December 07, 2001

1- "Shimmy" ~> "Ladies" [esp. the transition jam] 2- "Sound FN' One" ! ; [heavenly jam; Barber and Mags full kill mode]

• "Shelby" ! [nasty comes to mind]
• "Jigsaw" ~> "7-11" [from psychedelic vibes to a short but good DNB jam, I just like it...some think this Jig7Jig is average at best (?)

pEaCe.

Run Like Hell is jammed out of the mid-verse section, and it develops a great Magner-led thematic trance jam that builds to a huge Barber peak into Helicopters. Helicopters begins as a fairly typical blissco theme, but builds into something more interesting, straddling the line between its bliss roots and something darker. The peak back into the second verse of Run Like Hell is very strong. The second RLH > Helicopters isn’t as good as the first, but features another strong Magner-led trance theme. It builds to a chaotic crescendo, but the Helicopters ending comes out of nowhere. Home Again and Sugarplum Fairies are both standard. Shimmy has a typically dark trance jam, but by the tenth minute mark it has become decidedly more playful. Shortly after the 12 minute mark, there is a sudden breakdown in tempo and an impressive segue into Ladies. Ladies itself has a very restrained jam, and a very mellow peak in fact, but other than that it’s totally standard.

Sound 1 is spectacular. The jam begins as haunting digital trance and absolutely doesn’t let up. There’s a chaotic breakdown around the 7 minute mark and then the jam begins to build up to sinister Shimmy territory. Shelby Rose is likewise a banner version. The jam gets off to a very atmospheric start, with excellent piano and synth work from Magner giving it character. At exactly 6:18, Sammy lays down the four-on-the-floor beat for a few quick seconds, and I really wish he had developed this, but he soon returns to more standard breakbeats. Nevertheless, the theme that the band develops is excellent, and the peak is as well. Spy is standard. Jigsaw does not have a pre-chase jam. The first jam out of Jigsaw is immediately haunting. It consists of Sammy’s sparse beat, a repeated four-note riff from Barber, and minor contributions from the others. It shows great potential, but it returns to the chase riff much too soon. The dub jam literally contains a Barber count to segue into 7-11. Meh. I was pleasantly surprised that the 7-11 jam wasn’t all dub going back into Jigsaw. The towel jam is short and perfunctory, leaving plenty of room for a developed trance jam. It begins standard, but soon takes on a rhythmic quality not often seen in this section. It’s not quite dub, but it’s distinctively groovier than a typical trance jam. It breaks down into ambient space, and Magner leads the way back up into Jigsaw. The band goes back into the chase section from this jam, and the second dub jam is standard, as is the set closing Jamilia. The Astronaut jam is pretty standard, which is a bit disappointing after the bombshell 12/4 version, but the outro jam is very unconventional. Rather than emerging out of the SITA riff, the outro builds from the closing chords of Astronaut (much as modern versions do). It quickly settles into atmospheric trance, which yields a pretty standard Run Like Hell ending.

3/5. A good bit stronger than the past few shows. Sound 1 > Shimmy is an all-time jam, and (the first) RLH > Helix, Shimmy > Ladies, and Shelby Rose all merit repeat listens.

Stray Observations: I believe this may be the first three-part Run Like Hell, but I’m not sure. There is a Floes fakeout in the 7-11 > Jigsaw. Jigsaw Earth contains what may be the very first Jigsaw drum solo.