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December 11, 2018: Live At The Garden (Read on SPT Episode 71)

Hi Brad and Brad and Kate!

Great job by Kate Cotton subbing in for Lyons again!  She took on the task of trying to keep Blazek from drifting off-topic for most of the show (e.g. It's A Wonderful Life).  For that you should consider upping her salary!

I'm pretty stoked you guys went over Live At The Garden.  I received this DVD as a Christmas gift from my wife 11 years ago and wore it out after receiving it.  Just like Kate, we don't own any blue-rays, however we ironically own a blue-ray player which we only play our DVD collection in.  However, since I'm too lazy to muster up the energy to find the DVD I want to watch, take it out of its case and place it into our blue-ray player I usually just end up watching things via the "streamings."  Before I forget, Kate mentioned the YouTube video she watched didn't have a great picture.  I did find this link if she's interested.  It actually comes in just about as clear as the DVD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rOBo4iEiG8&feature=youtu.be).  Yes, I watched both within the past 24 hours.
 
My thoughts from re-watching this show.  I'll start off with my BradB-Like "get off my lawn" complaints about a couple of spots in the show that weren't my favorite.

1.  The version of "In My Tree" lacked the two most important elements that I love about that song.  Drums and bass.  Not my favorite version of that song.
2.  Their start to "Low Light" seemed pretty awkward.  I do enjoy this song a lot, but unless it's near the top of the set list, it doesn't work very well.

Now with my Kate Cotton-Like "I've never seen a blue-ray player" highlights of the show.

1.  The version of "You Are" is probably my favorite live performance of this song.  It is incredible with the light show they use and it really works coming out of an encore break.  I felt it was their best performance of the set list.
2.  Just about every track they played off of Riot Act sounded great.  This DVD made me go back and appreciate Riot Act more.  Their performance on "Love Boat Captain" and "1/2 Full" helped make those two songs two of my all-time favs.
3.  Grateful Dead, Iron Maiden, The Boss and now "The Greatest Band in the World" according to Ben Harper - Have literally rocked the stage up-and-down at the Garden.
4.  Last but not least Mike Effing McCready OWNED this show.  All the way to Yellow Ledbetter, which may be a performance even BradL could enjoy.

The show actually propelled me to listen to Riot Act a couple of times today.  Some other time I'll touch upon my feelings for that album, but as I said before this show really brought out a new appreciation for me on that record. 

Forced to endure, what I could not forgive,

Chris

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