, attached to 2017-07-23

Review by MrPalmers1000DollarQ

MrPalmers1000DollarQ Continuing the upward trajectory, Red Velvet Night of the Baker's Dozen stands out as an easy favorite of mine among the first three shows. This one brings a wide variety of tunes with plenty of unique jamming and great playing infused. Perhaps a bit on the more patient/subdued side, but I definitely felt like the jams here had a bit more direction and inspiration than the previous couple of nights and I picked out a few moments where the show's uniqueness is appreciated.

Setlist Thoughts
- Right off the bat, we dive into the velvet theme with a sweet cover of Velvet Underground & Nico's Sunday Morning (also apropos of the show's date). Haven't seen a video of Fish's antics, but from the written descriptions, it sounds like this was an especially entertaining opener. Mike lays down a nice little bass solo in there too.
- Axilla and Your Pet Cat pick up the energy a bit. YPC has plenty of nice riffing and sampling from Page. Neither song ventures out too far, but both are played pretty well and allow for some great singing/dancing.
- Back on the Train is the first tune to get out for a walk, and boy is it a nice one. This jam chart version sees plenty of great moments for Mike to shine before slowly building in volume and energy. Trey sets up some cool motifs in his solo, upon which Fishman capitalizes to add some rhythmic variance to a usually stagnant tune. Sweet peaks before bringing back the main groove.
- Not always my favorite tune, but How Many People Are You sees Page really shine on the organ, bumping it up a few points in my book. Fishman has some fun, spirited ad libs in the middle of the jam. There's a short little outro jam that I don't think this song usually has, but it makes for a more compelling performance.
- Hellll yeah Glide was just what I needed to get bought right back in. All things considered, it's played pretty well and the crowd definitely loved to sing along to this one (as always).
- Theme From the Bottom is kept a bit on the tamer side, and Trey foregoes the usual guitar riff in the pre-a cappella build up which hurt the grandness a bit. But this is quickly made up for with a STELLAR It's Ice. The jam section here is reeeaal drawn out with a few different sections. At first we get a chilled out, open funk groove in a Dorian mode that allows for plenty of riffing from Page and Trey. The synths come in to accompany Trey's broken chord strumming and build some great tension. As Trey and Page descend into a soupy drone, Mike and Fishman maintain course to allow the It's Ice jam to come right back in.
- Set 1 finishes with a pretty fiery More. Again, not usually one of my favorites, but they definitely advocate for the tune with some great Type I jamming. There must be something more!
- And boy is there. A longer-than-usual Type I AC/DC Bag rips open Set 2. At first, the jam remains fairly subdued as Trey leans off the volume. But once the double-time groove kicks in, Trey picks up the energy.
- From here we get an absolutely killer three-song run. Wolfman's Brother has some great Type I peaks in the middle before giving way to a chiller beat. Mike gets some time in the spotlight as Page and Trey (with the help of his delay pedals) form a dark and groovy atmosphere. This jam falls apart into an ethereal, spacy ambience full of Trey/Page noodling, cymbal swells, and well-place bass. Slowly, the song takes an identifiable shape again as a slow, semi-dreadful march.
- Trey gives the signal to take things into Twist. The jam here has a few different parts, beginning as a pretty, major jam that features plenty of keys and eventually becoming a swelling and slightly chaotic rock jam. The synths are abundant!
- From here, we move onto Waves (the highlight of the evening in my opinion). The main tune is played pretty well and Trey gets some light solos in. The final minutes of this tune are again spacy and ambient. This moment of the show immediately reminded me of Fukuoka with it's delicacy and patience. Though I don't think the jamming could be considered as legendary as 6/14/00, this is certainly a standout moment of 3.0 for me. The heavy use of experimental synths and reverbs, intentional and sparse percussive elements, and the shift from mostly major drones to a beautifully dark and eerie finish mark this jam with plenty of distinctive elements. Probably my favorite moment of Baker's Dozen so far.
- Miss You is played pretty well, and the finish of Trey's solo is certainly spirited. However, what I really needed at this point in the show was some more dancing, so I was thankful for the Boogie On Reggae Woman which provides plenty of groove under some reverse-delay Trey.
- As Boogie On fades out, you can feel it's getting near closing time. We're quickly reminded of the night's theme with a beautiful rendition of Wading in the Velvet Sea that lets ballad shred Trey take us for one more sweet solo. Very grand ending on this one.
- Encore was not the Rock and Roll I had hoped for, but a Sweet Jane bust out is absolutely welcome. Tough song to sing, but Page brings a lot of fun to this one. The solo section here is really well done by all members, concluding the night on a high note.


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