First set was pretty standard fare until the Forbin > Mockingbird. During the narration (all perhaps 20 seconds of narration) Trey mentioned that he didn't want to give something away. Little did we know at that point what he was talking about, but it had something to do with these crazy bearded aliens that Mike and Trey were wearing on their t-shirts. Ok, hmmmm... Anyway, like I said Forbin > Mockingbird these days is a rare treat. First set award should go to Wolfman's though. It got into a sweet funky groove with exploration foreshadowing the second set. I really enjoyed this, but it wasn't too special. Scents duel seemed a bit perfunctory, but I guess is standard these days. Page blows anyone off the stage anyway, so what's the point of dueling, right? Both STFTFP and Axilla were played white hot and Faulty Plan had Trey echoing the refrain into a reverb echo that was downright scary.

Second set: Backwards Down the Number Line is a great happy opener. This was well-played, bright and colorful. The Rock and Roll that started afterwards was also upbeat, but once the jamming started (undoubtedly Charlotte Jam) it all got warm and fuzzy. Fairy dust was spotted. The jam opened up as Mike took us into some strange territory and then Page and Trey started trading some nice meaty chops. They were peaking for a while and took it down low. There seemed to be one part where they were all looking for where they would go next, but they seemed to realize they were where they were trying to really go and then took the time to let things flow. Damn! We were hosed here. It was really nice. I heard a beat that I swore was "Twist" but then there were growls and "Ghost" was just there in all its glory.

This was perhaps the brightest "Ghost" I have ever heard. It did start out somewhat dark, but once the jam got going it seemed to be very joyful, warm almost. This was my favorite part of the night, dancing to the ecstatic waves of phantasmal glee. Just blazing hot too. Trey was absolutely on fire here and the others were right there with him. What a band! They can still surprise me. Yummy.

Ok, Free that followed was standard 3.0 Free - that is, well-played but not jammed out nearly enough. It's still a great song though. Reba that followed was executed with ruthless precision in the composed part - ok, we get it, you guys still have it - and then the jam was beautifully mellifluous. I'm telling you, this was also really bright.

Bright, happy stuff tonight!

Icculus... Anything I say will diminish it. Hopefully they will make a video of this.

Bike was its usual craziness. Jon took lots of bows. "Best drummer in the world," my son said. "Best vacuum cleaner player too," I responded. The solo went a little longer than usual, but "Bike" is always welcome to me.

You Enjoy Myself that ended was its usual excellence. The jamming here did get pretty dark and the vocal jam had shades of mounting chaos, before it all dissipated.

Double encore: Wilson, Loving Cup

Lots of Gamehendge tonight. Good show. I think a little better than average but I do not think it's the best of the tour. It is an interesting show though.