December 15, 2007

The Caterpillar jam which opens the show is solid, but for the most part this is just an average Caterpillar jam. Definitely a solid show opener, but not something I’m interested in re-listening to. The ending portion here is great, though that’s often the case as they frequently crush this ending. There’s a very brief “towel” jam here, followed by a fast, dark trance jam. This eventually becomes pretty piano heavy, and I’m not really interested in the majority of this jam. Jigsaw Earth has four jams, and Confrontation has one – all of these are forgettable. Fortunately, Confrontation features Allen on percussion and we get the treat of seeing how terrible an idea that would have been.

Mulberry’s features its two usual forgettable jams. Spaga features the first jam of the entire show that really piques my interest. The band ditches the DNB almost immediately and plays a half-time jam that features some cool exploratory sounding melodies from Magner. This develops into a great thematic jam (including some thirst quenchers from Allen). The first Dribble jam is very solid, and Cinninger actually fits into the mix here very well. This is more of a “rhythmic” or “feel” jam, rather than thematic. However, it works well. Second jam begins with the same but ultimately shifts uptempo for a huge peak before the drop into RLH. First RLH jam is a lot of treading of water, but the second is very, very good. This features a lot of e-drums from Allen, and the entire band is just locked into this dark, digital sound.

Highlights: Spaga**, Dribble (1*, 2*), RLH (2*)