Trey in Columbus

I'm so glad I made the decision to drive up to Ohio for this show. As the plans grew, the invitations were responded to, and the van was rented, I realized this was the exact brand of fun I could not miss out on.

So we drove.

Clocking in at just about a 8.5 hour trip, we cruised into Columbus on Friday night to begin the pre-game festivities. (On that note, please remind me this summer that I am not a spring chicken.) We can't begin to thank the folks at the Mound House enough for their awesome hospitality and great food. Thanks also to the friends I may not have officially "met" while there. It was awesome to finally get to hang out with you guys.

Please drink responsibly. Would you like to supersize that?

The van got there in enough time to hang out for a bit at the A&R Bar. We began referring to the super-sized drink cups they offered as the "JumboTronz". (Yours truly stuck with the regular size) We were surprised to learn that we could just walk in next door to the venue with the drinks we just purchased. Cool idea. I wish other bars nearby to venues would follow this practice. I am discovering that I am quite terrible at meet-ups, so I missed the Tweet-up. And, since my phone is a slab of marble and a chisel, I can't see the actual Twitter Feed. One day I will upgrade.

The room itself was painted matte black and looked like a black-box theatre. Once inside, we set ourselves up right near Ray side towards the front. The sound was very good once we moved a little closer towards the center, but all in all was mixed very well, and we stayed near Rays rig. I must mention that the talking during the acoustic set was still very present, though while being there I didn't seem to be distracted by it quite as much as I thought. As I tweeted that night, it was like hanging out at a giant campfire where everyone knew the words. I very much enjoyed this portion of the show. The Hood was a big surprise and worked really well as a solo acoustic song, especially with everyone singing along. Instead of ending with a Caymen, the first set just kept going. Hearing Burn that Bridge and Ocelot with horns was a major highlight for me.



Second set hit the ground running with Jibboo. This was another highlight for me. It was great to see the interplay between Trey and Ray. Ray's levels were so perfectly in the pocket, small subtle little note changes drove this jam. The video is well worth checking out.



Besides the extremely solid standards (Burlap deserves a mention here), we were treated to the second Simple Twist Up Dave on the tour thus far. I have been waiting almost 10 years to hear this one, and Trey did not disappoint. The horn lines, Tony, Trey's layering...it was a sweet reward.



It's probably still going to take a little bit of time to go through the rest of the videos I collected. Keep checking back on my YouTube channel for more complete songs from the 2/26/11 TAB performance. Thanks again to everyone who made our trip possible.