Is Spafford excited to be playing again? Sure sounds like it. Feels like it was an eternity.
Bee Jam and Windmill are good, firey versions, but nothing noteworthy (to me, of course). Memphis was the first jam of the evening that had me moving, complete with coherent samples for the transition into Be Strange.
Giants is really good. Soudns like they're teasing something - in the general chord progression - around 18 minutes. Can't quite palce it, though.
Minds lands in typical blissed-out peak fashion, but the journey there took a bit of a detour. Cory lays the gorundwork early on, with Nick hopping on board first, followed by Brian and Jordan. The end result is some unique thematic jamming from Brian before that classic Minds peak.
IMO, Minds laid the foundation for what happened in Eyes - a top-tier version to be sure.
The song breaks from its usual structure about 7:30 in, thanks to Nick, and the others latch on immediately. So much so, that a mere 40 seconds later, we're diving into true type 2 territory. A few minutes later Brian starts building a theme as Cory's initial theme dies down. For a minute both are happening at the same time and they don't sound in conflict with each other at all, impressively. Brian takes over as the main theme driver with Cory backing into a support role. This is the Spafford I love - when they start an original theme in a jam and slowly build it up to a rousing and emotive peak. This is followed up by quieter, spacier jamming before building back up (complete with a full band Liz Reed tease), and ultimately getting back into Eyes proper.
Good start to a great weekend!
