DMBlive Vol. 23

This currently holds the title of earliest official release. I have a few overarching thoughts about the show. First, it's remarkable how so many songs that we know and love today were, more or less, fully formed fewer than 18 months into the band's existence (BEST, JIMI, TYPICAL, SATELLITE, MINARETS, ANTS, RECENTLY, CRY FREEDOM, TWO STEP, NANCIES, and TRIPPING). Second, something that always strikes me as unique about 1992–1994 is how Boyd and Roi were playing almost constantly: little flourishes here and there, overtones and undertones, omnipresent. Third, Peter absolutely ruins this show; if you think Buddy's playing is cheesy, you ain't heard nothing yet. With the exception of a few songs towards the end of the show (I'm thinking of RECENTLY and SPOTLIGHT in particular), I find it to be absolutely horrific. Reflecting on specific moments in the show, BEST is so slow compared to where it ended up, whereas SATELLITE is played at a torrid place. When Boyd started playing on LOVER I nearly fell off my chair; I can't recall ever hearing it before, although I'm sure I have. Stefan's playing on WHAT WOULD is my personal highlight of the show, especially the walk during the transition from chorus to verse. DRIVE and LIE IE are such early experimentations, although you can see both songs' promise. I've always thought SPOTLIGHT was a strong song musically and even lyrically for the most part, and this is one of the highlights for me, along with CRY FREEDOM, which follows. Actually, the closing five-song run (including TRIPPING in the encore) is my favorite slice. I want to rate this show higher, because there are really strong moments, but Peter's playing—especially for the first two thirds—prevents me from doing so.