“Not only are we playing these shows for the pure pleasure of playing in front of you people tonight but we’re also trying out brand new material in the hopes that some huge magnificent band like Tool will ask us to go on tour or something...and we can show ‘em where it all came from” laughs Belew, tongue firmly in cheek.
The fourth and final evening at 12th & Porter begins with an absolutely explosive version of Level Five. Adrian’s high-octane guitar solo strips the paint off the walls and the tour-de-force continues with a fast-moving TCOL. Speed and fleet-fingered pace are features of a specially truncated version of FraKctured which bursts abruptly into life on the aggressive middle section instead of its usual fade in on the moto perpetuo. Complete with jokey sign-off Belew quips that it was “close enough for...something.”
Close enough might also be said to describe a slightly chaotic rendition of Vrooom and a good natured romp through Dinosaur. The material in development has a more pronounced focus to it tonight than on previous occasions. Clearly, there was still work to be done but instrumentally the main structures are firmly in place.
After this gig, the band’s next port of call would be the start of a tour on July 23rd at Bogarts in Cincinnati.
