May 05, 2006

Caterpillar starts the show with a really solid jam. This is dancy, and Barber’s tone is gorgeous. That’s pretty much all I need sometimes. I believe this is the first jammed out King of the World with Allen, and what a jam it is. This turns into dance party central. Barber here has some great minimalist riffs that he plays off Magner really well, and Brownstein is absolutely locked into the pocket. The same goes for the jam out of Cyclone. The band is just locked in for Brownstein-bobblehead-trance. This is fast, dark, and effective. The Rock Candy jam is weird. Is this Blissco? Is it not? I think it mostly is, but whatever it is I enjoy it, so there’s that. Barber teases Caterpillar ending at one point, which is cool. The Spectacle intro is decent. Not long enough to be something I’d relisten to again, but very pretty regardless.

The second set begins with the band playing a cover of Umphrey’s McGee’s “In The Kitchen,” at the same time that Umphrey’s was playing a cover of Home Again in Philadelphia. Neat little gimmick. That said, the jam out of In The Kitchen is totally forgettable to me. None of this grabbed me in any meaningful way. Astronaut features the most extended SITA jam that the band has done with Allen to this point. The band still never gets outside the type 1 structure, but they’re getting more comfortable clearly. The second Astronaut jam just never does anything for me. Spacebird never develops much beyond the type 1 structure. Meh. Most of the Munchkin jam here feels like treading water for Abyss drop (although oddly at parts this really feels like it’s headed for the ending of Helix. Abyss > Munchkin looks like it would be great on paper, which is why it’s frustrating that they basically gave this jam 3 minutes or so to develop (which it of course did not).

Highlights: Caterpillar, KOTW*, Cyclone*, Rock Candy