November 17, 2006

Crystal Ball has no jam, Plan B has a short, mediocre type 1 jam. There’s a short type 1 jam at the beginning of Mulberry’s, but the meat of this show begins with the Mulberry’s second jam. The band develops a neat little dance jam. Brownstein has a specific chord progression that seems pre-planned to me. This is probably one of, if not the, best Mulberry’s Dreams ever. This second jam is phenomenal, and it’s mostly Brownstein. Rehearsed or not, this is great. The Rock Candy that follows is new jam, same story. This is very solid through the early portion of the jam. However, at 8:45 the drums cut out for a few bars, and when they come in after a short build, this is just an awesome techno onslaught. This is so, so, so, good. The RLH jam is very, very good as well. This is not on the same level as the two jams which preceded it, but honestly it’s not that far off either. This is dark and ominous, and Barber is fantastic here.

Pilin starts the second set with a solid DNB jam. Magner’s work here is thematic, and this is better than most of their DNB jams to me. The build back into the Pilin ending is phenomenal. The second Pilin jam is very good as well. This goes from happy and upbeat to dark and driving. First Jigsaw jam is solid, but not quite good enough that I’d want to relisten. Mercifully, the drum solo is short. There’s a short second jam that literally lasts like 2 minutes. The third jam in Jigsaw that leads into Abyss is awesome. This is dance party central, and very well-played by the entire band. Feels like they lose a little steam at one point, but this is generally very good. The jam out of Abyss is, once again, a phenomenal dance jam. This whole second set (whole show really) has the entire band firing on all cylinders. Barber teases Caterpillar ending for a few bars. Other than the jam in Plan B, the jam in 42 is really the only throwaway part of this show. This jam is mostly Barber shredding over the top of the rest of the band, and frankly this can be entirely skipped.

Highlights: Mulberry (2**), Rock Candy**, RLH*, Pilin (2*), Jigsaw (3*), Abyss**