December 28, 2008

Killing Eleven to begin the show is jamless, though there is a “DJ segue” into Crickets, which is one of their novelties I generally enjoy. The Crickets jam is only 5 minutes or so, but features Barber with some minimalist guitar riffs and truly fantastic tone. Very solid, if inside-the-box. The second jam is wholly forgettable. The first few minutes of the RLH jam are filler, but the next four (preceding the Waves peak) are fantastic. The band builds a multi-chord, thematic jam that features a great bassline from Brownstein as its foundation and there is some very nice stuff from Barber littered throughout. Waves begins as a trance jam but quickly drops to half-time. The resulting jam has some neat melodies from Magner here and there, but this is mostly underwhelming and eventually turns into an equally underwhelming funk/dance jam to end the set.

First TVM jam is as mostly a type 1 jam, with a tiny, tiny bit of the jam being outside the box. Second jam is the Very Funk into a predictable return to Dribble. The band butchers the apple buttered toast section, such that they have to redo the part they screw up. Barber yells out, “New Years Eve, ladies and gentlemen.” Lol. The second Dribble jam features Marc on MIDI keyboard, and this eventually turns into a darker, uptempo dance jam as it leads into Abraxas. Not much to write home about here, just a solid dance jam. The jam out of Abraxas lasts only 2-3 minutes before the band drops into Gangster, accompanied by some thirst quenchers from Allen. Brownstein mentions that Gangster happens to be Barber’s dad’s second favorite song, behind The Great Abyss, a fun little piece of trivia. There is no jam out, just a drop into I-Man. First I-Man jam lasts a minute or two and does nothing. The second I-Man jam is interesting. This starts with relatively straightforwardly, but around the 8:05 mark, the band switch to 6/4 time, largely driven by Brownstein and Allen. This is really interesting for this era of the band, as they very rarely shift time signatures mid-jam in 2.0. The final jam here has some very solid stuff from Magner and Barber (particularly Barber, who is doing some great chord work here). I wish Brownstein would have gotten away from the type 1 theme for this jam as it felt like this could have gotten very cool.

Highlights: Crickets (1), RLH*, Dribble (2), I-Man (2)

highlights:

set 1 (excellent playing from the first note to the last in this 1st)

set 2 (The Very Moon ~> Mindless Dribble ; inv Abraxas for Barber's madness and the second half of I-Man...thumbs way up)

One of the strongest shows of the year. 2008 smokes!

** Strain 'o the Day; on the eve of the highest year ever:::
[Blue Walker] I recently bought a 1/2 OZ of this 90% sativa miracle a few weeks ago and it kicked my ass in the kindest way. My half stated 29% thc, and it showed, so non-full-time smokers should eaaaasssse into it. It's a long ride too. This is the strain I would give Garcia if he came back to existence. happy trails!!!! **