This show began much in the way that the previous show had ended- with great flow and firmly rooted in the foundation that warm summer shed nights demand drippy muddy funk. I had almost no problems with the first set. The opening Wolfman's, Your Pet Cat, Blaze On, Waking Up Dead, and Llama had Mike's pulsating bass, Page's clavinet chops, and Trey & Fish holding everything else together. Devotion to a Dream gets a pass due to those first five songs. Reba brings us back with precision and then a really, really patient Trey doesn't dive in with his mid 90's esque soft Reba solo until at least eight measures into Mile's plodding bass. I agree with someone in the Mann1 live show feed posting that Trey is laying back during some of the solos for others to step up during jams, and this Reba jam allowed Mike and Page to start painting first before Trey stepped in with his brush. Now- in my opinion the highlight of the show is the Mike's Song jam. Trey again going low profile and Page stands up while we get down. Crunchy Mike's Songs are something rare to be found nowadays. This reminded me somewhat of the 2014 Mann Mike's on 7.9.14- due to the funk factor alone. Horm and Farmhouse chilled us out a bit, but then a nice Weekapaug to close the set left us with high hopes for the 2nd frame.

Now C&P set the place off with jumping madness, as we all lost our collective sh*t. Friends was weird, I thought it was more of a joke song and to me sounded almost atonal- but I wouldn't put it past the boys to write something like that on purpose. DWD brought us back and shape shifted into What's the Use, then finally into the last good song of the set- Meatstick. For the record, I have a weird relationship with Meatstick. I haven't heard it at a show since Big Cypress, so for me it was a moral victory to finally hear a song that brings back such memories.

The real sticking point with this show will be the 4th quarter. The Line, Tide Turns, BDTNL, and Dem Bones let the air out of the 2nd set and it ends in a whimper. I notice they roll off stage around 11:06 and come back on around 11:10 or so- so I tell my crew we might get a two song encore. Dear Prudence and Hood help to put the show back on a respectable pedestal, but far far FAR removed from those funky first set memories that all seemed so distant.

To sum it up- listen to the first set, all of it. For me the highlights are Waking Up Dead, the slow Llama, and that crunchy clavinet Page driven Mike's Song. The second set had a few moments, but just no great flow- as Mann1's second set was so BIG on the night before.