State Theatre Kalamazoo MI: September 20, 2002
A 24 minute Nothing Too Fancy with a nice quiet jam, and a Stairway to Heaven instrumental section, Syncopated Strangers has a kick-ass groove jam, Jajunk’s 6th performance has an improv jam, and Space Funk Booty has a 9-minute jam too. It’s also the second and final performance of Jamaica Farewell, with Mike on steel drum.
Notable:
Opening with Smell The Mitten, the new song, third time played, the written parts are already getting very established.
Then it slams into Second Self, a tight version and there’s a pause and they go into a nice Nothing too Fancy.
NTF goes into a quiet jam at about 10 minutes. Don’t forget this is a 24-minute version.
Nothing to Fancy Jam as a really cool Stairway to Heaven set of riffs that are an extensive tease.
Jake announces afterwards that Kalamazoo is Pony’s hometown and there’s a good crew of Michigan folks in the audience. Also earlier Brendan mentions that they love playing this room in Kalamazoo. It is a beautiful theater built in 1927.
It’s the 5th performance of 13 days, and they’re really feeling it confidently now, no introduction this time.
Syncopated Strangers has a kick-ass groove jam in the middle, labeled Jazz Odyssey as a separate track. They’re not always letting Synco get out for an improv jam in these days; this one has a very cool pocket groove.
Resolution has a great Joel solo on the Hammond organ. Jake really goes off with harmonics on his guitar during the improv solo afterwards. Great transition into Roulette from the jam.
A little more free exploration in this 6th performance of JaJunk. First a quiet bit during one of the build segments, then Joel coming out with more confidence and flair on the organ. They go into an early JaJunk improv jam afterwards too.
In Violation of Yes is a great bass centric song and highlights Ryan’s playing, this version starts out with Ryan sounding like he’s having lots of fun on the bass. The bass solo section is super-cool too.
Joel announces afterwards that that was Ryan Stasik on keys and Jake Cinninger on bass…interesting, was that a joke? Did they actually switch it up? If you were there, let us know!
YYZ is an awesome Rush cover, pretty common back then.
The Crooked One is a classic. You can really hear the vocal harmonies as they begin, and the tempo seems slower than today’s versions, making it sound purposeful as it begins.
Space Funk Booty goes into a cool Jimmy Stewart for a 9 minute improvisational jam.
A very nice early Hurt Bird Bath has some electronic synth sounds and no long improv jam.
Ten it’s a fast Glory started by Jake.
Announcer: “Check out our new CD, Local Band Does OK”
2nd and final Jamaica Farewell with Mike on steel drum, and Ryan plays America the Beautiful on the bass, and on into All Things Ninja.
All things show ender is a killer version.
Setlist from allthings.umphreys.com
Set 1:
Smell the Mitten > 2nd Self, Nothing Too Fancy[1], 13 Days > Syncopated Strangers, Miss Gradenko, Resolution > Roulette
Set 2:
The Fussy Dutchman, Uncommon, JaJunk > In Violation of Yes, Anchor Drops, YYZ, The Crooked One > Space Funk Booty[2] > Hurt Bird Bath[3] > Glory
Encore:
Jamaica Farewell[4], America the Beautiful[5] > All Things Ninja
Footnotes:
[1] with Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin) jam
[2] with Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin) and JaJunk teases
[3] with Victory March (Shea Brothers) tease
[4] with Mike on steel drums
[5] Ryan solo
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.
