This was no ordinary Saturday night. Building on the momentum from the previous night, the band blew the top off of SPAC, blasting straight into the stratosphere and leaving no doubt that when they aim to slay they simply don’t miss.

Set one begins with a an above average Free, Mike’s bass on full display. This is 8 minutes of pristine soulful Free and sets the tone for the evening: a tension snd release slug fest. Each song of the first set gets some TLC from the band and even the pillow jets, a somewhat awkward call, displays the bands patience and desire to elevate everything they come in contact with. Tube wins the first set MVP for me but mostly because, well, I love Tube. Hood rocks hard too to close the set and when the house lights are fired up for setbreak there are only smiles to be found.

34 minutes later the house lights drop and with opening growl of Down with Disease we are off to the races. Disease bleeds into a groove fest, delicately pushing from the peak of the outro into type II territory and the band locks in for another 10 minutes leaving the roughly 13 minute Disease unrecognizable toward the end. What was recognizable was the B+ segue into Ghost. Unlike the speed racer drive into Simple that lacked the delicate grace and patience, this Disease earned its sideways carrot and dash. Ghost haunts us for another 14 minutes and keeps the groove fest on track. A very welcome and surprising jam factoid, the band did not use the customary major key bliss bailout that has been a recent go to among a lot of jams. Instead, Ghost keeps the funk groove train rolling down the tracks so when 2001 is fired up, you know the next stop is funky town. Another concise and powerful 2001 delivers on the tension and release and foreshadows the onslaught of rageification that is about to ensue.

So, I tend to have my eyes everywhere but on the stage and even when I do take a moment to embrace the scene, it is short lived snd back to getting up to get down. As Golden Age launched I started getting these Allman Brothers vibes and clearly notated it in my set list tracker. I mean, it was full on Southern Rock and I made sure to let my neighbor know as much.

When Golden Age transitions to its improvised section, that Allman twang is front and center. I not it again. When the fire build and release of Golden Age bleeds into Everything’s Right the Allman influence is uncanny so I turn to face the stage and see a second guitarist on stage. WTF. I ask my neighbor who it is and when he tells me it’s Derrick Trucks so many light bulbs go off it could have been seen from space.

While the dueling guitars was spectacular the cohesiveness of the band blending another musician into their sound was what really stuck out (or didn’t stick out). Trucks stayed the course with the band though top notch renditions of ALBAD and First Tube. The possum encore ripped. shredded and built the crowd into a frenzy before releasing the energy back to its source.

We were left wanting more but in a way that accounts for the gratitude you have for having experienced a show like this one. Certainly worth a respin to ensure it holds up, but the “you had to be there” mentality was totally emanating through the pavilion. Blessed to have attended both nights and for a chance to really go next level with the band.