, attached to 2016-07-16

Review by dumidiot

dumidiot After 7-15, this show will be criminally underrated. From my spot on the couch, judging only the music, this night was preferable. I'll also preface this by saying that 7/15 is probably the most laughably overrated show I've seen on .net. So I'm going to do this review comparing to the previous night for perspective. Also keep in mind I'm not trying to take away the fun you had when I say something negative, I'm just calling it like I heard it.

First off, the first set was very strong. Bathtub Gin is far and away the highlight of the night, maybe the whole weekend, but every song was well played and there were no lame songs to interrupt the flow (looking at you "line"). It's Ice was particularly good was well, and overall this was a very fun way to start off the show.

Secondly, the second set falls prey to what has been practically a curse this summer: no serious type 2 jams. Blaze on did go a bit further than usual and could be considered type 2, but it really didn't feel all that inspired. But it was no worse than C&P from night one. Both went about the same distance "out there". The rest of the set has one big thing going for it, and that is machine gun Trey, back from the grave. There were moments of this kind of relentless shredding from trey the night before (particularly chalkdust), but tonight he was on a different level. This is especially true with Gin throught BOAF, just killer playing from trey that makes these type 1 versions really stand out.

I would say that this concert has a lot more relisten value than night 1. It also reminds me of MPP2 from 2015 and Mann2 this year. Both had really strong first sets, but kind of fell flat set 2. The difference is that Trey was on fire last night. Even though the jams didn't go type 2, he played this shit out of ever second of it. Also, let's remember there wasn't really any type 2 going on night 1 either, save some major chords in C&P and trey on the 2016 mini kit.

To sum up, the 2 nights at the gorge are more similar on relisten than the ratings will suggest, and I would even say that musically, Night 2 was far and away the superior show It may not have had the spontaneity of the night 1 tease fest, but if you can get over the song length (which especially doesn't matter when things stay type 1), you'll likely enjoy this show a lot as well.


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