SET 1:

The Star Spangled Banner: perfect. Had to be done considering the date. Crowd gets really into this and leads a USA chant at the end. No better way to start up a Fourth of July show, it’s on!

555: not crazy about this placement. 7/4 and 7/18 are the only two times they tried 555 as an (in this case quasi-)opener and it just doesn’t have what I’m looking for here - a very rare instance of an opener choice that I struggle to get down to. Trey’s backing vocals are distractingly loud in the mix. Playing is good.

Kill Devil Falls: eh, sure. Jam starts with Page on the organ and some light, patient playing from Trey. Slowly builds into a peak. Solid little Kill Devil Falls jam, typical of this era. Page wishes everyone a happy 4th after the song – something special next, hopefully…

The Moma Dance: interesting placement. Swap this and 555 around and we’d be in business. Very standard take on this one, but I’m having a good time.

Reba: now we’re getting this thing on the road! Decent tempo and great work in the composed section, only a few Fish(!) mistakes to speak of. Some lovely interplay starts up around 8:30, listen to Page tickling those keys. Pretty chill jam until Trey suddenly starts ripping it a new one at 10:40 and peaks the song nicely. Whistling and all that jazz to end. Nothing out of this world but no slouch either.

Waiting All Night: chills. Much better versions of this out there though if you’re as big of a fan of it as I am.

Runaway Jim: sure, good call to get things back on track here. The instrumental bridge here is notably long and turns into a cool plinko jam for a while. The jam proper is decent if a bit meandering.

46 Days: decent enough. Rages just like it should.

Rift: little bit flubbed.

Split Open and Melt: very nice! Would be happy with this and Slave swapping frequencies at this point in 3.0. Good composed section leads to a standard-for-3.0 jam that turns dark at 6:30ish and stays in that space for a while, then it turns pretty frantic and intense 9 minutes in and glides cleanly into the ending. Solid Melt.

The Squirming Coil: valid, no complaints at all. Mike screaming in the final chorus, LMAO – check out the 7/18 version for another instance of this. Actually a really awesome Page solo on this one, not a whole lot longer than usual but every minute is put to good use. Bodes well for the next set.

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SET 2:

Fuego: most 2014 set opener of all time. Composed section is clean and you can hear from very early on in the jam that Trey is determined to take this somewhere. Floats into a jazzy, slightly tense space 10 minutes in, no clear direction yet. Very pretty playing at 12 minutes in - Mike’s tone is just outstanding here, does anyone know if he’s played with that tone before? Starts to sour at 13:30ish and seems ripe for a transition but Trey settles on a new progression soon after (sounds a little like WTU? to me, anyone else?) and we find ourselves launched into a more solid feel with effects-laden ‘phone ringing’ playing from Trey. We’re building into a peak. After lots of exploration Trey finally takes this jam by the balls at 16:50 and we’re off! Absolutely searing, raging playing here for a bit! Wish this went on for a little longer, but Trey tears it apart and leaves it in a big ol’ puddle quite soon after, from which we > DWD. Here’s the rub: this is a solid and lengthy Fuego, and it has some great passages and moments, particularly the end. But there is a good amount of meandering in order to get there. I’d say it’s worth a listen for the peak though, it’s real good. >

Down With Disease: like this as a follow up. Small Under Pressure teases early in the jam, fun. Anticipatory start. Standard DWD jamming goes funky after a few minutes by decree of Trey. Very typical ’14 funk jam here with awesome Energizer Bunny playing from Fish. Some cool choices from everyone towards the end stretch, especially Mike’s atypically busy and dissonant playing and Page’s organ/Rhodes work. 12 minutes in sounds pretty much exactly like a King Crimson jam or maybe a transition period in a ’94 Phish jam. Then we get a vocal jam(!) with various percussive mouth sounds riiiiiiight at the end. Wish this lasted longer, but Trey goes > Twist after a little bit of vocal jamming. Very weird jam here, interesting stuff! >

Twist: the mouth noises continue for a bit into Twist. Love the Santana-ish Trey and Page call-response at the start of the jam. Trey tries out some tenser playing at 6:00 but abandons it for chill Twist jamming soon after. BIG big fan of the super quiet space they arrive at with a minute left to go in the jam, just awesome spacey play from everyone and I wish it continued for a little bit longer. >

Light: another really weird jam in which Trey, atypically, goes for more atonal playing. If anything this sounds more like a Stash jam than a Light one. The rest of the band doesn’t bite, but Page offers a minor key riff at 7:30 and things turn real stormy real fast, lots of effects-driven droney weirdness. Loving Fish’s dextrous Latin grooves here. An even MORE droney space at 10:30, Trey’s riffs and Page’s synth flowing into the abyss. >

Theme From the Bottom: ha, I enjoy this placement actually – jells nicely with the tense weirdness of the rest of the set. Flubs galore from Trey in the ‘buildup’ section just prior to the jam. Suuuuuuper uninspired to be honest, only partially saved by the good placement and some unique delay effects prior to the final refrain.

Backwards Down the Number Line: out of place here to say the least. I guess Trey was spooked by the Theme not going great and opted for this one as a safety net. Not really a hater of this song but doesn’t work at all in this spot.

First Tube: veeeery lightly flubbed by Trey at points in the composed portion, but he hits us with some serious old-school riffing in the jam. Dang! Raged!

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ENCORE:

Character Zero: standard and really short. That’s all?

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OVERALL: good show that lacks that one single highlight to bring it to the next level. Lots of cool stuff around here though, like the Reba, Melt, Coil, Fuego, First Tube and (if you’re brave) DWD. Set 2 falls apart right at the end but Fuego > DWD > Twist > Light is a really cool and WEIRD stretch of music that isn’t especially smooth or IT-filled but features lots of risk-taking from Trey – early-to-mid 3.0 is not really the place to go for janky dissonance but the guitarist sure does delve into it at various points here. Overall an interesting and good show.

3.6 stars.