, attached to 2017-07-28

Review by n00b100

n00b100 Set 1: Good clean fun - love the song selection; Free luxuriates in its jam for a few extra minutes Dayton '17 style; The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony pops up unmoored from Suzy or Bag for one of the few times outside, like, 1990; Chocolate Rain is an inspired opening choice; Divided Sky gets past some rough opening flubs to give us a lovely version; Sand steps out for a few blissful upbeat minutes before returning home a bit more abruptly than one would like (it almost certainly would've gone on longer earlier in the set). Who doesn't want Destiny Unbound and Weigh in a set together?

Set 2: A sweet Have Mercy gives way to an absolutely mammoth Chalk Dust Torture, one of the finest of the modern era (and believe you me when I say this is high praise indeed). They drop down to a lower gear almost out of the gates, Page on electric piano and Mike doing the damn thing, then Fish kicks the jam back into high gear as everybody meshes together in delightful harmony. Fish gets a brief "solo" as a warm, low-key groove emerges, Trey hitting on a cool repeating pattern and Page matching him on piano, then Page returns to piano and some stabbing chords lead us to grimy rocking out. The woodblock pops in as Mike takes control, then the jam tears itself briefly apart and rebuilds around some Echoplex-y playing, before Page's synths lead them to a new segment (the band is just shifting from mood to mood on a dime, it's unreal). A driving Page-led groove emerges, then shifts gears again as Page returns to piano and some really motorized riffing from Trey adds energy to the proceedings, and then the band magically builds to what many consider a Harry Hood-type peak (it's pretty close, I gotta say) before winding to a close.

Hot Chocolate's You Sexy Thing (!) comes next, Mike singing it with every last bit of vocal ability he has left, and (as was normal with the BD) Mike shifts the music to a darker minor key, with some more Echoplex-y playing and Page abusing the ol' clavinet as only he can. The band stays in this dark and gruesome zone, Page's synths and weirdo effects floating around as Mike and Fish hold things together, and then as the jam dies away Mercury steps up to the plate (it's really made its bones as a Set 2 vehicle, IMO). They shake off some early flubs and give us the usual luverly Mercury jam, and Page gently suggests major key, with the rest of the band following him for a brief section of joyfulness, before Mike catches onto the bassline to You Sexy Thing (!!) and they segue back into that song in genius fashion (giving us a genuine You Sexy Thing sandwich), Trey takes a nice solo, and they quickly head to a close. Number Line and Rock & Roll close the set proper, and a chocolate donut-referencing Fee and Space Oddity end another tremendous show.

Final thoughts: The CDT > YST > Mercury -> YST run is possibly the finest of the entire Baker's Dozen, and that's saying something. Yet another absolute skullcrusher of a show.


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