September 25, 2001

The first jam in House Dog isn’t really any different than you’ve heard. The Party Favor jam is kind of all over the place. It starts off as very tense moody trance, builds to an awkward crescendo, and settles into a chill groove that heads into 7-11. Still no real towel jam. The jam out of 7-11 never takes off. It’s extremely mellow, and kind of stagnates before Sammy begins to introduce the HAB hits. Even still, the band has to slow it down, resulting in an extremely tepid transition into HAB. HAB is fairly standard—it is type one throughout—but it has a cool theme and a strong peak. It’s certainly the best part of the segment, but that is mainly because the preceding jams were so bland. Flight is standard. Grass is Green is paired up with the ending of House Dog, but who’s the city boy? The jam into the ending isn’t anything special, really, but it’s a cool mellow build to the sinister peak. The peak comes a bit too suddenly for my taste. The outro quickly leaves behind the sinister territory for something pretty dull. Standard build back into Grass is Green.

I-Man with Widow in the middle jam is an interesting choice, but it doesn’t do much for me. The I-Man itself is standard, but the main jam is very pretty. My biggest complaint with Waves > Aceetobee > Waves is that it’s just too damn short. No way that sandwich should only take 28 minutes. The Waves jam is patient trance that breaks down into sludgy dub. The transition into Aceetobee happens far too suddenly however. The jam out of Aceetobee is probably the best of the show, although it, too, is far too short. It emerges out of the oft-underutilized first jam in Aceetobee, which soon transforms into a driving trance vehicle. It builds up to a very strong Waves peak. Sound 1 is the longest version yet, and it is both patient and, at times, a little stagnant. The theme that starts off the jam is great, but they lose the thread in the middle. Still builds to a strong finish. The Shelby is pretty standard but very enjoyable. Home Again > 7-11 is a cool way to close it out, but nothing remarkable.

1/5. Very little in this show “took off.” Aceetobee > Waves and Sound 1 are the highlights.