, attached to 2017-08-02

Review by n00b100

n00b100 Set 1: What, Trey didn't want to try and emulate Tom Waits' singing style for Way Down In The Hole? An enjoyable first set nevertheless (it's got Buried Alive - albeit with a false start - which is always a good omen), peaking with a Meat that Fish's blown reentry helps steer into a swampy take on Meat and the usual fireball peak in Maze. Antelope is a low-key late-90s style version to cap off the set, with Trey doing the classic downward trills at the end, so that's a thumbs up from me.

Set 2: Mike's Song opens up the set, and because this is the Baker's Dozen, baby, a slow organ-driven opening jam neatly slides into The Fabled Second Jam, without the crashing ending fakeout/go-baby-go of the 2015 versions (a sure sign it was planned - the crowd roar shows they couldn't care less). The second jam starts off relaxed and unhurried, Trey and Page meshing quite nicely 8/4/15 style, before major key is suggested and the band moves towards something happier. Page goes to the synths to add some really lovely flavor as Mike dings the ol' fight bell (I think) and Trey switches to chords, then Mike starts to assert himself as Page switches to piano and the jam begins to pick up steam. A pretty sweet peak leads to the jam collapsing in on itself, and out of the midst of the fog and smoke O Holy Night (!) appears, and it's a very eerie and cool way to cap off that jam (one thing the band did well during the BD was eerie and cool, it needs to be said).

The band builds up a torrid wave of noise after the singing is done, and one could imagine Also Sprach Zarathustra was in the offing (or would, if it hadn't been played 3 nights previous), but instead Taste comes in, and this is an absolutely staggering Taste that wanders from some darker and more anthemic-style jamming to a low-key synth-driven late-night groove (that's right, triple hyphens) to Trey's sharp chords leading the band back to powerful rocking to an excitingly massive finale. This Taste is one of the finer moments of the BD, without question. A really powerfully dramatic Wingsuit (with a unique Mike-driven jam that leads into the Wingsuit finale) makes for the third exceptional jam of the night...and then Sally comes in, lights a quick fire, and then collapses oddly into Paug because Trey apparently noticed curfew was coming up. One might wish they'd just taken Sally to the end and encored with Paug, but there was one more holes-related surprise left (ADITL, of course), and that's a minor quibble in the face of a scorching set of improvisation anyhow.

Final thoughts: As with a number of the "lesser" Baker's Dozen shows, drop this in many a modern era tour (and a few outside the modern era) and people are absolutely ruining their BVDs over it. Another winner of a show, with a Taste that is absolutely not optional listening.


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