Alpine 2

(View from the couch) they say that if you ride the ski lifts of Alpine valley on a foggy night you can hear the wailing of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s guitar accompanied by the strained whirring of propellers. While this is compelling it offers little relief for the weary traveler as they trek to this Mecca of rock folklore, though for a brief moment, if you are lucky, you can hear that signature tone of SRV melt into the Wisconsin evening.

Whether or not the folklore is true Alpine a valley itself, is legendary. “The Fastest Way to Fun” as the slopes boast, has brought many of treat as well as many a controversy. But tonight was about Treat. The musical nod to the 99 32 minute fluff apparent from the get with the opening triplet of 1999, Fluffhead, and Saw it again. The only thing better would have been to drop a Hahahaha right afterwards.

The fluff went deep and before the ethereal glide into Saw it Again it had some heavy metal trodding licks which were reminiscent of Free (think MOMA->Free from Key-Span). A pass through leaves and then smoking type 1 takes on BOTT and Taste led to Petrichor. Rounding out set one is a flourishing Coil with a boyish page left to greet the crowd after his solo outro. Early indications

Number Line ushers in set two with gusto and continues the band’s clinic on whole band interplay. The maze is melds into was seemingly tee’d up high and ready to be driven to the motherland but this Maze stayed succinctly in its type 2 majesty which gave the subsequent Mr Completely a chance to stretch its legs. Proficient playing followed with tight composition and tendencies towards otherworldly jams but never quite went outside the realm of great. And after a beautifully played Roggae, the closing triplet had no chance stacking up against the opening three songs. A tame blaze on sent the crowd shuffling back to their vehicles and another tight well played show notched its mark on this summer’s tour.

Methinks that such an amazing run as this tour has been, that great night of music are the norm, so no complaints here. Just not a crazy stunner on night 2 in Wisconsin. Here is hoping some of the SRV mojo weaves its way down hill for Sunday.

Mahalo Nui,
Matthew