Live Trax Vol. 40

For whatever reason, when this was released I thought it was average. Not now! What an awesome show almost from top to bottom. Everyone is having a good night, even Boyd. That opening run of DRIVE, GRANNY, and PIG is a dream, especially with Stefan so prominent in the mix. FOOL TO THINK is a great performance, and really well placed. SEEK UP is a nice mid-set treat, and not *too* stretched out. The show comes down a notch (at least for me) during the closing run: Dave flubs the lyrics to SPACE, and his voice is really struggling during SO MUCH and TOO MUCH (although everyone else sounds great). I feel the same way about SEX MACHINE today that I did almost 22 years ago when I saw it in person: meh. But that encore of HALLOWEEN (best as-yet released performance IMO) and ANTS is a killer way to end. Of the officially released 2002 shows, this comes in just behind 7/29/2002 for me, but it’s close.