May 19, 2018

The Spectacle intro is okay here. Generally pleasant, but nothing too noteworthy. Most of the KOTW jam is forgettable and aimless, but around the 10-minute mark the band hits a beautiful Blissco major key progression. This turns into a great theme before they make the (somewhat obvious) switch into Voices. Barber and Magner both carry their melodies through the transition to the Voices intro in a very neat way. The jam out of Hope begins as the typical DNB jam and somewhere along the way morphs into an uptempo trance jam as they head into the Waves peak. This is pretty decent, as far as this type of jam goes, and even though it’s nothing too far outside the box, I enjoyed it. Waves begins with a typical trance jam as well, though it turns into a great Blissco jam featuring some very nice guitar riffs from Barber. I like this a lot, and the return to Hope is very well-done as well.

The HAB jam is a nice little Blissco piece. They have just a great happy-go-lucky vibe to this jam that flows so naturally and wonderfully into Naeba. Good stuff. The jam in Naeba is fantastic. This is 14 minutes, and it has several different themes. Frankly, I think the best one here is the semi-Blissco-y jam in the middle, after Allen has dropped the e-kick. Not sure what their deal was on this night, but they have a lot of major key stuff that works really, really well. The jam out of Champions has some interesting stuff as well. Around the 10-minute mark, Magner comes up with this great up-and-down melody that I really like. He builds on this a little bit while the rest of the band treads water. After a minute or so of this, with no additions from the rest of the band, Magner steps out into the spotlight a little more with a harder lead. I think Brownstein tips the band’s hand into Orch Theme way too early, and while I don’t even dislike this jam overall, it just isn’t something I’d listen to again and again. The first Orch Theme jam is monotonous, and wears out its welcome for far too long. This can basically be skipped outright. There’s a Run Like Hell tease from Barber in the second Orch Theme jam. This second jam doesn’t do much for me, and it turns into a Hot Air Balloon return jam fairly quickly (and fairly obviously). The Rock Candy encore flips from the usual minor key jam to a great Blissco jam almost immediately. Again, I don’t know what their deal was on this night, but they clearly were into playing happy, upbeat music. Love it.

Highlights: KOTW, Hope, Waves, HAB*, Naeba*, Rock Candy