[khouri]

I have to say, ALAF sounds far, far better live than on the record. Really, the whole Downpipe/ALAF/Dark Train opening works incredibly well. It might not be improvised but the guys definitely knew what they were doing when the designed the opening sequence to this tour.

As others have said, this version of Dark Train was singularly rocking. Tremendous groove, banging beat. Rez also had an almost Kitten-esque quality that night. And Moaner -- holy shit, it was awesome. A startlingly new intro/segue out of Dirty Epic. This is a song that's rarely remixed on stage so I was really glad to hear this version. Hopefully it'll emerge on a recording so everyone can hear just what a few changes can do to this ancient track.

It was obvious to me that Karl wasn't at the top of his game but I think he adapted his vocals well tot he situation. In some cases, like Cowgirl, he sounded more like the original album version, which is not something you hear live much given the song's evolution over the years. I also didn't miss him dancing around during the more instrumental tracks, it was fun to just dance to Rick & Darren's work to the sights of their silhouettes and not be distracted by Karl's madness. Nothing against Karl's madness, mind, but it was kind of a cool change of scenery.

The setlist was of course as expected, with Dirty Epic being the only deep cut. It was a beautiful version, though, one of the best live performances I've heard. It sounded to me like they've finally begin filter-fiddling around with Scribble, and the Diamond Jigsaw performance was really high energy and groovy. The only thing that really didn't work for me was Bird 1. Just not a good live track, at least not in the middle of the show.