The weather was cool and cloudy for an evening at Great Woods - ideal for being in the mix with 20K other warm bodies. The lot scene kept people outside seemingly until the first notes rang out, with the crowd pouring in during the opening pieces...

Speaking of which, Party Time was an apt way to kick off this show. It felt raucous and tight, with everybody glad to be where they were at that moment. A nice segue into 46 Days and things were looking good. No new exploration in Days, but solid and a good follow to the opener.

I was joined by my young son at the show, so we had to take a bathroom break during Poor Heart. It sounded good from outside and definitely kept the energy level high.

The Dogs maintained the vibe - the straightahead riff kept everyone moving and was a new tune for me. Gin was a surprise and a bit of a personal litmus test for me to see what the night might hold. I was excited to hear some exploratory Type II jamming in the second half of this song, especially midway through the first set. Good portents. Pulling the jam back into the closing theme of the song was a bit abrupt and could have been extended, but I will definitely give this another listen.

FEFY was the first of two ballads in the first set, both of which felt right. Whereas slowing things down in some previous shows this summer seemed to drain the energy from the crowd, both of these seemed to provide a breather without losing anyone's attention. I can't help but wonder if the FEFY was a poke at those that have been questioning the pace of tunes this summer. Maybe so, likely not.

Sandwiched in between the ballads was an 8-minute HMPAY? took the simple rock progression to places that were new to me with this tune, though I'm not sure if another version has been extended like this. This led into Strange Design, which got everyone singing and hugging their neighbor.

Fuego felt about right in the next slot - though whether it was early trouble Trey's string, or other technical difficulties, the solo section was cut short with a look back to Fishman. The jam made up for the brevity of the solo section and seemed to stick to familiar territory.

The opening chords to Cities rang out and my wish for a flourishing end to this excellent first set was granted. I certainly didn't expect how the flourish might come about - Trey's broken string leading to an extended Marimba jam, an introduction of his tech and Mike on guitar.

Someone closer to the action can correct this - but it seemed that the band then took their bows and were heading off stage when Trey picked up a balloon that wandered up on stage. Whether or not said balloon included a request or any writing at all, I don't l know. But the boys quickly convened for a rendition of Space Oddity - which was well executed, fun and a real treat.

Set II

Ghost was the right opener and went dark right away, staying there mostly through its 12 minutes until seguing into the Light, which was definitely the jam of the night and moved through several themes before shifting into Wolfman's - which after 30 minutes of exploration felt like a solid place to come home to.

Midway through WB, the PA went out during the vocal jam. The boys tried to keep the flow going with Trey joining on the drums and Mike heading to the keys, but the crowd never got quiet enough for those beyond the front rows to pick up on what was going on onstage. I hope the recording picks up some of this.

After the brief break, CDT, BOTT and Slave did their level best to get back into the flow - though with the audio challenges noted, it never quite got back there. All solid versions, would have been great to see what would have happened without the PA issues.

Walrus capped an excellent night, with Trey seeming unwilling to stop building tension with the swirling octaves in the outro. All in all an excellent show - even with technical difficulties.

Set 1 is definitely worth a listen, and Ghost > Light as well. Looking forward to Hartford!