Devon J.
Preface: Nice meeting those of you whom I did....sorry I wasn't around more -- had a lost ticket scare (imagine where I found it :) and everything got screwed up. But, once in the coliseum: the F-tones were really great -- too bad there were a bunch of dumbasses in the first quarter of the floor. So I retired to the comfort of the seats with Mr Pace and the lovely and talented Aricha and Michael and we enjoyed the following wonderful set: SET I. [10.15 start] Seek Up: favorite opener, never get sick of it. love it. There was an extra long jam on the drums and carter was just ON FIRE!!! (this would be the pattern for the night) {davespeak note: it was at this time that dave asked all the meatheads who were pushing to go find someone different to push.....for the first time} Nancies -> stop time intro -> warehouse: yeah, the segue is done a lot, but I personally love the way the cymbols sound in contrast to the beginning of the stop time. I'm lovin life right now. Have I ever mentioned (in the last 9 months anyway) how much warehouse kills me? I LOVE IT. Drums -> Say Goodbye: nice loooooong drums here, folks. Dave managed to get out of his tux, undue his tie and dance and drink for a bit all while carter was going insane on the drums. Then, the first verse of goodbye had totally improvised lyrics (old school style) that were as perfect as any set ones could be. The man's a damn poet. Satellite: long time for me, so what the hell. Arranged the line rhythms a little different (took away the pain ;) Rhyme and Reason: first time for me since 2.25.95 really happy to hear it. Now...if he'd just start reworking the lyrics again.... [with Bela:] Two Step -> Banjo jam -> wailing ending: Heheh, so this is the new two step ending huh? I'm sold BIG time. Between the gloominess the song got in album production, the new intro verse which builds tension and this emotional ending, I dare say this song is approaching Seek Up in it's epic nature. (only drawback--it's a two step, a happy song. not that I'm complaining) Bela fit just perfectly here as in LIOG (more later) [with Bela and that Paul dude on saprano sax:] Crash (Into me): nice sax. the dude borders on Kenny G, but doesn't totally cross that line :) [just DMB:] SMTS -> Anyone Seen the Bridge? -> Too Much: Never heard the Bridge before. I like it a lot, it's shorter than the MSG show I heard and the conciseness makes it a better crossover. Um, Stefan kicked my ass on this one. [end set I 11.40] Set II: [midnight, with little pomp or circumstance] [with Bela:] Tripping Billies: baby new years dropped from the ceiling, and though i didn't quite get what was supposed to be happening other than random confusion, it was kinda funny. the balloongs dropped from the ceiling in two batches, one with each of the first two violin interludes after the first two verses (repectively). LIOG: and yes, we did dance away at the end :) But more importantly for me was the renewed love I have in the LIOG breakdown/jam. I usually get rather bored with boyd's trite whines in that solo (and roi's for that matter), but Bela filled the gap perfectly. he did go a bit longer than anyone thought he would, but dave loved every second of it. so did i, i must say. [entire fleck ensemble:] #41: ok. by this point it *was* turning into the bela fleck tribute show, but hey, it was a great bit of talent up on that stage so who cares, huh? Whoever says DMB is not a jamming band anymore should've been to this show -- though i must concede that the great jamming wasn't between dmb, but rather between their guests, it was still a crazy jam-fest. Muted guitar -> mouth sounds intro -> minarets: my first minarets since sept '94. What a powerful song. see lighting notes. Typical: hi, my names devon, i need some new boxers. The jam here was UNREAL. Again, a crazy jam fest all night long. Dave just kept motioning to carter to keep it going, and final he motioned for 'on this one' and the jam fell back to its traditional end, but the ride there was incredible. Dueling Banjos -> Auld Langsyne -> Drum solo -> call and response intro -> Ants Marching (andy griffith them song thrown in): wow. where to start. bela and boyd went back and forth (with roi a bit too) on dueling banjos, then bela and roi kept going but boyd started playing auld langsyne (spelling corrections optional), carter was in this crazy drum solo and all of a sudden that familiar call and response intro was playing and the crowd was going pretty damn nutty. Nice to see roi back with the classics. glad to see he's not 'above that' now. ENCORE. bass jam -> watchtower: I take it back, watchtower is on my good list as long as dave promises to keeping adding at least a little variety by rearranging the line ryhthms. This was one of the best watchtowers i've ever seen. [show ended around 1.05 i missed the time check, but that's an estimate] sound notes: Jeff was doing something right tonight. Part of the reason that bela fit in so well was that jeff had him absolutely perfect in the mix at all times. Also, he had stefan's highs just where they should be for a change. (the lows were still a bit muddy though) And there was a mic out of place in carter's kit that gave off this crazy pitch problem when he hit the cymbals a couple of times. The saprano sax guy sent a little feedback twice. With all these things, you'd think I was saying the sound was bad, but it was really quite good. One of the best executions I've ever heard jeff do (should by now...he's just gotta mark the levels :) light notes: Fenton was going crazy down there. First, the lasers were incredible. when I talked to fenton after the show he said that he started doing some stuff cause he thought it looked cool to him. then he realized what it must look like from stage so he tried to make the view from stage be as good as from the audience. The result was great. Dave started dancing around with the lasers on stage at one point. anyway, there was a huge amount of gobos being used (anyone out there notice that they've used the same ones a lot on the phish tour recently?) also, which was nice. the glitter that they dropped at midnight looked great too. And I love the little red glow that he throws up in those "eyes" at the top of the stage during the 'ha ha' parts of minarets. crazy. Oh, and for those of you wondering :) there _was_ a prepped setlist. saw it in fenton's hand.