Pretty raging Funky Bitch to start off the set (only set II is available). The banter before The Mango Song is pretty hilarious. First claiming that Fish will be using a synthesized drum pad, Trey then encourages Fish to play his new woodblocks. Fish then teases "Call to the Post" which Trey jokes is their newest number, a cover song. When an audience member successfully identifies the tune, Trey awards her/him a date with Fishman. Trey also jokes that Paul purposely put some feedback in the monitors in order to take it out again and look like a great sound guy. Finally, Trey tells the crowd that when dancing to the Mango Song (I didn't know Mango was this old!) that they should only move their legs and hips and NOT their head. Strong Divided Sky, pretty weak start to Melt, but the jam is not bad. The Fluffhead is OK, not great, and I was on my way to two stars for this (sound quality pretty lousy, too), but the Good Times, Bad Times has turned me around. Three stars.

I'm going to give the end of Fluffhead another listen as there is some banter there that seems to suggest either the date of this show is wrong or that Trey didn't know what day it was...

Relisten and some of the other streaming services have a pretty rough sounding Set 2 with some choice banter cut out. I had to pull this one from my hard drive to be able to listen to the entire performance. Set 1 sounds incredible! However, the pitch is a hair sharp. Easy fix if you’re good at that sort of thing. Set 2 has multiple cassette generations in its lineage and isn’t as enjoyable as the first set. Also, the pitch is a step slow.

With that said, here we have another solid performance! Lots of great banter tonight! Highlights from set 1 include Weekapaug (which has improved greatly over the past 6-7 versions) Esther, YEM>Wilson, Alumni (which continues to feature the alternate lyrics started at Red Barn), I Didn’t Know and McGrupp with the electronic drum machine! They were also tinkering with the drum machine during soundcheck. Unfortunately, Bowie cuts just as the jam starts up.

Set 2 is most notable for the banter and the first circulated recording of Split Open. I’m curious if the first few versions had a drum solo before the “Steam Dream” section? Slave, Divided Sky and Fluffhead are also a set highlights.

Definitely worth a listen. It’s too bad the sound quality drops off considerably for set 2. You may have to seek out this alternate source if streaming is your only option.