Sempiternal Diapason

Caught my favorite band, Perpetual Groove in Clemson on Friday. I'm convinced these guys are the best group out there, jamband or otherwise. They weave back and forth between soul-searching verses, spine-tingling compositions, and brain-melting improvisation. All four members are among the best musicians alive with their respective instruments, but avoid sounding like four solo virtuosos (*cough* Bela Fleck and the Flecktones *cough*) instead of a cohesive unit. Pgroove shuns solos and works to build and build a layers of sound until they reach stunning crescendos. That being said, the Clemson show wasn't that great. Good, but not stellar. The setlist: Set 1 Crockett & Tubbs, Long Past Settled In, March of Gibbles Army > Green Tea > Naive Melody Set 2 It Starts were it Ends, Playground, Get Down Tonight, Cabulo Montrosity, Breeze, Say it Aint So Encore: Stealy Man The transition from Gibbles into Green Tea was nice. Naive Melody is a great closer so long as they don't overplay it. Get Down Tonight got the college crowd bouncing, but I'm getting a bit sick of it. Cabulo was my highlight--rarely heard it even on recordings, pretty sure this was my first time live. Didn't really like Say It Aint So; Stealy Man was insane though: Brock was goofing off (though he never stopped shredding), playing behind his head, messing around with Adam, laying on his back at the very end, y'know rock star shit {grin}. I was real happy to catch up with my friend (and new roommate) Tom. Fun, drunk time, I haven't been drinking much lately, but I let it all hang out this time. Got to meet a lot of people I only knew from faces or the message board plus a couple of band members. Though it shouldn't surprise me, it was funny to hang out with a member of a rock band and he not be the coolest guy in the room. ----- Listening to: Pgroove (of course), 2005-07-09, Beyond the Veil