September 09, 2001

First things first: this show is beefy. Tons of huge time-stamps, even if there aren’t many segues. The opening Home Again is not part of this family: it’s a bit longer than typical, but entirely type one as well. Nevertheless, it is a solid version. The Hope is a monster, with a mostly type one jam that is very patient and builds to a strong ending. The Helicopters is probably the strongest jam vehicle in the set, with a bizarre, unconventionally tense jam. The first bit confines itself to spacey bliss, propelled forward by Brownie’s bass lines, but around the 9 minute mark the jam enters a tense—and distinctly fall 01—space. This theme builds with exacting patience until it reaches a chaotic passage at the 16 minute mark that builds to the peak (which, like many from 01, comes somewhat abruptly). This excellent version of Helicopters features a brief outro jam into Magpie. If you know where it’s heading, it feels pretty obvious, but it manages to explore some very cool atmosphere and space before the ultimate drop into Magpie (which is of course jamless). The Lai has to be the longest version yet, but it isn’t particularly interesting. It’s entirely type one, and while it is a solid exploration of this space, it doesn’t hold my interest.

The 7-11 towel jam is largely non-existent, but that is largely forgotten as soon as the main jam hits. This is pure, unadulterated, high-octane Bisco. Magner in particular helps set this 7-11 jam a cut above the rest. The jam settles down shy of the 11 minute mark and heads from the skull-crushing trance to more introspective melodies (Barber in particular really helps set the mood). This very steadily breaks down to almost nothing, a simple bass groove and minimal percussion. Around the 18 minute mark the jam enters a dub passage which builds over a few minutes, until Brownie introduces the Shem-Rah bass line suddenly (yet smoothly). This incredible jam is followed by an above average Shem-Rah Boo. Magner makes excellent use of the minimal Strobelights synths, and leads the jam to a dizzying psychedelic passage before Barber takes over. The second half of the jam is unconventionally Barber-heavy, and contains more great usage of the muted distortion. The synth line that signals the ending comes rather suddenly but smoothly. The MOTH MOTY solo is fantastic, easily the strongest since the GOAT version on 4/26/01 (in fact, there are a few distinct riffs that sound like they’re lifted directly from that version! See 21:10 and onward). After this one-two punch consisting of top-shelf versions of both songs, the band follows with Spacebird. Coming on the heels of some very long and strong Spacebirds (8/26, 9/5), this version is another monster at nearly 24 minutes long (excluding the outro jam). This version does not reach the level of those that came before it; in fact, it’s a little bloated at times. The first 14 minutes has almost nothing that impresses me other than solid atmospheric jamming. The part after this, however, becomes considerably more interesting, with a theme that is haunting and forceful. Barber does a great job staying in the pocket while Magner uses a variety of unconventional synths to craft the atmosphere. The “Spacebird outro” is an odd one, in that it is not musically connected to Spacebird in any way. This is some clear jamming on the Suspended in the Air (SITA) section of Astronaut, the first of its kind and after only two versions had been played. It isn’t terribly interesting musically, but it is cool to hear them explore this section for the first time. It’s essentially Astronaut until it enters House Dog territory. The House Dog is another interesting exploration in theory, if not as much in execution. It is jammed out of the usually rigid composed bridge between the chorus and the jam. It yields to a (very strong) 7-11 peak almost immediately, so again, no real jamming. Along the same lines, the Munchkin encore is almost completely jamless (and by design no less).

4/5. Not all of the big standalones pan-out (Home Again, Hope and Lai are all pretty much dullsville) but the ones that do (Spacebird, Helix) are worth the price of admission, and the meat of set two, 7-11 > Shem-Rah, is spectacular.

Stray Observations: Barber welcomes his grandparents in the banter after Hope. “Family, these are the heads.” Awesome. During the banter, Brownie mentions that Shem-Rah Boo and Vassilios are in attendance. Brownie mentions that this is the last night of the six-night run, and, strangely, does not promote the upcoming shows (the next scheduled show would, of course, be cancelled). Prior to the encore, the band bets that they can do Munchkin in four minutes. They lose this bet, as Munchkin is just over 5 minutes, but it’s still likely the shortest version ever played.