August 18, 2002

Apple Butter Toast is Nice.

{{{ LUpo's, The HOuSE That MaX CreeK built. but what a weird place. Half prep-school hippies, half Nitrous Mafia and half tour rats with a collective sum of $11.50 between them, yet they drive Dad's BMW and have a gold card. Just like the late 80's / early 90's Phish. It's refreshing and quite amusing to see a spanking new Mercedes and out crawl 4 red-eyed, patchouli space cosmonauts from outer space. What joy!

Nothing like walking out of a show to a puddle of blood and teeth here n there... Some guy must've sold some blank sheets, fake X or was beaten for his stupidity(?) A pretty f'd up situation. Disturbing as well as completely security's lack of brain activity. Security Zombies + coke + steroids + hatred for hippies = unpredictable volatility and a chance of teeth flying everywhere. In 1989 on Dead tour, a fine dude named Adam Katz was beaten up and killed at Giants Stadium (or it could have been the Brendan Byrne arena). No witnesses, no arrests and still no culprit(s) found. The Katz family to this day have spent a small fortune looking for answers but to no avail. It's because of that disgusting, disturbing event that I bring this up. It will never leave me as well as the scene at that period in time. Every issue of Relix / Dupree's and the Golden Road had a big add looking for info, witnesses, anything!. From '89 through the 90's they did this. It's etched on many, many deadheads collective consciousness.

Anyway, end of tour shows are usually fun, this one no exception. A very interesting Nuffer which dotted some i's and crossed some t's in relation to the past couple of months. A natural occurrence here is that Barber's voice is a little worn and just overused. His guitar playing this evening balances things out.

1st set is average to very good; with a nice Crystal Ball into the >< Overture, great smiles shall reside in your heart here.

2nd set is where the Viagra has been taken and it's sexy time.

''Reactor(1) jam into Betty's end into Story'' has some incredible interplay between Marc and Mr. Mags= a funky foundation accented by keyboard sweeps, DnB and pure psychedelia.

''Home ~> Crix jam'' - all day. this is why you spend thousands of audio equipment of the highest order in your budget. The Biscuits deserve that sort of commitment...yes?

"AC2B" - a solid 8/10 great atmospheric jam and some quality Brownie slapping a la Bootsy in there. Barber takes a different vocal approach, most likely because his voice is just shot. But this is about the jams, power, goosebump factor, cohesiveness amongst all 4 of them and overall boogie factor. The outro is quite nice. Most likely the 2nd finest version after Haymaker in October on the 5th.

"Dribble" - fuckin' excellent!! One set at a time...that works better for full enjoyment imo....but what do i know :) There are alternate lyrics here, pretty cool.

do not skip the encore...I know where you go on lunch break.

This show could/should have been way jammier but the tunes, especially in the 2nd, are way too short and thus put a choke hold on the kind of exploration we love to hear. Only 'Acee', 'Dribble' and the encore are over 10 minutes. Perhaps they had Camp on their minds and wanted to get home and get at it. Who knows.

ratings = 7.95 / 10
sound = disclogic sbd 8.5 / 10 (a couple of level changes at some juicy parts is what keeps this from being a solid 9.5 in sound.

*** Strain 'o the Day: "gimme the stuff that killed Elvis".... [Monkey Glue] monkey see, monkey do. At a nice 19%thc and a nice terp resume, you are guaranteed to have a good case of the giggles and just a wonderful mood. Like a teenager again! This one is similar to the "Cookie" strains in a way but happier. If you get this and don't like it, email me skyscoutATliveDOTca and I will buy you a replacement batch.

Much Love, I REALLY miss the old touring days; although not "stuck" there....sniff

May you experience a nice piece, I mean experience nice peace. Cheers, Tintin