I don't review very many shows.

Up and back from Fairmont, WV for this one, with my two mid-20's sons and a good buddy from a bit north. My biggest takeaway when sorting and cataloging the day's events in my head in the 30 seconds I had between hitting the sheets and falling asleep at 2:30am..."I'm too old for up and backs to the Burg for concerts...oh holy shit I have to do it again for Gordo on 1/19...zzzz". I did make it to work only 15 minutes late this morn.

We busted out of the Ft. Pitt. tunnel around 3:15pm, swung through the Strip District so my bud could pick up some of his favs from Penn Mac, and headed on to Oakland. Parked in the same garage as in '17. Sipped a few casually out of the back of the Sienna, shooting the shit and watching some profs and other faculty make their way to their cars for the commute home. The first car to park next to us happened to be people that live a mile from me back in Fairmont. Cool, small world. Getting a bit chilled and annoyed by the loud fan (like mechanical fan I mean, not phan) we decided it was time to eat. Down the hill and over a block to the Thirsty Scholar we went...it was more on the empty side when we got there but did get pretty packed. Service was as poor as it was in '17, but this time we actually did get food and a few more beers. Back to the garage for a couple more of those and some tunes before heading in...was playing Harry Hood from my second show (4/10/94) when it all of a sudden went quiet...yeah dead battery. Oops, and uh oh...no time to fuck with that now we locked up and headed to the venue.

Some great song selections...loved the debuts and the bust-outs. Really nothing that I didn't want to hear. I thought it was well played throughout and with high energy. A better show than '17 IMO of course, never mind the Caspian and Mr. C from that year. Crowd energy was high as well...and the dude in the aisle next to us in 6A was rocking his Guitar Hero prop like a pro. I enjoyed Fishman's encore antics and I'll take a Julius closer any day.

Only two or three times during the show did the dead battery come to mind and it was out of mind just as fast. I mean I was having too much fun to fret over anything. The van still would not start post show, the third group I asked about jumper cables actually had some and they were kind enough to drive over and give me a jump. Thanks much to you if you happen to read this!

The garage was pretty easy to get out of, though my bud did step out to stop the pedestrians pouring down the sidewalk so I could creep out into traffic. And street traffic was really minimal at that point, much to to my delight...given the 90+ minute drive. The dirve was still long, but blessedly uneventful.

Fun experience with my sons and friend, and so glad to be able to catch this show, my only one for the fall. Already looking ahead to my first ever MSG shows in just a few weeks!