November 30, 2001

Another great show from 2001!

I'm actually not all that impressed with the Sven > Reactor > Sven segment, but there are a handful of other highlights to enjoy:

• Mr. Don > HAB (won't leave your jaw on the floor, but there's still above average playing).

• Mr. Zan rightly calls out that the Shem > Story > Floes segment is fantastic.

• Magellan, Ladies, and B&C are all very much worth hearing.

Judy’s is a standard version. The Svenghali, on the other hand, is simply spectacular. The jam begins as a typical dnb vehicle, but it’s eminently patient. The jam settles into a mid-tempo groove around the 7 minute mark and builds on a blissful theme to an uncomposed peak before making the switch into Reactor. The jam out of Reactor is a dnb jam from the beginning, and it explores a cool, tense passage before building to a gorgeous Svenghali ending. Mr. Don actually has a few phases, but none of it really grabs me. It starts out as typical Don fare, before moving through a chaotic section and finally a percussive and energetic HAB intro. HAB itself is standard.

King of the World is jamless. Shem-Rah Boo has a short, frantic trance jam. The MOTH MOTY section yields to a driving trance jam with busy guitar riffs and atmospheric synths. It builds up to a towering crescendo before revealing its ultimate destination into Story. The jam out of Story is absolutely all over the place: some groove, some start/stop jamming, some percussive weirdness, all finally building to another dizzying crescendo, which melts into a Floes intro. The Floes jam is another experimental journey as well, with an extended ambient passage at the beginning and an unconventional build to the ending. Amazing version. Bring it on Home is bad and should not have been played even the first time. Magellan has some wonkiness (positive) in the beginning of the jam, but it’s mostly a standard, well-played version. Ladies has a jam that could only be described as bouncy. Barber hits a repeated chord on the two and four, and the jam builds up to a tense crescendo (sounding almost like a Boop middle) before returning to the Ladies peak. The encore consists of a Frog Legs and B&C. Both are shorter than usual, but the B&C has a cool sinister theme.

4/5. A stronger four than the previous night in fact. This one has always flown under the radar for me for some reason; Sven > Reactor (><) > Sven was all I ever knew of it, and although it’s definitely the set one highlight, the real show highlight is the Shem > Story (><) > Floes, which contains some truly one-of-a-kind jamming.