Yes...this show is an interesting one. MPP is a strange venue in that it is kind of tucked away in a relatively (for suburban MD anyway) idyllic setting. Woodsy, a kinda camplike feeling, the venue is a nice little barn that you can tell has seen the likes of the Dead, Little Feat, and others through the years. There are few sheds still on the circuit that are this old. Coppers are notorious in Howard County, MD and they look to bust everyone and anyone since the 90's Dead scene horrified middle America. As far as the show goes, at the time, I thought it was great. A nice mix of goodies from the lot despite the heavy "Guyute" presence put me in the right mood. Coming off a so-so Hershey show, I had high expectations for this one.

Set 1:
Guyute was an interesting and I thought inspired opener. Listening back, it seems a little sloppy, but in the moment, it rocked. I have to admit that I sorta zoned hard through Gin but came around for some serious funk on Moma Dance. To me, this was the highlight of the first set. I had a good laugh when I burned all my CDs onto the computer in a technological update of my music several years back and noticed three stars next to one song...Moma Dance. It reads nice, but the rest of the set does not stand out for me. Honestly, i can't really recall.

Set Break: A quick downside of MPP is the overwhelming population of lacrosse style meatheads that pound beers and yap during jams. Set break on the lawn that night was sloppy at best. Bodies were down. Still, set 2 would transcend that.

Set 2:
I love RandR and this version got people off their asses on that lawn. Theme took us to dark places and I remember this being an above average take on a great song. Well placed I might add. Theme can sometimes be misplaced in a set, but it seemed right on this night. A unique Dog Log cruises into a gentle Mango which gains steam and jams out hard right into an excellent Free. Nice run to close the set. This set was thought out and flowed really nice compared with some of the other 99-00 second sets that I saw. Contact is fun and Rocky Top follows me around as an encore.

There is some really nice jamming from the end of Theme on to end of the set. Worth a listen back especially if you were there and memories are hazy. As the band was careening towards the first hiatus, this show represents an above average night, but also shows the cracks.