SET 1: Piper: Aggressive jam to get this party started. MSG crumbled a bit.

Guyute: Sloppy.

NICU, Horn: Standard.

Wilson: The gag is fantastic. Trey’s shout is visceral.

Mound: Standard.

The Squirming Coil: Standard. >

David Bowie: Solid jam.

SET 2: Waves: I like the Trey/Page funk session in the last couple of minutes. >

Divided Sky: Trey’s segue out of Waves catches Page and Fish with their pants down. Sloppy in parts.

Lawn Boy: Standard.

Carini: Mike really lays it down throughout this jam, he sounds great.

Rift: Standard.

Harry Hood: Pretty solid jam! Energetic for sure. Nice trilling and climax, I’ll take it for the first one back! >

Character Zero: Intro is very bad. Standard version other than the flubs.

SET 3: Sample in a Jar: Trey’s notes in the climax solo are much higher than I am used to, kind of cool.

Seven Below: I am sure this was very cool in person with the ‘snow’ falling from the rafters and everything. >

Auld Lang Syne: Standard. >

Runaway Jim: Super sloppy intro and vocals sound terrible. Distracted by balloon drop? Middle part of this jam is ROUGH. Trey dropping sour notes and just plain dropping out for a couple of lengthy sections. When he does come back in – he is dropping sour notes all over the place. Yuck! I do like the trippy loops that come in at 8:50 with Trey then coming over the top with some cool stuff. Decent segue… ->

Time Loves a Hero: Time Loves a Hero was last played August 11, 1998 (or 151 shows). No one could have predicted this one.

Taste: Composed section is sloppy! Major What’s the Use teases going on in the 6 and early 7 minute range. Out of this Trey breaks out the machine gun for a sick run of trills and attack mode guitar playing. The ending is brutalized by Trey. Slop.

Strange Design: Standard.

Walls of the Cave: Fishman sounds so good on the blocks in the intro on this debut. Some sick machine gun Trey in the 9 minute range, all that we have become used to but this being the debut it was fun to hear. Trey is in attack mode in a big way through the tens and then by the 11’s the band is settling into a quieter groove. Page with some interesting sounds in the mid 11’s. That really crunchy Trey tone that 2.0 would become know for becomes prominent in the late 12’s. By the early 16’s this has faded into a very heady, ethereal space. Pretty cool. Trey starts it back up in the mid 16’s and points the band in the direction of home for the traditional ending for WOTC.

ENCORE: Wading in the Velvet Sea: Seems to be some confusion on the intro vocals and Trey botches that. Trey is killing cats in the intro to his solo. Cool held note in the mid 4’s.

Summary/Replay Value: Piper and Walls. The show has a ton of slop to it – all over the place. Even the debut tunes which you think they would have been practicing incessantly – have issues. I think a lot of people were hoping this was due to nerves/adrenaline but as the circus moved on to Hampton and the flubs continued it became apparent it was a deeper issue.