breakdown around 10:30. The remainder of the track is pretty interesting, and to me sounds almost like a Boop middle before the tempo shifts to an I-Man intro. The first jam in I-Man is pretty typical and on the shorter side, but the main jam, while also not deviating, is drawn-out and enjoyable. Munchkin is much too short to be as interesting as the versions from earlier in the year, but it manages to dip into melancholy territory, however briefly. The build to the ending is strong, and the DJ segue into House Dog is cool in theory and actually executed quite well. I did not expect much from an 18 minute House Dog, but the first jam actually gets pretty deep, especially considering the typical. Great atmospheric layering from Magner here. The second jam continues the subversion of expectation, as it does almost nothing for me. I expected a drop segue, but the jam kind of fizzles into The Thieving Magpie. I can’t believe they are playing it again. It’s like spring 99 all over. The band thanks everyone for coming out to their first Red Rocks show and closes with a strong but standard rendition of Little Lai.

2/5. The I-Man second jam, Munchkin, and House Dog first jam are enough to barely scrape the second star.

Stray Observations: This is the first show at the storied Red Rocks Amphitheatre.