watching this one right after 8.19.2306.17.08.19, no such thing as coincidences.
Robot Stop opener, sets the tempo, spurred along by some exceptional flute work from Stu, into Hot Water. Although the playing is exceptional the confidence just isnt there, but the crowd is into it. Hot Water just sort of collapses, but Stu tries to resusitate it with a flute outtro. Some brief banter with the crowd, loses the momentum we had, but Amby's delivery on Grim Reaper lyrics quickly sets things back in motion. This suffers from too many members trying to talk over each other, its muddled but we thankfully get back on track quickly. Grim Reaper just sort of ends, enter Mars For The Rich. The band is starting to gel, its impossible to not bang your head at this point. Well played MFTR, but short, leads to a false start into Hell. Hell is solid, perhaps brief, but leads into some vibe killing banter, take a step back people.
Excellent opening to Planet B, gets the vibe right back where it needs to be, open your eyes and see! 32 minutes in and although the playing has been solid, the flow could be better. The maybe 5 minute Planet B could have been stretched a bit. The crowd needs some convincing about Tool it sounds like.
Unpopular opinion, Gaia Isn't one of my favorites, and the band feels disjointed, everyone is playing well, but something is missing. Cavs drum solo is well executed, and the second half of Gaia is superb, but leads into more awkward banter. Magenta Mountain starts at 42 minutes in, so far flow is seriously lacking but the playing has been great for the most part. Maybe its Stu's guitar, I guess that is the Holy Explorer replacement? This Magenta Mountain is nice, its light and airy, and it rolls. Maybe what has been missing is that this set has too much variety. It feel like a bunch of songs rather than a set. I am comng to appreciate Joey on keys much more than I have in the past, the band is giving each other room, but again with the banter.
Enter the Garden Goblin, 51 minutes in. and its over by 54:30, not nearly long enough for the Goblin to get into trouble. Work This Time acts as the anti climax, slowing the pace to a crawl, its a great song, but only adds to the collection of songs being played tonight. The Dripping Tap comes in around 11 minutes, and the band finally may have achieved cohesiveness, gotten over nerves, whatever. The crowd is having a great time, Dripping Tap is getting the job done and the band is definately ending on a high point, but the path here was indirect and meandering. 1h 15min, great audio and video available of this one