As far as tour openers go, I think we've got some selective amnesia going from the past couple of years openers. Darling '13 was really sloppy just from a technical playing the songs perspective and featured an ok golden age as far as jams go. Seriously, go back and listen they definitely did not have their feet under them at that point. Mansfield. Hood. Other than that, it's a tremendously safe show, and I think the sheer novelty of getting a type ii hood (first since 03) left that show quite a bit higher in the collective memory than it really deserved.

Those aren't bad shows, don't get me wrong, but they are really weak compared to later shows in the tour, which is unsurprising. The 3.0 penchant for nailing the opener really hasn't been true since '12.

Of course I was disappointed when everyone but Trey stopped playing after that 2.0 sounding darkness from Trey in the Ghost (that ripcord wasn't on him), and also the tail end of Feugo which they could've ridden for another 10 minutes at least. But this show just turned on a dime with a NEW SONG providing the energy needed to make the show memorable. When was the last time a new song turned around the vibe of an entire set? Ever? Everything after that was pure funktastic lasergold.

Usually I'm the guy arguing with the placid apologists talking about how the type i tightness made up for the lack of big jams, but this time I swear it's true. Trey had been toying with the Jerry fanning/scrubbing for the past couple of years on songs like Slave and Wedge, and the one 'nod to Jer' (cringe) is the full embrace of the 77 style fanning to a peak. Hell, even Sample had quite an ending because of this. It just gives the jam such incredible power and I wouldn't be surprised if songs like Sand and Wolfman's are given this treatment in the vein of Fire and Deal, respectively.

But enough Dead talk. Trey's playing was inventive and melodic at a consistently high level the whole show. Check out the Feugo solo or the waterfall descending/ascending trills of the Weekapaug or the double stop funk of the rhythm/solo on No Man's blending perfectly with Page's clav work. Shit, even Devotion to a Dream is worth paying attention to. There were no *unintentional* missed root notes in the soloing, the sustain was strong on the melodic landing pads that needed to be emphasized, there was way less middle of the road pentatonic stuff, and Trey nailed the rhythm while still playing 16th and 32nd notes (something that's been a struggle in 3.0). This isn't just tightness we're talking about here, as in not screwing up Rift too badly, but the subtlety and inventiveness that made a '94 or '95 first set something to pay attention to even in lieu of any Spilts or Antelopes or Rebas.

I think this was the strongest show for Trey, just in terms of soloing, since June of '04. If that's not enough to give it a few more listens, I don't know what would be. I suspect that the fanbase (myself included) has become way more jam addicted because, quite frankly, the regular ass playing on regular ass songs has been pretty weak for the most part over the stretch of entire shows in this era. The importance of the show from this perspective is being able to say something like, man did you catch that devotion to a dream? I damn sure didn't expect to ever type that.