Live Trax Vol. 45

This is a great release. The setlist is awesome, from the DREAMGIRL opener (the prelude makes it) to the absolutely slamming three-song run of TYPICAL (the highlight of the show IMO), ANTS, and HALLOWEEN to close. On paper the encore is ripping, although PIG and TWO STEP are slightly sub-par performances on this night. Still, there's so much to like here. As I already said, DREAMGIRL makes for a great opener. DRIVE is sheer power; a great slot and a total banger even without top-notch lyrics. JOYRIDE is super punchy. WHAT WOULD is a great performance. I love the extended solo intro to CRUSH and wish Stefan would more regularly get time like this. The breakdown before the end jam of JTR is really cool, with Dave's weird vocals on it; more experimentation like this, please. GOOD TIMES is a fun cover and I had forgotten they played it. HELP MYSELF is a little choppy to start, but it cleans up and is solid. I love SO MUCH being played like this on its own. DRUNKEN SOLIDER is a solid, tight performance, and HUNGER is as good as the song gets. Finally, a mid-set Dave solo BELLY FULL is a great touch. Really the only low is the almost-11-minute-long MERCY that goes nowhere: if it ended after 5 minutes, or even 6 minutes, it would have been great. But almost 11 minutes? No thank you.