September 18, 2001

Note: This show is frustrating to listen to, as there are two tracks that have the ending first.

The show opens with the relatively rare Texas Pussy, which is followed by Ladies. This is a short, punchy version with a huge peak. Crater and Barfly are both strong, average versions. The broken Confrontation track is so frustrating, mainly because I think this is possibly the best jam of the show (easily of the set). It begins as expansive, airy trance, and doesn’t peak so much as it crests a small hill at the 11-11:30 mark (of the track, of course). It breaks down around the 13 minute mark, with Sammy’s percussion pointing towards the eventual destination. The remainder of the jam (which is at the beginning of the track) is a melancholy and haunting type one build into Hot Air Balloon. HAB is standard.

Shimmy is a strong, atmospheric version. Floodlights is pretty dull. Both are standard. Mr. Don finally makes its fall tour debut after a gap of 19 shows, and it’s a nice long version. It has a fairly drawn out, symphonic intro jam, and a demented digital middle jam. The main jam breaks down to a spacey, melancholy passage before rebuilding to a Don peak. The first jam in House Dog is completely standard—no spacey fall 2000 style breakdown a la 9/13/01 here. The main jam has a bliss theme before the descent into typical Party Favor madness, but this theme feels pretty uninspired most of the way, like the band is fumbling for something meaningful. The Party Favor territory is a bit more interesting, even though it’s entirely type one. Barber absolutely murders the peak. The outro settles into a pretty tense groove right away, and it gradually builds to Confro peak bliss.

2/5, and a lot closer to a 1.5 than a 2. The segues are pretty good, but not so good that you need to put up with the chopped and screwed tracks to hear them. The Don is a pretty solid version. Otherwise there isn’t much here.