Live Trax Vol. 22

Strap in, this is a long one—both the show and my review of it. In my opinion, this is the definitive DMB 3.0 (post-Roi) show. Everyone was on fire on this night, Jeff in particular, who was at the height of his powers in 2010. This show is transcendent in a way few others are. Also, the mix is excellent. Read on for a rare song-by-song review from me. STONE: Awesome opener. Great solo by Jeff and nice drumming by Carter; there's so much detail to his work on this song. WAREHOUSE: Great passion intro. Actually, the entire song is great, although I'd like to have Dave's guitar a bit higher in the mix. You can hear Carter's excitement at the end of the song, shouting at the other band members. GRACE: Fantastic. The harmonies on the chorus are great, as is Boyd's background playing and Tim's twangy guitar. Dave's voice is strong. Jeff's outro solo is a lot of fun, and upbeat. And then the hoe-down is a nice touch. I don't think it's the best official release of the song (that's gotta be from 2000-2002), but it's up there. SEVEN: This isn't my favorite song—not by a long shot—but on this night it's rocking and polished in a way it rarely is. One of the best officially released versions. DIE TRYING: Awesome. Some people crap on this song but since 2010 I think it's been a consistent highlight of shows, even if I actually miss Boyd on it quite a bit. The jam is absolutely rocking; Dave's scatting is on another level. TRIPPING: Just rocking. Boyd is all over it. Carter shouting "BT!" at the end. CRY FREEDOM: A good moment in the show for a come-down after all that energy. Boyd is beautiful on this—really beautiful. The layering of sounds during the jam is really stunning… it makes you lose yourself a bit. A severely underrated song. HANDS OF GOD: Great story before the song; I love how Carter is cracking up while Dave tells it. Played at pace with the drums really driving. Love Jeff's build up to the solo. Great London Bridge interpolation. Fuck, this is incredible. IMO this is the best-ever official release of the song. GRAVEDIGGER: Fucking A… I thought this would be a bit of a reprieve but I forgot how unhinged this song was in 2010. Epic! Love the double horns. ONE SWEET: Hello, instrumental intro! Not the same without Roi, but Rashawn does a good job with it. Then not straight into the song, but into the other intro. Interesting. You can understand how this show ended up being so long. The verses and choruses are good but not standout. The horns towards the ending have a sort of strange muted quality to them; can't tell if it’s the playing or the mix. I do like Tim's fade out at the end. The jam is fucking weird as shit. RAPUNZEL: On any other night this might be a highlight… tonight it's merely great, but not a standout. I do like how up in the mix Stefan is. The jam is pretty great though, love Rashawn in it. WHY I AM: Good, but nothing special. BUSTED STUFF: I don't like how this sounded in 2010; not even the magic of this night can save it. It's too much of everything: too much electric guitar, too much drums, too intense vocals. It robs the song of what makes it so great. It doesn't help that Dave loses the plot a few times. Not even a good solo by Jeff can save it from being out of place and out of character. #41: What even is this show with #41 showing up so late in the set? Absolutely crazy. I would say this show is one of Dave's most inspired pieces of full-band set writing. This is a unique and impressive performance of the song that moves from one chapter to another quite seamlessly. And once again, Jeff is all over it. But the ending does get stretched out a bit too long. SHAKE ME: Fine. TWO STEP: Tim's solo is awesome, as are Carter and Stefan's work driving the beat behind it. There's just so much going on in the rhythm section here. Great transition into Carter's solo, and the post-Carter jam is absolutely rocking. YOU AND ME: Not my favorite song, but this is a great performance of it. Love the pace and the horns. SO DAMN LUCKY: The definitive performance of the song. The ending is so dreamy: the drums, the bass, Tim's guitar, the double horns, the crowd's backing vocals… everything layers together so perfectly.