Aggie Theatre Fort Collins CO: November 1, 2002
In the Kitchen makes the first appearance as an instrumental riff. It’s also full of rarities like 10th Grade, and the debut of a song that’s only been performed 3 times (ever!) – Dough Bro! A No Quarter sandwich second set, and Pearl Jam’s Release are two great covers explored in this awesome show.
Notable:
A short warm up jam morphs into the beginning of Slacker.
They coordinate a sudden stop in the instrumental part after the first verse, and in the silence BB says “we’re just going to do a quick cheers, you know, it’s November, it’s Friday.” Then a Brendan guitar solo before the second verse.
They go into a jam, labeled “jazz odyssey” in the archive tracks, which at one point speeds up in tempo. It’s a 3 1/2 minute jam that then goes into another “jazz odyssey” labeled as such for another 3 minutes. This second jam is one of the root jams that turns into In the Kitchen eventually.
In the allthings.umphreys.com it’s just Slacker > 10th Grade, but this important Jazz Odyssey is the very first time In the Kitchen riffs have been played. No vocals yet.
They do go right into 10th Grade which is a bust-out, not having been played in over 2 years, and only one other time in the last 4 years. 10th Grade was an early song played mostly in 1998. After this it only gets played another 5 times, and it hasn’t been played since 2004. (A total of only 28 performances.) If played today, the performance gap would be 1845 shows ago!
10th Grade is short and goes into an weird exploratory jam that lasts longer than the song itself, and includes cool synth sounds from Joel and a creative bass line that allows Brendan to transition into the opening guitar lines of White Man’s Moccasins.
A little after 4 minutes in, before Jake’s guitar solo, there’s what sounds like a saxophone or horn sound, but it’s just rhythmic and stays on one note. I think it’s the Tenacious D “saxaboom” toy.
There are other short bursts of the horn sound during the show, and it kind of sounds like the children’s toy called a Sax-a-Boom that Jack Black plays with Tenacious D.
Jake welcomes the Fort Collins audience to the show at this point, quite far into the first set. Rastaman Chant is a great Brendan vocal tune, and it even has a little improv section after the song, labeled “jam.”
The jam moves very smoothly into Smell the Mitten, still a relatively new song after its rewrite from Gesture Under a Mitten.
Brendan says, “ we’re kind of going on the fly tonight, so if you have a request that’s reasonable…” Someone shouts “Regulate” which was played at the Fox in Boulder the night before.
Mikey plays his solo piece Dazzey Dukes for the third and final time, which transitions into 2nd Self. We are coming to the end of Mike’s tenure with the band, at the end of the year.
2nd Self has an interesting finish as it goes into a Much Obliged segment, before ending with the Barney Miller TV show theme.
Pay the Snucka part III finishes and Joel says “we’re trying to have a little fun tonight, we hope you guys join us in that.”
Joel starts some synth work that goes into an improvisational jam labeled “techno jam” in the archive. It has Jake singing Europe Endless and Hall of Mirrors by Kraftwerk, as well as beatboxing, and Mike is on keys with Joel.
Syncopated Strangers ends the first set.
They open the second set with No Quarter (unfinished, the rest of the song played at the end of the set) by Led Zeppelin, one of only 5 performances, the most recent being from 2019 at Red Rocks.
Then it’s Joel and one other band member reciting the famous quote from the concert film “The Song Remains the Same” saying in their English accents, “you have a message from Peter…ah, tour dates…this is tomorrow!”
Resolution has another long-ago song tease, Pick Your Nose, which has only been played 29 times, mostly in 1998.
The 10-minute Resolution jam track is labeled “dance of the sugar plum fairy” and then the next song label is “pick your nose jam,” a 3-minute excursion.
Blue Oyster Cult’s (Don’t Fear) The Reaper has only been played as a complete song 14 times.
It’s a high-energy Prowler, but isn’t it always? The 13 days is a great one too.
The Dough Bro debut is short and contains a Muff 2: The Revenge tease. It’s only been played three times, in 2002, 2004, and 2022. No vocals, though as it has on the album version from Local Band Does OK.
Right into In Violation of Yes, with a quick Peter Gunn Theme tease and Thunderstruck (AC/DC).
Joel leads a Charlie Brown theme jam with Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi. It’s the second-to-last performance of the song, which has been played 22 times. The last time will be in a couple weeks on 11-21-02.
They go smoothly into FF, which has a small jam, and then they are telegraphing Anchor drops as they slide into it.
Get in the Van also has a telegraphed transition. BB says “happy Friday, cheers” between the beginning salvos.
Then Pearl Jam’s Release is a great piece, played with feeling.
Then it’s the rest of No Quarter to finish the set.
Encore: an improv vocal jam with guest Lissie on the mic, followed by Soul Food I into Soul Food II. SFII contains Jake’s rap.
Setlist from allthings.umphreys.com
Set 1:
Intro > Slacker > 10th Grade-> White Man’s Moccasins, Rastaman Chant > Smell the Mitten, Dazzey Duks, 2nd Self[1] > Pay the Snucka[2], Jam[3], Syncopated Strangers
Set 2:
No Quarter > Resolution[4] > (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, Prowler, 13 Days, Dough Bro[5] > In Violation of Yes[6], Linus and Lucy[7] > FF-> Anchor Drops > Get In The Van, Release > No Quarter
Encore:
unknown song[8] > Soul Food I > Soul Food II
Footnotes:
[1] with Much Obliged tease; ended with Barney Miller theme (Elliott/Ferguson) jam
[2] part III only
[3] with Mike on keys with Joel, and Jake beatboxing and singing Europe Endless and Hall of Mirrors (both Kraftwerk); with Funkytown (Lipps Inc) and Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (John Williams) teases
[4] with Carol of the Bells (Mykola Leontovych) and Pick Your Nose jams
[5] debut, original: first time played in full; with Muff II: The Revenge teases
[6] with Peter Gunn Theme (Henry Mancini) and Thunderstruck (AC/DC) teases
[7] with Symphony #40 Molto Allegro (Mozart) tease
[8] with Lissie on vocals
Show Notes:
last 10th Grade 2000-10-12 (312 shows)
Links to Audio and Apps
The Live Music Archive app (iOS) and the Taper’s Section app (Android) is a great way to find and listen to these shows. You can stream, download for offline listening, save favorites, and mark shows as already listened to. The app pulls all data directly from the public repository of live music recordings posted at archive.org.