, attached to 2013-10-20

Review by Campster

Campster A lot has already been written, but I'll give my night III review anyway.

After two pretty solid shows to kick off I had high hopes for Hampton magic on a Sunday.

Set I kicked off with a nice Julius. Definitely a fun opener, gets everyone moving and singing a bit.

Funky Bitch ratcheted up the energy.

Back on the Train was really really strong. This version definitely stood out at the time. They jammed for a while and brought it to a really high peak. Standout.

Roses are Free was up next. This is always welcome for me and they managed to take this out for a little spin as well. The end of the song saw Fishman go to the cymbal (ride or crash, idk I'm not a drummer) and they sort of picked up this droning sort of jam. It didn't go anywhere really, but it was a shining moment and foreshadowed some of the magic to come.

Sample was it's typical sing-songy self.

Ginseng Sullivan was fun, and fit the setting.

46 Days was fiery. I liked this version after the preceding two songs. Good jolt.

Divided Sky was amazing. The incredible and surreal moment where everyone just held up lighters during the pause was magical. It's a moment I'll never forget. The band must have been in such awe as well. I felt like everyone shared an intimate and incredible moment there. Plus they played a great version of the song!

Bold As Love was a good closer. Great tune.

Overall set I: It's not the greatest first set, and to be honest I was thinking it was just so-so.
Highlights: BOTT, Roses, D-Sky (probably less so for re-listen versus in the moment)

Well set II was fit to be a barn-burner with Tweezer in play.

They opened with a request for Paul and Silas from some costumed Where's Waldo fans. Fun banter and fun song.

Then they kicked into Tweezer. This one was the dark menacing older brother to the springy upbeat Tahoe version. It growled and snarled with some truly evil work. It eventually morphed into one of those jams that reaffirms why you;d see this band over and over again. The feedback drenched, reverb-ed tone Trey found had an almost underwater feel. He simply played all the right notes, which for me was emotional and contemplative. It just sort of melted around you. His work with the dynamics were amazing to, sort of going loud to soft and using the feedback to sustain certain phrases. It was really just sublime.

Then they dropped into Golden Age which felt like a nice call after the Tweezer darkness. They played the song section well and this one took a serious turn towards the ambient as the jam kicked in. This is a seminole version and concluded with an eerie effects laden ending.

They found piper at the conclusion, and this one hit warp speed quickly. They were really cooking when the found a nifty familiar chord progression.

**Side note and amazing story. My friend had commented before Friday that there was a Takin' Care of Business jam in a few versions of Bertha from '74 - specifically the Winterland shows. So we had been joking on and off the whole run about that tune and how the Grateful dead should get credit for it.

Long story short, we looked at each other and both mouthed "Takin' Care of Business?" and boom they dropped into it. It was one of those cosmic moments that's literally too ridiculous to not be true. I don't know what else to say about that moment. For me it was just indescribable.

Musically they slid into the cover without effort and it was straight out of the early 90's (looking at you Real Gin). They blew through the over and the energy was top of the charts. Superlative moment. They even managed to drift into outer space towards the end with Gordo letting off another bone rattling meatball bomb before they queued up 2001.

This set was already magical, and this 2001 continued the jamming vibe. I think it clocked close to 10 minutes and had plenty of space. Trey was echoplexing it up to great effect. It fit really well. This was a danceable beast.

Sand up next and more dancing ensued. This was a high energy version that took a bit of a diverse path to the top as well. I found this jam (like the Hood jam the night before) to be unique and very interesting.

We knew they'd cap it off with something special and Slave was perfection. The guy next to us just threw his head in his hands repeating "Oh My God" over and over. Well, that's pretty much how I felt too man. This slave was great too. They took a nice approach at the beginning with Trey just playing one note and altering dynamics with Fishman doing the same and they sort of followed each other. They wound through a nice patient jam and found a typically glorious peak and ended a near perfect set. Ok it was a perfect set.

The encore was ADITL which was standard great, and Tweezer Reprise was the final bomb that incinerated any remaining elements of humanity left in the alien spacecraft.

End SET.

Overall Set II: This one is top to bottom classic. Best single set I have seen. I place this set ahead of MagnaBall Night II Set II. So yea. All killer no filler.
Highlights: All, but Tweezer & Golden Age are both top tier versions of all time for me.


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