Call it attendance bias, but the second set of this show was a fever dream of music. I knew this to some degree before but the last two nights of music make me understand what Jerry was saying when talking about Dark Star… “you don’t need to begin it so much as enter it”… The band welcomes you with a familiar and unassuming NMNML and then guides you along swirling and undulating soundscapes. Ruby waves and pillow jets pass like mile markers along the expansive highway taking you to the origins of life itself. Before we got too comfortable the screeching of our pet cat reminded us we do not want a goldfish. The screeching got louder, more frequent, more frantic, until smoothly dissolving back into No Mans effortlessly like the expert time travelers the band has evolved into. The Fluffhead that followed made me remember back in 2009 when a band I thought I would never see got back together and started a new trajectory of compelling music bringing us to the show last night and what’s to come the next two.

This level of improvisation is astounding and I feel so privileged to be audience to what this band has become.

Oh and the secret set is worth a listen.