December 30, 2004

Always get a December 30th ticket.

{{ Let's get a long and slow MEMPHIS jam, a la original Skynyrd's 'Second Helping' outtake, it's great! youtube it. PH gave us the 'Slow Llama' perhaps Marc can look into it, it would go over so good I can smell it . Imagine: M.E.M.P.H.I.S. > Memphis (John Cale's version) > Memphis (Peter Tosh's version) > Memphis instrumental (Lonnie Mack) it would be a terrific Halloween set.}} That's a big "yeah right".

This is a monumental New Year's run. from the 27th to the 31st; all A / B+ shows. Great stuff.

[I]

• monster MEMPHIS opener, from the trippy intro through the fierce 1st jam. But the absolute beauty lies in the mid-tempo psychedelic space blues rock jam in the last 5 minutes. no hurries just a chilled out magic jam that heats up into an appreciable up up and away outro into...
• ... the ending 7-11 from the 27th. 2 minutes. I wonder if Marc goes nuts if a tune is never completed. where's the list of the never ended songs.
• tVM - fairly standard first 6-7 minutes until ANOTHER very nice relaxed jam that just gets tighter and tighter. It begs itself to explode into 50 000 pieces. Marc and Sammy are beasts here. Great climax at 9:30 in. Jam 2: FUNK!!!! u like funk? man, I know it's the norm in the land of Zonk but that bass pluckin' followed by Magner's cosmic keyboard is very enjoyable, like a chase in Mario Bros. get those shrooms Mario! I can't see anyone being honest with themselves not grinnin' ear to ear at this show so far. Damn!
• Sound 1 - standard, enjoyable, like a comfy 'Spyder' fleece.
• Spectacle - standard goodness. it's like "The Music Never Stopped" it always rocks and above all has that feel good family Biscuits vibe. I'll never complain about this tune. "There are no scraps in my scrapbook" P.L.
• Little Lai - Wowwy! The jam in the middle section is one of the funkiest, bass-slappin' segments in the history of tDB. Fans actually purposely don't list to 2004!?? This is great stuff. Might be Marc's best Lai jam ever? of '04? of 1.0? who cares, it cooks like a porterhouse. Barber puts a beautiful bouquet on top of it all at the end with a nice tension/release solo right into the ending chorus.

rating:: set 1: 9.45 / 10

[II]

• SOTW - goosebumps beginning. trippy intro right into the opening drop...suddenly we have a vacuum. the 1st jam sounds like the infamous Mags part of the jam in the Basis of all Basis' in Sep. of '09 at Stubbs. Very, VERY profound percussion here. From calypso to salsa to untz to space rock in this 18:17 minute version. after cleansing the pallet for a minute they embark into Disco fever of the coolest order. Yes, this is very danceable :) i.e. 12:31 minutes in. Ridiculous. 'A' caliber "Story" without a doubt.
• Overture - the jam section starts real creepy and cool. some tasty basslines with psychedelic picking by Barber. Very spacey without getting cheesy or anywhere near redundant (imo) It's beautiful chaos as we finish up with the familiar ending riff. Good version; a little better than average for sure. All of these standalones are kicking some serious ass tonight.
• Mindless Dribble ~> Sweating Bullets -
  Dribbles always shine during the New Years runs 2001-12-27 / 2002-12-26 / 2005-12-29(wow) / 2006-12-28 / 2014-12-30 etc...these aren't just OK, these are shinning stars, immense versions. This one gets a little dub action halfway. A tasty true "Blues" jam follows. The segue(kinda) is straight into 'Bullets'
• Sweating Bullets pretty cool combo out of Dribble although it's sort of a standalone version really with it's proper start. It definitely fits the psychedelic mood of this fine evening but this is an average version with no real highlights though.
• Waves - around 4:30 marks the first jam. you can feel the prana through the music into your third eye...an intensely relaxing time. Mr. Mags is properly engaged with Brownie...you can tell their looking for paths to explore, damn it must be fun being a skilled musician in an improv band. Sorry for the runoffs. The real fun starts at around 9 minutes in with the synth in full effect on repeat while each join in for the bliss. Oh yes! This is fun stuff. Definitely not in Kansas anymore. Excellence.
• Morph - Magner is extra spicy in this version, you notice it from the start to the end.
  The following rave jam gets going well but then peters out a bit until the kick drum thunderous reset takes them into the jam that would end this fantastic night of music.
• [ENC] humu ~> 42 ending from previous night standard 'humu' but Barber's solo / approach is very nice, you truly get a sense of nostalgia. It feels that way to me. Nothing like a 'humu' bottom bass pocket to groove on. The ending comes right at you and has the nastiest bass licks. Brownie gets a gold star tonight for sure. The 42 ending is just under 3 minutes.

rating: set 2:: 9.20 / 10

She's a good one Ladies and Gents. A complete face melter.

Enjoy the show! < Happiness is a cookie that your brain bakes for itself. >