The Central Park Concert

I view this release as being similar to Listener Supported: a middle-of-the-road show from the band's golden era, which is to say it's very good but not especially noteworthy. Summer 2003 included 24 plays of CRY FREEDOM; 23 plays of STONE; 12 plays of LAST STOP; 10 plays of each of TYPICAL, PAY FOR, PIG, and SPOON; and 9 plays of YOU NEVER KNOW. And yet, none of them appear in this show. It was a decidedly mid set for the tour. But let's talk about the good stuff. For one, the sound is fantastic. These are among the best released performances of DON'T DRINK, SO MUCH, TOO MUCH, GRANNY, CRUSH, and TWO STEP on the basis of their performances, but also the sound quality. Those first five also make for an awesome opening run, and while I don't mind WORLD ENDS at all, coming after that opening run really does put it in its place. One of the highlights of this release for me is how Stefan and Butch come through so clearly and in a well-layered way. CRUSH, TWO STEP, and WHERE ARE YOU (with the fretless bass!) are excellent examples of this. This was the peak jazzy era for TWO STEP, and I'm here for it—it's probably my personal highlight of the show. Warren's appearance on CORTEZ and JIMI are fantastic, even if the ending to CORTEZ falls apart and I loathe the For What It's Worth outro to JIMI. Aside from the lack of distinctiveness of the setlist, the direct intro to ANTS has always been jarring to me and is especially so here. Dave, Carter, and Stefan are in the pocket for WATCHTOWER, but everything else is a bit of a hot mess. And that encore is way tastier on paper than in reality: all three are solid but unremarkable performances. I liked this more on re-listen than I remember, but it misses out on getting the top rating from me.