After two weeks off we have the first of a four night run before New Year's in New Haven. Good recording.

Starting off with a decent Maze to get settled in, Page does a great job on his solo as does Trey. Paul finds the delay and tweaks the soundboard further during a nice Sparkle. Mike takes his time getting into a funky Foam which has a few rough spots, but otherwise nice and dynamic. A strange position for Buried Alive has Trey telling a story of his ancestry and family in attendance. They never really play the song proper, unless the recording was cut, which I heard no evidence of that. Moving on right into a good Glide so that Trey can truly appreciate his family being there. Ice also had a few rough spots, but not too bad. Bouncing was pretty standard and almost sounded like Trey was a bit out of tune. Rift was ok and was a little uneasy during the solo transitions in the middle. Golgi also had a few weak spots from Trey. The crowd dutifully quiets down for a nice Adeline before the Antelope closer. Antelope itself was anticlimactic for some reason and at the end Trey inexplicably says "eggplant"? Anyway, pretty good closer to an uneasy first set.

On to the second set with a functional bluegrass call in Poor Heart that was nicely done. Melt had a few problems early on, but nothing too bad. Reba, on the other hand, had rough spots all the way through and you could tell by the end Trey was happy to be done with that one as he calls out The Sloth. Haven't heard this one in a while and it sounds like they haven't either. YEM continues with the rough, sloppy playing tonight. Not sure if it was nerves, or gremlins in the equipment or what, but tonight is just not as tight as the Canadian shows were. The vocal jam out of YEM was cool and funny as usual. Lizards also proved to be an ambitious call, but failed to deliver the goods as the sloppy play continued. Monitor feedback was also present. The usual HYHU bookends a very sloppy Bike, complete with band intros and missed lyrics. Even Fishman is off tonight. Hood's intro contained signals and funny reggae style left over from Bike. Just kind of an average performance overall and for some reason Trey says "cheesecake" at the end. Precursor to Big Cypress' key word seven years earlier? Cavern makes for a good closer to a very uneven show.

The crowd complies once again to shush up for a cappella Memories. Nicely done. Sounds like Trey is teasing Contact for the crowd before rocking out a sloppy Fire.

Good energy tonight, but nothing seemed to go completely right with each song. Maybe tomorrow will be better?