Night three at Northerly is definitely my least favorite show of the run; however, there's a particularly inspired bit of improv in the third quarter and an overall energy that still makes it a solid show and bodes well for things to come.
The first set deserves brief mention for an opening "Possum" that recalls the early 90s in swagger (if not necessarily in dexterity or tempo) and a what-might-have-been version of "Tube" that pokes its head into a few interesting places briefly before getting wrangled back into the tune's blues outro. Then there's a lot of predictable songs played predictably, a weird most-of-a-set consider the tenor of the previous two nights.
Anyway, what really matters here is the "Carini" that opens the second set. While not as varied as the "Simple" from the night before, it makes for a great companion piece. Where the "Simple" was audaciously wide-ranging, this "Carini" latches on to a theme (first suggested by Mike and then taken up by Trey) and develops that theme for something like thirteen minutes, riding to a peak and then a fantastically pretty wind-down section. And though it tends a bit that way, this ain't your 2015 bliss jam; instead, it's something that uses the same template to develop and explore much more nuanced ideas, and I love it. More of this, please. Especially when it lands in a gorgeous "Twenty Years Later" that gets its own deconstruction-style outro jam.
The "Piper" that follows is pretty standard, but it leads to the debut of the interesting-but-maybe-too-weird "Thread." More on "Thread" later, hopefully.
YMMV on the last few tunes here. On one hand, "Gin" goes Type II to a great, hose-y place, "2001" features some fun "Sex Machine" and "No Men" teases, and "Cavern" ties it all together with explosive energy. On the other hand, the "Gin" sounds like every other "Gin" that's been played over the last two years, "2001" is more gimmicky than interesting, and "Cavern" is "Cavern." I'm not sure how I feel about this section of the set, yet.
But hey, it's not that important. I'll just listen to "Carini" again instead.
The Live Review:
7/16/17: Possum opener!
7/16/17: Neat little early-90s-ish riff from Trey during the intro.
7/16/17: Only lasted about fifteen seconds, but still cool.
7/16/17: Fiery Possum followed up by a 555 featuring an extra-evil-sounding solo from Trey. Tube next.
7/16/17: Tube jam almost going jazzy.
7/16/17: Just modulating into something new when it's cut off. Interesting but short Tube jam.
7/16/17: Ocelot. BLRRRRRRRRR
7/16/17: Ocelot was Ocelot. Now Lawn Boy.
7/16/17: Maybe Stash will open things up a bit.
7/16/17: The Line'd.
7/16/17: Birds next.
7/16/17: Not much to comment on in this first set so far. Pretty rote. Liked the Possum and the Tube okay.
7/16/17: > Funky Bitch
7/16/17: Antelope ends the set.
7/16/17: 'Average-great' opening set there. Not bad by any means, but every S1 this year so far has something to get excited about. Not here
7/16/17: Carini opens the second set, though, so that's cool.
7/16/17: This just in: Carini had a lumpy head.
7/16/17: Starts off angry, but pretty quickly moves into a mellower space. Tremolo and Page to electric piano.
7/16/17: Mike and Trey playing off each other now.
7/16/17: Almost funky now. Like if the Taxi theme had sex with The Darkness Inside All of Us.
7/16/17: Page on (I think) synth now along with the piano. Trey chording.
7/16/17: Super mellow jam so far. Really digging this.
7/16/17: Neat riff from Trey now. Dynamic. Band jamming on it.
7/16/17: This jam is definitely not as varied as 7/15's Simple, but I'm a huge sucker for these extended-jamming-on-a-riff jams.
7/16/17: Especially when the 'riff' isn't just a three-chord progression repeated ad nauseum.
7/16/17: Within those particular parameters, then, this jam is $$ :)
7/16/17: That was a pretty consistent, coherent build for about 14 or so minutes, based on the same idea. Real good.
7/16/17: Wind-down now, but still sticking with the same theme.
7/16/17: Great, slow -> Twenty Years Later.
7/16/17: Trey deconstructing the outro of Twenty Years a bit. MuTron (?) might be involved.
7/16/17: Loops and synth now reprising the tune's outro.
7/16/17: Not a *long* jam there, but a unique treatment of Twenty Years nonetheless.
7/16/17: > Piper
7/16/17: Do you think it's possible that one of the remaining Baker's Dozen flavors could be Long Piper Introduction?
7/16/17: Piper jam starts off pretty standard, but gets interesting at about the 8 minute mark.
7/16/17: Then, at the 9 minute mark, it gets abandoned for Thread.
7/16/17: Need to listen to Thread a few more times before I can (hah) untangle it. Gin next.
7/16/17: Serious '15-style Gin build coming right now.
7/16/17: Good, high-energy, peaky Gin jam, but you've heard the exact same version a bunch of times in the last two years.
7/16/17: > 2001
7/16/17: Trey with a very No Men's riff early on in 2001.
7/16/17: Now Trey playing what sounds like the Martian Monster riff into a 'Woo' jam.
7/16/17: 'Get on up!' vocals from band.
7/16/17: Fishman screaming 'I'm a sex machine!' is just terrifying.
7/16/17: Back to No Men teasing, then > Cavern. Short but busy 2001.
7/16/17: Cavern ends the set amid what sounds like some Carini teases.
7/16/17: Encore kicks off with Wilson.
7/16/17: Wilson > Zero.
7/16/17: Show was a bit third-quarter-heavy, but MAN the Carini -> Twenty Years was great.
7/16/17: Liked hearing Thread, strong 2001, and high-energy finish, just doesn't stack up to the previous night. That's okay.
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