[We would like to thank user Suzy Barros (@SuzyDrano) for recapping last night's show. -Ed.]

In a lot of ways, I feel like the perfect person to be recapping this show, being a (sometimes) jaded vet who enjoys most of the songs true jaded vets deride. Perfect example of this being show opener “Julius,” which I recall getting into a bit of a heated debate on Twitter a couple of years ago in defense of it serving as the encore of a show instead of the Tweeprise that everyone had expected/hoped for. Who wouldn’t rather hear an 8ish minute bluesy boogie than 4 minutes of the same-same? Everyone else in the world apparently. But I digress….

This was my third time to Nashville (my other two trips being to see Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny holla), so I already felt like I had good Nashville music juju going for me. My show bud Marnie, having had some flight debacles earlier in the day, prompted me to get to the show on the later side, since I was flying solo, but still early enough to catch the pre-show tunes of Tammy Wynette and Leo Nocentelli. Boy, the pre and post-show tunes always kill, don’t they?

Anyway, lights went down, the crowd went wild, and they tore into the aforementioned “Julius,” which I didn’t think I had EVER seen as a show opener. But, upon checking my stats, noticed I had in fact, albeit 27 years ago, seen "Julius" open a show, so it seemed very fresh and non-expected, even though who knows what the hell Trey is going to pick as show opener these days. Super high energy version, with everyone really going crazy and sounding fantastic and happy to be back on terr (join the club).

Then a fairly jammed out version of “Back on the Train,” another personal boogie favorite of mine. Super peaky ending on this one helping to further support the hope that this was going to be a fun as hell show. Trey gave a nice hearty welcome on its heels before slithering into “Moma” (good call guy behind me, a good 20 seconds before it started). I don’t know what this “orange whip” sample is that Fish has going on, is that new or has it been popping up in recent shows? [It's new. -Ed.] Launching into “Axilla”…was it going to be I or II…hey it’s I! Obviously the better of the two, so thanks for bringing it back, guys, giving it the II “don’t shine that thing in my face man” etc outro, which kept spacily on until rolling into “Maze.”

Just keeping on with the super high energy, this "Maze" didn’t disappoint (not that I’m ever disappointed by a "Maze"). Page threw a little “Spooky” tease into the beginning of his solo, a nice crumb of solace to those of us disappointed by the lack of a Halloween run. Again, massive peak in this one, with Trey, Fish, Mike and Page all playing at an 11. HOW old are they again?? Into “Wolfman’s Brother”, more high energy, another crazy peak topped off with a “DEG” cherry at the end.

“My Soul” followed, which is always something I’m totally delighted to see, and then probably the best “Destiny Unbound” I’ve ever seen them play was performed. The shredathon, all-good-times-all- the-time set ended with a Fierce as Hell “Character Zero.” Again, a jaded vet will look at this set and give a hearty “meh,” but they couldn’t be farther from being wrong wrong wrong. This set absolutely slayed.

Going into Set II, my show bud Marnie finally made it just in time for YES! “Jiboo!” Hell yeah, gotta love a Jiboo set opener, bringing all those old-school goosebump-inducing digital delay loop vibes to the start of the jam. YET ANOTHER sick crazy peak to finish off this Jiboo that I thought had some 20-minute legs for a few there. But of course, keeping with the recent tradition of the 2^nd song of the 2^nd set being JOTN, “Oblivion” came next.

This was the third jammed-out "Oblivion" since its debut, only cementing its certainty as being one of the newer “you should be excited when they start this due to its serious jam potential” tunes. The jam itself took a bit to get going but once it did, what a jam it was. They killed it.

Apparently, I’ve got some “Torn and Frayed” vibes since I’ve now seen the last three they’ve played and have become the preeminent person in my section for calling it. Not to keep repeating myself but AGAIN ANOTHER SICK PEAK. Of course, “Light” is always welcome and even though this wasn’t a monster version, it was still fantastic. It seemed like it had legs for days or at least another ten minutes but Trey suddenly decided it was time for a little “Fuego” action.

Another moment in which I can see the JVs among us doing an eyeroll. But this baby did not disappoint, featuring a very cool Page-driven effects-laden spacy ending. Unsure if there has been a "Fuego>Santos” until now, but man what a great pairing it is. Super duper Fish banging the hell out of his drums head-banging rock n roll ending!

Crowd went wild as expected for such an expectation-defying first show of the tour, and then I went wild as I heard the first gentle guitar string plucking of my beloved “Antelope.” Unfortunately, I was wrong as they tricked me and launched into “Bouncing Around the Room.”

I was in such a good mood at this point that it didn’t even matter, and I joined the crowd in the sing-along of this beloved (by most?) old-timer. Absolute ripper of a “46 Days” followed to top off a SUPER high energy show except, what’s that? Is it, could it be, IT IS!!!!!

Hello, my dear sweet "Antelope," thank you for capping off my night in the best way possible. I must fluff this one a little bit, because I do think it’s one of the best Antelopes in recent memory, but I probably think that to myself every time. Anyway, Fish apparently agreed with my sentiment, giving a nice little “YUH!” sample to kick things off. I can’t think of a better sentiment to title this recap with, as this show was IMHO a definite “YUH!” and more. I can’t wait for the next two nights!

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