12/9/2015

All six of us were in for this night of Deadstein on the 4th night of Hanukkah. They placed us in the larger than normal studio, 4 I believe, and we were set up in reverse. This meant I was playing on Scott's side and Kevin and Rich were next to Lee. This often happens in this studio and throws us for a bit of a loop as it feels different. The net result was the same which was some large music with nice segues thrown in all over the place. The 37-minute Help on the Way Slipknot! into the Estimated Prophet made famous by Deadstein in the early 90s and finishing up the set with the Eyes of the World in to the Music Never Stopped. Couple this with an opening Jack Straw Scarlet Fire, with a little crap in the middle and you have the makings of a heroic set.

The second set wasn't quite as large, as is usually the case, and we had trouble deciding where to head at the start. We went back to the old trusty Song Randomizer and put in for a second set Jerry opener and we got the Everybody Needs Somebody To Love. This ended up being quite a satisfying opener. We then asked for a second song and it selected Crazy Fingers, which went well with all the Blues From Allah stuff we did in the first set. We stuck with the Crazy Fingers and segued into a nice Sailor Saint. This was followed by the three-four High Time, and much like the three-four To Lay Me Down in the first set, High Time was nice and soothing and well done for us. To close the night we were thinking about John Lennon and his death 35 years ago so we did the Ballad of John and Yoko in commemoration of John. Finally, asking for a closer as the 12 o'clock hour was looming, what better to play than Midnight Moonlight? This song is usually a struggle for us, especially so late in the evening, and on this night we never did achieved the snappiness you need to execute a proper Midnight Moonlight. In any case, it got us up and ready for our ride home but there wasn't going to be a Hanukkah miracle this year as the candle on night 4 withered and Deadstein for December 9, 2015 was over. Luckily, there is next week so while we "Freak Out" now there really is no need to "Freak Out".