The Verdict:
This show was the first '16 show I attended and though it's a bit uneven, the second set is so good that I'd still consider it one of the best shows of summer.In a tour where many of the first sets have been great mixes of (albeit non-jammed) songs followed by lackluster second sets, it's actually a bit weird to see things flipped.
The highlight of the opening set is definitely "Tweezer," which, surprisingly, kicks things off and sees the band in top form after five days off. It's followed by a few good songs in a row, but things never really pick up again until "Undermind," which, though short, employs some great echoplex jamming. From there, things sort of trail off, unless you consider the sequence of "Lawn Boy," "Ass Handed," "Party Time," "The Line," and "Tide Turns" a really good time. The set recovers a bit at the end with a high-energy "Rift," "Walls" pairing, but this weak set construction pops up again during 7/16.
S2 is one of those gimmick sets, but in the best way. A slow-tempo "Crosseyed" sets up a monster Trey solo which modulates into a bliss space before landing perfectly in a dynamic take on "What's the Use?" The rest of the set that follows never has any long-form jamming, but has some excellent segues and nearly every song has at least a "Crosseyed" or "WTU?" tease, if not both. "Stash" shows up, and there's a weird "Ghost" that eventually devolves into instrument switching. I could spend a bunch of time describing all of the segues, but really, it's better if you just listen to the whole freaking thing. Despite the lack of jamming, all the teases and callback and swapped vocals make it seem like the entire set is just one long-running song, in the best, 1993-style way.
The Live Review:
7/15/16: Tweezer opener. Always a good decision.
7/15/16: Remember the Gorge just blowing up when this started. Great moment.
7/15/16: Bottom drops out of Tweezer jam right away. In a good way. Really loose funk happening.
7/15/16: Nice, but not exceptional Type I stuff > Sample.
7/15/17: Love The Old Home Place placement.
7/15/17: Wolfman's Brother is next.
7/15/16: Some solid, summery Type I jams so far in this set, broken up by old-school tunes. Liking it so far.
7/15/16: Undermind next. Trey already riding the echo during the lyrics section.
7/15/16: Neat little echoplex jam there.
7/15/16: Fish welcoming everyone to the Gorge after a standard KDF.
7/15/16: Lawn Boy.
7/15/16: After the song, Trey remarks on Fish's drumming. Then compliments him on his songwriting prowess.
7/15/16: Fish: 'My songwriting prowess?!'
7/15/16: And thus Ass Handed is debuted.
7/15/16: Party Time next. It's a Fishman spotlight!
7/15/16: Like the Fish spotlight, but following it with The Line is probably not that good of an idea. 7/15/16: Two songs in a row that the band thinks are joke songs, followed by a song the audience thinks is a joke song.
7/15/16: Oh, and then Tide Turns! Another song the audience thinks is a joke song.
7/15/16: I got a kick out of this one at the Gorge, though. First time I'd ever heard the song...
7/15/16: ...and my wife and I had just gotten back from a honeymoon trip where we camped on the Lost Coast and had to learn tide tables.
7/15/16: It was a fun convergence.
7/15/16: I think Tide Turns is one of those songs that just isn't worth playing without the horns.
7/15/16: With the horns, it's a great little pop song.
7/15/16: Rift.
7/15/16: S1 has been a little spotty, honestly, but a Walls closer always takes a bit of that sting away.
7/15/16: End set.
7/15/16: Slow-tempo Crosseyed to start S2.
7/15/16: Trey rocking a huge Type I solo right now in Crosseyed.
7/15/16: Breaking down the jam a bit at ten minutes.
7/15/16: Super-smooth modulation into a bliss space.
7/15/16: Crosseyed jam absolutely CRASHES into WTU? Fantastic ->.
7/15/16: This is the really dynamic-style WTU of recent times. It's great.
7/15/16: Both now and at the Gorge, I would have loved a monster Crosseyed jam, but this was the very next best thing.
7/15/16: Besides, not much beats the 10/17/14 Crosseyed for me. Though I have audience bias, I guess.
7/15/16: Gorgeous fade lands in No Men. Nice.
7/15/16: Hard-charging funk.
7/15/16: 'Still waiting' quotes now.
7/15/16: Jam breaking up a little now. Page on electric piano.
7/15/16: Galloping jam winding down now.
7/15/16: Trey expertly weaving in the Stash riff now.
7/15/16: Full stop and start to Stash. Pretty badass, but would have been better with a legit ->.
7/15/16: Trey, you don't *have* to play the intro to the song every time :)
7/15/16: Now playing the opening riff with the pitch shifter on.
7/15/16: Lots of Crosseyed riff teasing in the Stash so far.
7/15/16: WTU? teases now, too.
7/15/16: Fun Stash. Runs immediately into Ghost.
7/15/16: Crosseyed teases in Ghost intro.
7/15/16: Great WTU? tease worked into Ghost.
7/15/16: Ghost getting broken down. Minimalist treatment.
7/15/16: Speeding up now into something really interesting.
7/15/16: -> No Men.
7/15/16: Fish is having a great time with these vocals.
7/15/16: Maybe a percussion jam happening?
7/15/16: Now 'Still waiting' vocals again.
7/15/16: -> Chalkdust. That was rad.
7/15/16: No Men riff in-between verses in CDT.
7/15/16: Now Crosseyed teasing.
7/15/16: Fantastic WTU? tease at the peak of CDT.
7/15/16: Pure '93-style craziness.
7/15/16: Fade-out after the peak leads into a Meatstick fade-in.
7/15/16: Echoplex and synth jamming echoing into the night.
7/15/16: If you're gonna lean on the echoplex, there's no place better to do it than the Gorge.
7/15/16: Synth drone building now.
7/15/16: -> 2001
7/15/16: I think that 2001 is my second favorite song to hear at the Gorge, after Hood. So spacey. Such Gorge.
7/15/16: 'Still waiting' vocals in 2001. Now a No Men's jam.
7/15/16: This set is hilarious and amazing.
7/15/16: Now I remember when I was so bummed when I came back on 7/16 and they played a bum show.
7/15/16: It feels so often like anything is possible at the Gorge, and during 7/15 S2, it was.
7/15/16: 'Still waiting' again in Cavern.
7/15/16: WTU? tease to end set.
7/15/16: Holy cow.
7/15/16: Makisupa to start the encore.
7/15/16: 'Woke up this morning. I like this song a lot...POT.'
7/15/16: How often does Wilson end up in the encore? > Wilson.
7/15/16: Sort-of -> Good Times Bad Times.
7/15/16: With the exceptions of Tweezer and Undermind, S1 was rough and didn't click much. S2 was incredible.
7/15/16: No big jams, but fun throughout and the teases were clever, not just gags.
7/15/16: If night two would have had a jam like '11 Rock and Roll or '13 Sally to anchor it, this would be the best run of summer.
7/15/16: But no. Maybe that honor will go to BGCA 1 and 2? Can we just not count BGCA3 S2?
No comments:
Post a Comment