December 05, 2001

The show opens with Pilin’ which has a strong Barber solo. House Dog jam is drawn-out but fairly standard, but the Party Favor jam has a nice blissco theme. Bazaar is standard. Overture has a very cool jam that combines multiple styles: dnb from Sammy, chugging grooves from Barber, electronic trance synths from Magner. The jam soon settles into a rock groove and segues into M.E.M.P.H.I.S. The main jam in M.E.M.P.H.I.S. is the typical 01 fare, not exploratory at all in favor of rock-god Barber shredding. It’s not my bag, but this particular version is frequently held up as the pinnacle of that style, so I suppose it’s worth hearing. The outro jam back into Overture is great, toeing the line between groove and dnb very well and building to an energetic peak before landing in Overture. Floes is enjoyably thematic, but it’s so short it’s hard to get too excited about it.

Frog Legs is standard. Reactor has an excellent, hypnotic trance theme. It builds to Reactor peak territory around the 9 minute mark, but shifts into Crickets territory for a beautiful inverted Crickets. The funk jam is standard. The jam out of Crickets is super interesting, on the other hand. It remains at a mostly very mellow tempo out of the composition, in contrast to most versions. The band develops a dubby theme which picks up a few minutes before the track change going into The Big Happy. The Big Happy has no jam and drop segues into King of the World, which is also jamless. A “Happy Dribble” follows, and while I’m usually a big fan of this particular jamming peculiarity, this version doesn’t do much for me. There’s too much Barber focus and not enough full-band jamming. The Dribble outro doesn’t do much either. It’s based on the Crickets funk bass line, and it stays mired in it until it reaches Reactor territory. Chemical Warfare Brigade is standard, Barfly is mostly so (Brownie takes a bass solo after Barber’s guitar solo which feels unusual, but of course doesn’t move the dial much) and Don is standard (but always enjoyable.

2/5. Lot of filler in this one. The jams into and out of Crickets are the clear highlights, but the jams into and out of Overture definitely register, and the Party Favor jam is definitely worth hearing.

Stray Observations: This is the first time The Big Happy was played since the debut of Highwire, and first since 11/16/00 (105 shows). There are Crickets teases in the Dribble outro. This is the first Chemical Warfare Brigade since 4/26/01 (63 shows).