Take Me Back: Live from the Gorge

No reason to get excited! You never know… it could happen. If it did, what would you say? It would be easy to explain this show as Dave and the band wanting to have a little fun with the fanbase, but it’s so much more than that. Having been in attendance and lived it in the moment, “Take Me Back” is the perfect name for this release. The show was so much more than the sum of its parts, and this release captures it beautifully. It’s almost certainly the best setlist since the Winter 2000 tour, unspoiled by the lowlights of the post-Busted Stuff era. I’ve always dreamed of WATCHTOWER opening a full-band show, and it didn’t disappoint. I was in attendance the last time the Flecktones joined the band for #41; that performance was objectively better than this one, although Howard’s harmonica playing was particularly lovely on this night. And then we get into the feature of the show: Before These Crowded Streets in its entirety, and in order. Has there ever been a setlist with so many S-tier songs (I count YOU NEVER KNOW, #41, LAST STOP, DON’T DRINK, STONE, CRUSH, DREAMING TREE, PIG, SPOON, and TRIPPING among them)? One of the great things about getting all of BTCS in a single show is that you get most of Stefan’s coolest bass lines: PNP, RAPUNZEL, LAST STOP, CRUSH, DREAMING TREE, PIG, and TRIPPING are among his very best. As for the performances of the BTCS songs, they’re not without their flubs (LAST STOP lyrics, HALLOWEEN flub, DREAMING TREE pacing, SPOON early entry), but after five full listens I’ve decided it doesn’t matter. The highs easily outweigh the lows. Speaking of the highs, I keep coming back to PIG, which is really something else on this night. On the lows, there’s the obvious RYE WHISKEY (I don’t mind the song, but Dave’s voice was shot at this point). Beyond that and the flubs I already mentioned above, you have a clunky transition to Joe’s solo in CORNBREAD, an up-and-down IT COULD HAPPEN, and some Rashawn shrieking (especially during STAY). But look, this was a show for the ages and the release lives up to its hype. I comfortably rate it HC and am confident I’ll still feel this way many years out.