this show is pretty freaking solid. those that were there say that there was a little bit of bad mojo in the audience. i guess there was a fight either over by the sbd or in the taper's section. i believe it was during set break. either way, it does not really carry over to the tape. this show has some very serious highlights.

the first set is non stop fun. yamar, in my opinion, is kind of an ironic opener. yamar always reminds me of good old fashioned out door summer fun. i'm sure that december 12th in providence was not a summery day. anyway, sample gets the newbies in the game, and a very good early set divided sky works very well. trey soars on this one. to this point, it really has a "summer tour" feel. life boy takes the set into a darker realm. punch you in the eye works well. page plays well in the intro. the horse/silent is always a good first set selection, imo. antelope works really well here. trey, as usual, burns through this one. antelope ended up not closing this set down. instead, they play a nice little i'm blue, i'm lonesome, and then drop a nice little set closing coil.

free is always a good set opener. the boys come out ripping right off the bat. like theme from the bottom, this is a song that debuted in '95 and really came out of the gates burning. sparkle keeps the energy level up before a mind blowing down with disease. they were not really at the point yet where they jammed this one out routinely, so i think this one caught the crowd off guard. this jam just keeps moving and moving and moving. fishmand and gordon lock into a really nice groove. page and trey explore nicely right above them. eventually, this one drifts into a nice little lizards. an early simple fits kind of oddly here, but it is well-played. run away jim is also kind of an odd selection, but i like it in the set closing slot. nothing really to see at the end of this show, but oh doggy, that down with disease is an early beast.

highlights:

set 1:
yamar, punch, antelope, i'm blue/i'm lonesome

set 2:
free, dwd>lizards