@n00b100 said:

@FACTSAREUSELESS said:

I'm not one to defend negative opinions but the reviewer got it right, folks. This show was very hit and miss. Doesn't mean the tour wasn't great. This show was not great. It had lots of misfires.

I felt for the most part, Trey was the only one in the band truly engaged with the music most of the night. Page and Mike offered nothing to the game all night, and both seemed tired and looking forward to the bus trip.

Really? I felt like they were plenty engaged during the Hood jam, at least when they got the chance to solo, to say nothing of the CDT or Light (which, IMO, is already being brutally underrated the same way Summer '11, which this jam shares a lot of DNA with, is underrated). If you want to quibble with what happened between SASS and Light, be my guest (I assume this is what you mean by "misfires" or the "miss" part of "hit and miss", though I certainly could be wrong), but I think the good stuff speaks for itself. Viva le difference, I guess.

As for the review, I've been mulling this over a few days, and I've decided the main example of why I'm rubbed the wrong way by it is this quote:

"Scents and Subtle Sounds" hadn't been played in 100-plus shows, since Dick's in 2011, but what's the point if they don't play the intro and don't bother with the jam?

Yes, why indeed?

Yes, viva la difference indeed! Well said. I had the benefit of watching the stream on headphones and honestly felt that Page was a shell of himself most of the night. Mike, too, seemed far too content to hang back and wait for Trey. It seemed at various points during the show, such as during the CDT jam and also during Light, that Trey went on pause mode, and waited for his bandmates to offer direction, but all they did was glance over at him and wait for him. Lacking a new idea, Trey would be left literally hanging and would change directions to a new song. The best jams over the last few years have been marked by a patient Trey allowing the other three members to toy and play around with concepts until there was a hook for him to latch onto. I think, for instance, of the great Tahoe Tweezer (the great transitions in that piece were initiated by Mike and Page), the great Hampton Carini, which was initiated by Mike and the great 12/29 Carini, whose jam was also led at the first by Mike and Fish.

Sunday night it was all on Trey for the duration. That was my perspective.

You are quite right about the Light jam, which if you read my review on the site you'll remember that I offered that up as the true highlight of the evening, but again, had Page been more involved, perhaps that would have extended and not gone so quickly to Hood. The Hood itself was beautiful but the interplay was all initiated by Trey and it seemed obvious on camera that Fishman was shooting WTF? glances over at both Page and Mike regarding Trey's antics.

That's just how it seemed to me and it's certainly how it sounded regardless of how it looked on camera.

Not that the show wasn't enjoyable. Just frustrating.

Regarding the quote you pulled from the review, I totally agreed with the reviewer on that statement. Viva la difference, as you said.

Thanks for your comments. I respect your opinion greatly.

I feel I'm being objective, but perhaps I am not.