Live Trax Vol. 25

For the first show of a tour, this is pretty solid. That said, I find 2006 to be such a strange year, and this show really exemplifies it. You have the band sounding generally great, and bangers like GRANNY, GREY ST., RAVEN, JTR, GRACE, PIG, and EVERYDAY. On the other hand, you have the absolute slop that is HUNGER, STEADY, SMOOTH RIDER, and BAYOU. Unfortunately, the only other release from 2006, the Fenway shows, is horrific to the point of unlistenable (at least to me). So, I'm hoping for another release in the near future. In any event, here are some song-specific thoughts on this show. GRANNY is a great opener. GREY ST. is a little heavy on the organ, but otherwise sounds great, and Roi's solo is ripping. RAVEN is a little slow, but it sounds great, and I really like Boyd and Rashawn's touches; at the same time, the jam is a little all over the place and it seems like they didn't have the sequencing down. Dave's vocals are sooo labored on STEADY, but even if they weren't, this song is just so pedestrian; it lacks everything that makes a DMB song great (catchy guitar riff, innovative drumming, room for improvisation). JTR is a great performance, with the exception of whatever Boyd did in the transition to the jam. JIMI is good but not great, with the jam being neither energetic nor jazzy, and at 20 minutes it's far too long. The lyrics are all over the place on PIG, but that first chorus is absolute magic, and it's very good from that point forward. EVERYDAY is strong and punchy, probably my favorite performance of the song. Dave's vocals are top notch and the trumpet and organ dial everything up nicely. SISTER is a little wobbly, WHERE YOU ARE is great, and then you have an absolute clunker of a closer in BAYOU.