Pre-show – Had an awesome time in the lot. No hassles, plenty of cool folks to chat up. Was feeling fine by the time I hit the line to get in.

SET 1: Chalk Dust Torture: Always a fan of this in the opening slot.

Guyute: Nice, pregnant, evil pause with dark loops before “I’m bouncing like a newborn elf”. At this point, this has already bested 10.4.00’s first set, and they are two songs in. I am only half kidding.

Wolfman's Brother: This is sick, has old school funk, Mike is snapping and popping, old school 97 effects at 6:05 and continuing for 20 seconds or so and they slide right into ->

Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley: First time played this tour, last time played 6.30.00 in Hartford. This one is extremely short though.

Limb By Limb: The quiet, subtle groove they land in around 6 minutes is sublime. They don’t linger there too long, less than 30 seconds. The whole band sounds great in this jam, each an equal part, a four headed monster if you will. Trey trills it up at 7:48. By 9:00, they are bringing it on home. Good jam.

Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown: Second and last time they ever played this tune, fine with me given the implications it carries with it >

Beauty of My Dreams > Axilla, Horn > Possum: This segment was standard stuff.

First set summary: This first set is just night and day from the night before.

SET 2: Drowned: Smokes through 10.5 minutes and then quiets down for about a minute and then ramps right back up and then gets quiet again at 12:48 but once again that doesn’t’ last for long as about 20 seconds later they are ramped right back up. At about 14:20 Trey changes the whole feeling of the jam, and it seems bound for a transition into the next song -> NICU: That was an incredible segue and belongs on the all-time segue list – that was amazing. >

David Bowie: For a brief moment at 8:48 there is a major chord jam but then it settles back into typical Bowie territory. At about 9:50 Trey starts bending some notes – this sounds really cool in here – this is very brief, and the jam gets quite sparse and ambient up until about 11:10 when things start to perk up once again. This is the four headed monster we all know and love – no one person is leading this jam instead it is a collective effort – very 2000. More note bending by Red at 12:10 and they are doing a wonderful job of creating tension at this point. At 12:42 Trey is back in the lead and the intention is clear that they are going to start heading for the traditional Bowie climax. Big old loops at 14:45 creating more tension. That peak we’ve all been waiting for at 15:10. That was a very solid version – nothing really stands out and grabs your attention and demands too much praise – just a workmen like version of David Bowie.

Halley's Comet: Everybody is pumped to hear the opening notes of this one! This seems to be played at a slower tempo than most. Not much of a jam to this one but they do crush what little jam there is. ->

Walk Away: Trey decided to rip cord the Halley’s into Walk Away which takes Fishman by surprise – not much to write home about here in this Walk Away.

Piper: No patience with this intro, ants in the band’s pants and straight for the rock and roll. When trey ramps this up at 3:04 you can hear that signature 99 sound that he employed so frequently in fall and winter 99. Fishman is like animal from the Muppets at 4:30 to drive the band to play this as fast and intense as possible. By the 9-minute mark they begin to back off that breakneck pace as Trey is opting for some effects and by 11 minutes, they are definitely in that groove-based jamming that is so prevalent in 2000. Fishman is doing what he can to drive a more engaging jam but the other three are not buying what he is selling. Eventually this gets very quiet and segues in the back door into >

Character Zero: Early on in the jam Trey employs that sludgy, muddy tone. Fish flips the script at 5:18 and things are really dark and dirty. At 5:55 is sounds like Mike is going for DwD. Next thing you know Trey is sing Fast Enough For You over the top? This is awkward but brief and over in 20 seconds as is the entire song. Trey starts rambling about how thankful they are to be able to play in your town in LA and then goes on to say they are the fourth best band behind Tenacious D, Van Halen and Frank Zappa and that they had a great time playing here tonight and no kidding we hope to come back soon. Come back soon? But they are going on hiatus? Good, old rambling Trey.

ENCORE: While My Guitar Gently Weeps: Trey has some really nice sustain around 5:10 and then moving forward makes that ‘doc weep.

Second set summary: So, attendance bias might have something to do with it, but I fell a little more compelled to grade this higher than the 3.5 that is on .net. Drowned, Bowie and Piper all have replay value. None of them are amazing but they are solid jams. I had a ton of fun pre-show in the lot and inside the show and would grade this as a 3.75 out of 5.