2009-06-12 Bonnaroo

So this single-set Bonnaroo show is just weird. And generally not in a good way, either (though there are a few exceptions).

The first few songs are on point, but none of them are particularly special. The early "Divided Sky" is an eyebrow-raiser as a setlist choice, but it's hardly a unique or top-shelf take on the song. A decent "Possum" leads into an early 17-minute "Disease," but while the jam features a sudden left turn into Funk City around the 9:00 mark, nothing much happens of note afterward, sans some nice texture-y playing from Page. It's one of the few (and maybe only) long jams of 3.0 so far that really just fell flat for me, which is unfortunate because it would have been great to hear another Hampton III-esque "Disease" here.

The 14-minute "Stash" that comes shortly after falls into a similar trap: rather than getting all fun and exploratory or patient and build-y like the first few "Stash"s of 3.0, this one is just Trey whale-ing away for about ten minutes, and about six minutes too long. It's not at the playing is bad, mind you, it's just that it's boring, and they've already shown in the few shows since March that they can do a lot better.

The "KDF" that follows shortly after the "Stash" is one of those fence-straddlers for me. I've listened to it a number of times, and half the time I think it's a brilliant piece of improv while the other half of the time I think it's an over-abstract piece of noise-garbage that never coalesces around anything long enough to be meaningful. This listen didn't clear anything up for me: Trey drives the song off a Type 2 cliff around the 9:00 mark, the rest of the band refuses to follow immediately, but eventually gives in, and Something Happens afterward, but again, I'm not certain if it's bad or good. The song ends in an ambient washout and a nice segue into "Free," but of course "Free" is "Free." Seriously, is there a single good live version of this song in existence?

The "Hood" is nice, though it more or less directly channels the "Hood" from 6/10, and the "Highway To Hell"/"2001" pairing is just weird, but oddly satisfying.

Maybe the highlight of the set is the "YEM" > "Wilson" > "YEM" sandwich, which sounds gimmicky as all hell, but actually features two well-executed segues and some great "Foxy Lady"-esque action from Trey in the short "Wilson" jam. I really can't stress enough how nice the second segue is here: the band goes off into "Wilson" just as the main "YEM" funk jam is about to start, and when "Wilson" ends, they melt right back into the jam as if nothing ever happened. It's so seamless that it imparts a sort-of dream quality to the "Wilson." Did it actually happen? Was it just spliced in from some other tape?

Aside from the novelty of this closing sandwich and the (maybe) rewarding weirdness of the "KDF," though, there's not much here worth a relisten. I'm oddly looking forward to 6/14, though...