This was a very fun show. KOTW is a favorite opener of mine, and this is a solid version. Nothing to write home about, but a good set-the-tone song and following jam. The Munchkin jam is fantastic. Magner has this sort of vibraphone-esque patch that he uses with great success. Additionally, the slide into Abyss ending is so smooth and seamless that it sort of happens without you realizing. Abyss has a few different jams packed in it, and each is great in their own way. My favorite was the first, which felt like it could be an I-Man ending jam. Story got weirdly upbeat near the end of the jam, making me feel like we were headed for Basis or something similar. This was my first time hearing Freebis Slinky. The song was alright, but the jam out was fantastic. Really felt like an Air Song jam in some ways. The second set starts off with a decent Caterpillar, but the Spraypaint jam falls very flat for me. They take way too long to get out of the Spraypaint vamp, and then they jam on the Humu ending for much too long for it to hold my interest. However, the Humu “space” jam and the island-y jam that precedes it are both fantastic. I was sort of meh on the song Reconnect (first time hearing this) and it felt like the composed section was way too long and didn’t really evolve at all. The jam out of Reconnect seems to basically be a Caterpillar ending from the start of it, which would normally be pretty uninteresting to me. However, they murder this ending, particularly Barber. This is what Caterpillar endings should sound like. It was good enough that it was a highlight for me, despite being firmly type 1 jamming. Air Song and Spraypaint ending were both forgettable and Bazaar was standard, but at this point who cares. Good stuff.

Highlights: Munchkin, Abyss, Freebis Slinky, Humu, Reconnect

December 28, 2019

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