Pressure Drop

Shoney's Inn

Morrow, Georgia

Moonlight, daylight, lack of sleep... I am tired, I am weary, I could sleep a thousand years... Tennessee > Georgia > Tennessee > Georgia... syncopated beeps, rocking bloops...

Daylight was trickling in under the curtains by the time I crawled into my sleeping bag at a little after five. Check out was at eleven, and we had a four hour drive (plus a change in time zone) to get to Georgia. As with everything, it took considerably longer than planned to get out of town. A quick stop at Radio Shack and we were on our way -- unfortunately, for me, without food, shower, or more than four semi-solid hours of sleep on a motel floor.

The drive - skillfully executed by my friend Jackie - thankfully, was uneventful, though quite pretty. By the time we got to Atlanta, rush hour was just beginning and, thanks to the tactful use of walkie-talkies and cell phones, we managed to find a back road in. The tiny Lakewood lot was already well full by the time we arrived and we got raped for $15 in a sketchy field over by the highway. The venue is a cookie cutter amphitheater, the deviation being an exterior that looked like it could've been designed by Cass Gilbert, warm sandstone peaking over the edges of the unadorned walls.

A little bit of maneuvering landed is in a nice spot in the pavilion just before the band wandered on stage. Trey began strumming the opening to Ya Mar before Page had even reached his keyboards. Casually, the rest of the band joined in and the show was on its way. After hearing wonderful things about the Roseland Ya Mar, I was quite excited to hear the tune. It didn't disappoint. The first half of the jam stuck fairly close to the tune, before going out a ways in the second part.

The jam, and the whole show, had a lot of space in it, or so it seemed. During the midnight to sunrise set at Big Cypress on New Year's Eve, there seemed to be an infinite amount of room. The band didn't feel pressured to finish. There was no definite end. To a large degree, tour feels like that to me. I feel like I have an endless amount of space with which to experience the music. Consequentially, everything takes on a much more relaxed feel, with a nearly endless supply of energy from which to draw.

I feel no pressure for the band to play certain songs or do certain things. Oddly enough, the first two shows have been pretty strong across the board -- no pressure and high return.

During the first set, the two big jams - Bowie and Gin - seemed to meander in a bad way. Granted, I was extremely tired and falling asleep on my feet, so I couldn't give the set a really fair shake. On the memorable tip, Trey's playing during the Bowie intro carried a large Nashville influence, emulating a pedal steel, which blended nicely with the warm electronic sounds provided by Page and Mike. Each time I hear Heavy Things, I seem to notice some new part of its arrangement. Tonight, the syncopation of the bleep loop and Trey's playing provided for an interesting textural feel.

By setbreak, I was absolutely exhausted, fully ready to retreat to the rear of the lawn and lie down on the hill. If I didn't feel so lethargic, I would've. I didn't feel like moving from my seat. So I didn't. All I wanted to do was sleep. When the band launched into the Velvet Underground's Rock and Roll to open the second set, I inexplicably found myself on my feet dancing normally, as if I were fully awake. Miraculously, my energy remained for the duration of the set -- which was strong from start to finish.

Rock and Roll began with a typically bombastic Trey solo, which devolved into a short noise fest, out of which emerged a solid rock groove. Suddenly, there was a quick turn into a dark circus-sounding section. To my ears, this was the most exciting part of the show: an introduction of a theme wholly unrelated to the song. The band explored the theme briefly, though not long enough, before fading almost totally. As Page, Mike, and Fish dropped out of the mix totally, Trey took the pattern he was playing during the tail end of the evil theme and spun it down into the introduction of Jesus Just Left Chicago, like a sloppy version of the segue from Wolfman's Brother into Jesus on "Slip, Stich, and Pass".

Likewise, the Down With Disease moved quickly from a typical Trey solo into a full-band jam which got gradually quieter. Shortly, they were down to an almost silent level. Trey moved to the keyboards for pretty much the first time in the two shows, playing extremely subtle high-pitched sounds. Staying for a while at this mellow level, the jam exploded into the new arrangement of Twist.

The old arrangement of Twist, with its stadium filling introduction, was authoritative and powerful. The groove all but dictated that the band stay within its confines. What the new version lacks in authority, it gains in creativity. The song begins - like the Grateful Dead's the Wheel - sounding very much like a tune in progress. It sounds like a reprise -- like the band is going back into the song after a jam. The new version is much looser and functions more as an island in the middle of improvisation than a platform for a new launch.

Both Contact and Brian and Robert, normally quite minimal, were embellished by a fair amount of elegant fills by Trey. In the case of the former, it added greatly to the tune, freshening it up. In the case of the latter, it busied the song's sound and the song lost a deal of its beauty. Like the Radio City version, Character Zero had a jam inserted in the middle, as opposed to the usual cresting solo.

The second night of the tour was a success, as was the first. The music was interesting, the setlists were creative, and everything was compelling -- carrying from song to song and show to show.

Jesse Jarnow can be reached at jesse.jarnow@oberlin.edu or by his homepage.