The Verdict:
This show is my favorite of 2017. I know that's saying a lot, what with the BD and pre-BD and all, but for my money this is the most consistently exploratory, balls-to-the-wall jammed show of the year. There are better (read "more interesting") jams from the BD and a few of the pre-BD shows, for sure, but no other show has the embarrassingly huge pile of improv that this show does.
"Blaze On" is a great opening statement, a near-15 minute jam that explores some synth jamming and a Floydesque bass-based jam before returning to the song proper.
"555" hints at a return to a normal first set, but it doesn't happen. "Breath and Burning" goes deep again, just like it's debut version, transitioning to shuffling Type II before wrapping back around to home base. "Theme" is a pretty standard take, but it features a great one-a-dime segue into "Free," which, like the BD "Free," gets a bit extended in the middle with a full-band funk jam that isn't normally there. In an age of jammed-out "Tube"s, this one's weirder and more delicate than most, and likely my favorite. "Roggae" is, of course, its usual beautiful self, and "More" ends the set like a fist in the air.
Keep in mind, this is all before a five-song second set that sees the first three songs span an hour of jamming.
Yep, you should really just listen to the "No Men" > "Carini" > "Ghost" sequence that makes up the meat of the second set. The first two tunes pick up where some of the best BD jams left off, exploring synth-filled spaces, featuring some KAOS action from Trey, revisiting the ambient territory the band has mined so successfully in the past, and generally just exploring for 45 minutes without so much as a wasted note. "Ghost" goes a slightly more standard bliss(ish), peak(ish) route, but after the first two tunes, this feels warranted: we've gotten the entire summer's improvisation in microcosm over the course of this hour.
A fiery "Hood" > "Cavern" of course, follows to wrap things up.
Though the rest of the Dick's run might be a little short of improv, frankly the band brings enough on night one to last for three nights' worth of shows. And it's great.
The Live Review:
9/1/17: About to review what is probably my favorite show of this amazing year and likely my favorite of the 39 shows I've seen live.
9/1/17: So, yeah, it'll likely be a pretty positive review.
9/1/17: Blaze On opener. I remember hoping this run would follow in the footsteps of the BD, and at least for the first night, it did.
9/1/17: Out-of-nowhere huge Blaze On jam, just after my wife and I found the worst seats ever in the stands two minutes before lights.
9/1/17: During the rush to found a place to sit, I managed to cut the shit out of my foot and it was bleeding everywhere.
9/1/17: Halfway into this jam, though, I'd just given up on it and was dancing on one foot :)
9/1/17: Some fiery Type I action from Trey to get things rolling.
9/1/17: We're probably still in the part of the song I missed the first time, trying to make a band-aid out of found objects.
9/1/17: Echo-chording now.
9/1/17: Some neat electric piano from Page now underneath Trey's chording. Then Page to synth.
9/1/17: After a brief mellow section, building back up now with Mike leading. Serious reverb on the bass.
9/1/17: After the spacey jam, the band working its way back to the Blaze On progression. Trey rocking out.
9/1/17: Vocal refrain now.
9/1/17: Pause after the end of the tune. Mike noodling a bit. Then, 555.
9/1/17: Still waiting on the obvious blues-rock odyssey the outro of this song promises every damn time :)
9/1/17: Great work from Mike during this 555 outro. I just put headphones in and I think they're making it easier to hear him in the mix.
9/1/17: If my memory of this show is accurate, 555 is the only non-encore song where nothing amazing happens.
9/1/17: Blaze On jam was definitely not THE BEST EVA, but as a show opener? Hell yes it's awesome.
9/1/17: Breath and Burning.
9/1/17: This is absolutely not my favorite song, but I do like how frequently it gets taken for a walk.
9/1/17: Plus, Fish's beats are great.
9/1/17: Upbeat shuffle from Fish on the Breath and Burning outro. Trey rock-soloing over it. Page on organ.
9/1/17: Trey fading out. Letting Page and Mike lead the way.
9/1/17: Neat shuffling jam emerging now.
9/1/17: Jam never strays *too* far away from B+B proper, but a great little bit of playing nonetheless.
9/1/17: The increasingly rare Theme is next.
9/1/17: Trey machine-gunning the end of Theme pretty effectively.
9/1/17: REALLY nice segue into Free at the end of Theme. I'd forgotten about that. Crowd (including me) went NUTS.
9/1/17: Little noodly section from Trey before the vocals kick in. That's different.
9/1/17: Mike solo leading the way now, Trey backing it up with more echo-chords.
9/1/17: Neat synth effects from Page.
9/1/17: Mellow, synth-laced bass jam now. Actually...that may have been Page on electric piano and Trey on KAOS pad.
9/1/17: Does Trey have one of those? That's what it sounded like.
9/1/17: Really enjoyed the extended Free there. Tube next, also getting extended.
9/1/17: Loops and synth anchored by Mike's bass is making this a super-weird Tube jam. So far, Fish is keeping the beat, though.
9/1/17: Killer riff from Trey rising above the noise.
9/1/17: Some great interplay now between Page and Trey in a Tube jam that's left Tube behind except for Fish's drumming.
9/1/17: Band brings the jam down slightly for a minute, then moves back in a Tube-like direction.
9/1/17: Roggae.
9/1/17: Roggae will complete a five-song run of 9+ minute songs in a first set that opened with a fifteen minute jam.
9/1/17: We're doing pretty good here, methinks.
9/1/17: More wraps up the first set with a Number Line-style guitar outro from Trey.
9/1/17: Excellent opening set, in keeping with the great first sets of the early summer.
9/1/17: Big Blaze On jam, little jams in B+B and Free, and the most experimental Tube of 3.0 most likely.
9/1/17: S2 opens with No Men.
9/1/17: Trey laying down a Type I solo with an extremely distorted, screechy tone. Rest of the band playing it straight so far.
9/1/17: Band just rocking out in more typical style now.
9/1/17: Crazy, squealing end to the Type I jam, followed by a vocal refrain.
9/1/17: Some wacky loops from Trey lead Page over to the electric piano and results in some dense arpeggiated action from both.
9/1/17: Fading out now.
9/1/17: Great drumming from Fish and some excellent synth action from Page in this broken-down section.
9/1/17: All-around spacey jam. Recalling some of the better BD ambient jams, albeit with more Fish drumming.
9/1/17: I REALLY like Mike's bass tone. Very Floydian.
9/1/17: Jam taking a turn for the sinister now.
9/1/17: Fish picking up the beat more as the rest of the band continues in ambient mode.
9/1/17: Now the band is slowly but surely transitioning back into rock mode (with Page staying on the synth).
9/1/17: Neat descending chord progression from Trey.
9/1/17: Another big ol' riff from Trey now. Band speeding up behind it.
9/1/17: After that second jam (post-ambient), band returns to No Men proper for one more vocal refrain.
9/1/17: Trey disrupts the resolution with a weird guitar tone, then cuts in quickly with the opening riff to Carini.
9/1/17: Neat, overlapping 'Carini had a lumpy head' vocals heading into the jam.
9/1/17: Starting off with some more great distorted guitar/synth interplay here.
9/1/17: This jam is sort of picking up where the previous concluded in an interesting way.
9/1/17: It's got the same sort of deconstructed feel. Page adding laser sounds. Yep, laser sounds.
9/1/17: Jam going mellow and ambient now. Actually, that might be the KAOS pad again. Page doing some electric piano stuff.
9/1/17: Great build-up now, taking the jam in a different direction from No Men.
9/1/17: Almost reminded me of a Slave jam there for a minute.
9/1/17: Great, high-energy interplay going on here between all four members.
9/1/17: Loop-heavy peak now. Page picked the exact right time to switch over to the organ briefly.
9/1/17: Almost a Party Time-like jam happening now.
9/1/17: Neat little outro jam after that big peak now.
9/1/17: > Ghost
9/1/17: Great little fill from Trey leading into the drop.
9/1/17: Revisiting that Floyd-sounding space early on in this jam.
9/1/17: Neat transition out of another dark jam space into something more approaching the '15 style bliss jam template.
9/1/17: Build up leads to a really fun jam on some blues chords.
9/1/17: -> No Men!
9/1/17: I'd completely forgotten about that.
9/1/17: -> echoes and synth jam.
9/1/17: > Hood
9/1/17: Page deploying the synth briefly during the Hood intro.
9/1/17: Larger than usual peak ending crests in a wall of noise. > Cavern.
9/1/17: End set after Cavern.
9/1/17: The Horse > Silent kicks off the encore.
9/1/17: Particularly distorted and heavy Zero ends the show.
9/1/17: If you're looking for wall-to-wall improvisation, this show has it.
9/1/17: No Men and Carini remind me a bit of the other two back-to-back 3.0 jam titans, the Albany Seven Below > Ghost.
9/1/17: They're both huge jams, but also borrow a lot from each other, and at 45 minutes, it all can feel a little repetitive.
9/1/17: That said, I'm not sure there's a '17 show out there like this one (and that includes the Jam-Filled night).
9/1/17: I'll give my rarest recommendation: that you listen to the whole show and not hunt for 'highlights.'
9/1/17: A great show. Definitely not as great as I remember from being there, but what ever is on the relisten?
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