4/10/10 ~ The Brew ~ Portsmouth Music Hall ~ Portsmouth, NH

I've been seeing this band for almost two years to the date and it seems like the rest of the world is finally catching on. Some have criticized the band for changing its sound recently for the purpose of winning over more main stream audiences but I am pretty sure this is not the case. The band has grown leaps and bounds and wants to move forward as opposed to doing the same old thing. I will admit many of the newer songs don't do it for me but I feel like the band and most of the crowd is really feeling them. Even with changes in the song many "jam kids" have stuck around and we put up with the "newbs" just fine.

The first set started with a lot of energy with the band playing tight as hell. The Sharks intro was the way I like it but far from the nastiest I've ever seen. Hello Goodbye was played pretty fast and lacked the cool solo but the vocal jam section made up for this. The Hunters included a very interesting prog'd out intro before moving to the normal strumming intro. The real jam highlight of this set was the Control where Dave really got to stretch his legs. Overall I think I enjoyed this set the most and seeing them in a big room was a dream come true.

Set number two opened with very well received Foreplay / Longtime and although I'm not a fan of such radio staples I will admit it sounded amazing in a large room. I got very excited for The Flood having not seeing one since 2008 and some douche bags on the floor turned it into a lighter band song.... The old school Fly By Night was a real treat as always and I'm glad it will (presumably) end up on The DVD. I wish the band would have had a little more time for the Swiss encore but it was pretty nasty yet bottled up.

Overall the band put on a great show for a commercial DVD that should be out soon enough. I'm sure we will keep seeing a good mix of styles in Brew shows and hopefully some more sick jam style show for us veterans. Overall I've had nothing but great times over the past two years with the band and hope our good relations will continue. I can't give anyone (audio) copy's of the show at this time but if you want to come listen to it with me we can work something out.

4/10/10 ~ Portsmouth Music Hall ~ Portsmouth, NH

The Brew with The Han Solos opening

{8:00pm - 11:05pm}

1. Intro > Chance Reaching > Castle Walls > Sharks In The Pool, Hello Goodbye*# > Slipping Through The City#, New Funk, No Future, Hunters Moon > First of Things% > Seen It All# > Control > Looking Down

2. Foreplay / Longtime**#, Eyes Of The Giant%, The Flood#, Sad But True > Fly By Night, The Girl's What I Want, I Do Believe%, No Rest > Poison Stone, Faces, Whose The Boss

E: Radio Swiss


{* The Beatles, ** Boston, # Matt Paine on pedal steel, % Seth Campbell on flute}