April 02, 2022

What an excellent show to Cap off a 3 night run at the always great & popular Capitol Theatre. The setlist was written by Marc & a fan who both did a fantastic job, it was not an easy 1 to play. Show opener was Denmark Massive which only the hardest hardcore fans who listen to them nonstop knew what it was, yea I’m 1 of those nuts. It’s a cover by the Join, a Marc/Aron+Jamie/Darren from the New Deal sideproject . Aron & others apparently had to relearn this since it was played 2x in 2008 & not since. This very well played jam segued very smoothly into LakeShoreDrive a new & fast becoming fan favorite song. After 26m of instrumental music to start the show, which I loved they change keys & -> into Morph which followed the theme of the weekend & was very well played. The 2nd 1/2 & meat of the set came w/ another great transition into Ladies, always a treat to see & this non inverted version kept the crowd popping until the tempo picked up for a song fans had been waiting for since the NYE run Cyclone. Always a 🔥 starter & crowd energizer, this Clawn followed by the end of Ladies was a fantastic way to finish of the set. Everyone in the crowd knew that after the way this set started & the high energy jams that it was a special night & the 2nd set was going to be something terrific. Opening with a song that hadn’t been played for exactly 1 yr to the day, Vassillios was something even fans seeing their 1st show we’re excited to see & they did not dissapoint with a fiery uptempo jam that led smoothly into another song we’d been waiting for since the NYE run, Orch Theme. This was a short & sweet version that got everyone dancing & literally like the guy behind me trying to hug everyone Sweating Bullets which hadn’t been played since 1/31/19 the previous Cap Run. Now this version was just incredible & blew the roof off. 25+ min & the 1st ever inverted version after debuting 19years prior proved that no matter what challenge they’re given, the band can come out, take that challenge & absolutely turn it into music gold. This exceptional JOTY contender slipped nicely into a short Tempest which I’m sure would’ve been longer had Bullets not gone for 25min. Either way this segment was amazing & led the way for the ending refrain of Vassillios which had a very melodic jam that went into the dyslexic ending of the rarely seen I Remember When. I really enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Lastly the encore was a guy w/ a great name bringing out a cake for Barber’s “bday” which he then started throwing in the crowd which of course made the crowd happy. Finally they played the ending of I Remember When into another rarely played song 5th of Beethoven which everyone seemed to know or at least appreciate. Overall a 5 star show, everyone I talked to old fans & new said the same thing. I’m sure other reviewers will have plenty to pick apart, there’s 1 guy that seems to think it’s his job to do so but they played possibly their best shows at the Cap & of 2022 so far. It’s going to be a great year!