After knowing what was played the previous two nights, the anticipation and energy were both notably high at the Greensboro Coliseum. The lights went down and the fans erupted! I thought I saw Trey lay out a setlist on his rig and which had me thinking some crazy things were going to happen. First set was a solid straight forward set. Nothing was over-played, but it was all well organized with high energy from the band. The "Chalkdust" opener put everyone into a moving frenzy of energy. Note to reader: I am pro-"Black Eyed Katy", but "The Moma Dance" on this tour, I feel explored more beautifully organized grooves between the band members. Most importantly, it was nice not to see so much emphasis on the insidious sighing as what’s usually heard when the Moma Dance transitions into the jam section. Foam is a always welcome treat, especially now that Page is stepping up and filling the gap of most jams with his beautiful grand piano. Next was "Lawn Boy", which let Page walk out from behind his rig and walk up to Trey’s mic to sing a little. The "Character Zero" was nothing special, and wasn't overly jammed out, but it was still solid. "Divided Sky" was beautiful, which can be tricky for Trey to get the feedback portion to work right in the jam, but he took control like there was no hiatus. During the freeze section of "Divided Sky", glow sticks were everywhere. I mean, it was insane how many where tossed at the band. Trey was catching a few during the frozen portion of the song and then quickly shook his hands to say "No, stop!". Come on people. Show some respect with the glow sticks and stop trying to hit a band member. "Mountains in the Mist" is another great song and I always prefer it in favor of most other slow songs. In my opinion, it should permanently replace" Roggae". "Waves" and then finally, "Sample in a Jar"closed the set.
Second set. Trey definitely was amped with high energy but none of the jams were as "out there" as I was expecting. Everything was played with superb arrangements and funky grooves. "Rock and Roll" was a fabulous opener to set the mood, as was "Wilson". You have to love being part of the whole crowd when everyone’s screaming, "Can you still have any fun now, Wilson?!" at the top of thier lungs. "Piper" came up next and was a stellar 20 minutes. Towards the end there was a point there at which it was not going anywhere and the band was playing this uninteresting repetitive groove. Then at the drop of a hat, they all started tearing it up and intensifying the groove a bit harder...after it simmered down everyone knew what the future had in store. "2001" was on deck. Wow, there was some amazing grooves being tossed around by everyone and Trey was dead on. Very nice rendition and of course, Kuroda and the crew were taking charge. Then as soon as "2001" ended, "Wolfman's" kicked right in. Mike was up slapping his bass throughout the jam. Then as the jam started to subside, Trey looked over at Mike, and then Mike double timed the pace, and slide into "Boogie On." Beautifully smooth transition but it wasn't too jammed out. "Velvet Sea"...totally out of place for the mood they had set for the second set , but it was perfect for getting some fresh air. Next was "Antelope"...wow! What an intense version. Back at Hampton two months ago, Kuroda seemed to be using filters on the lights. Not this time. The filters were off and the lights were concentrated. There was one point where white lights were flipping over and over similar to that of a YEM vocal jam for about 4 minutes and the jam was getting more and more intense and then Trey slowly eased into the peak portion. An a cappella "Carolina" closed the second set which refreshingingly brought back those old memories.
Encore. What more can you say?..."First Tube". Trey was clearly amped when he came out on stage and continued with his energy doing his foot syncopation dance to Fish’s off-accent beat. The people next to us left, so we had a small row between 5 people. Suckers...heh heh, because just when you thought about what kind of burrito would be in the lots, Bam! YEM. Totally unexpected. It's now 11:30 and my thoughts suddenly revert back to *12/30/97 Madison Square Garden while in the middle of the Sneaking Salley Reprise encore my buddy Al leans over to me and says, "Well, I guess we're not catching that 12:20 train out of Penn"* This YEM was tight, well done, funky and super-grooving, one of the sickest ones I've seen. Mike and Fish were playing off each other towards the end and Fish was laying down this incredible beat. A classic vocal jam ended the night. In the middle of the vocal jam I start hearing "Proud Mary"...then the boys all start going into it later on and finished the whole song. To sum up my experience at Greensboro, I was expecting something to top the previous two nights and although it didn’t, I go to dance and watch the band get their groove on all night. From an easy entrance in to the venue, to a friendly Coliseum crew, to the stellar show and encore, I exited feeling euphoria.... yet again.
