This show really showed the guys at the top of their game, with some of the cleanest, most intricate, elegant, and commanding guitar playing I've heard from them in a while. After 4 months of rest and home cooked meals and a warm up gig the night before, moe. was sharper than I have seen them in a long time. In the last few years I have seen Chuck and Al experimenting with Trey Anastasio's later style, jumping right into solos with as much wah-wah, whammy bar and feedback as possible and then trying to maintain that level of intensity for the next ten minutes. Saturday night at the Fillmore both Chuck and Al played with unbelievable discipline and restraint, and perhaps even a sense of maturity in their work. Al let the crescendo of his solos build slowly and with a certain circumstantial ascendance. Chuck maliciously wailed on my soul, with a deep bottomless supremacy. Shredding the abyss of my ear drums, while constructing and manufacturing a sound that I can only compare to the din of Jimmy Page's slide guitar. The highlights of the show for me were the immaculate climax's of Lazurus and The Road. After the show was over there was a sense of faultless accomplishment that could be felt floating throughout the crowd and could be seen on the band members faces. There was a twinge of bashful pride in Al's voice during the banter before the encore. The smile on every fans face in the room said the same collective thought, "Wow.... look how great you guys have grown up to be." This show is absolutely worth 10 dollars.
