April 15, 2008

IMO, not a throwaway show or one-time listening.

The Crix ending is very nice into a vg House Dog.

The second has a terrific 1-2-1 section with Story ~> Helix ~> Story. The rumbling of a cozy bassline is only done better by Mr. Magner's contributions.

Slightly above average Bisco still has a lot of redeemable moments.

love.

Barber was really drunk. First night of the actual tour. First set was shaky but had some good segments. Definitely good to see mastermind open. The hdpf was good too.

Second set on paper looks legit af. Not the highest of energy for a set like this but they made it thru

Mastermind to begin the show has a forgettable jam that leads to the ending of Mastermind. The jam out gets praise a lot as being a Mastermind which was jammed. This is essentially a short Abraxas intro jam almost from the very start, and to be honest it’s not even that interesting a jam. The jam out of Abraxas seems so focused on the key change that they really don’t focus on making the jam itself interesting. HDPF first jam is the usual boring, predictable jam. The second jam is the usual dark, ominous trance, and they have some really neat stuff going on here. This is nothing outside the box, but it’s very solid, and the only real highlight of the show thus far.

The second set is not better, somehow. HAB begins with a long, aimless jam into Story. Story continues that trend, and this becomes the theme for the second set. Out of Helicopters, the entire band has some really weird stuff going on, and it actually sort of works in a runaway train car kind of a way. Barber is ridiculously unfocused here, but otherwise the jam out of Helicopters is the highlight of the night. The last section should be a monster, but instead it’s a ton of meandering from Barber that goes absolutely nowhere, and the Rock Candy encore is too short to really get going. Overall, a very forgettable show.

Highlights: HDPF (2), Helix*