This review and reviewer seem a bit random. But not totally off the mark either. The Wolfman’s opener was super high energy and well played, and set me up for what I hoped to be an awesome show-which it didn’t evolve into. I’d overall give it a 2.5 out of 5. The Gin never quite got wings, but at the end it boosted to somewhere interesting. Unlike the reviewer, I love the way that Stash can start super slow and deep and soar to incredible places, but just because it’s played, doesn’t mean it always does. This jam began very slow, very quiet, and built nicely to a powerful peak that was high energy, tight and fun. Are there better ones? Definitely. I thought Bowie was fairly tight for 3.0 and though jam wasn’t super long, it was a great closer.
I neither love nor hate Sand, but have heard some incredible jams come out of it. This one was long and exploratory, disjointed at times, but overall great energy and really fun to listen to, again, setting up what I hoped would be an awesome second set. It had some great moments but overall, I don’t think Trey was very on point tonight and poor Mike had to deal with sound issues throughout the entire show. He signaled every song for more volume, and from where I was the lower-toned drums were way too loud in the mix. I don’t have much to say about the rest of the set except that the Melt jam felt like the kind of space that I’d feel in a chaotic1991 BBSCFM. I scanned the crowd and they were many confused people.
All of this said, the light rig is so far and away the most amazing accompaniment to music I’ve ever seen that I can always take refuge in it and be jaw dropped following its alien movements.