As my friend Dan was saying before the show (while high-fiving anyone that came within a 100 yard radius to our car) “Are You Ready”?  The band definitely raised their game tonight and played 33 songs which is almost comparable to their all time longest set from Massachusetts in 2003.  Tonight’s show also helped give more context to the night before.  If the first night was about the history and what made the band, tonight was about what the band did once they were all together.  All of their popular tracks were displayed from the newer (The Fixer, Just Breathe, Given to Fly) to the old (Alive, Jeremy, Even Flow etc).  It also felt more cohesive as a single show than last night which left with a bit of a cliff hanger leading in to tonight.  The band had no reason not to do something on their last night.

There was a lot more focus on the middle albums of No Code, Yield and Vitalogy which I was really pleased with since those happen to be my favorite era of the band – spanning from ’94 to about ’98.  Nothingman and Leatherman combined with Betterman from the night before completed the “man” trilogy.  Red Mosquito, Habit (with Liam Finn) and Smile (with Glen Hansard) really showed off how strong the songs from No Code can stand next to older Ten and Vs tracks that more people know.  I definitely think anyone there will be going back or discovering those albums after hearing how they can be played live.

Chris Cornell came out again for 4 more Temple of the Dog songs: Hunger Strike, Call Me a Dog, All Night Thing and Reach Down.  Chris was much better on both Hunger Stroke and Reach Down which were the only repeats of the whole night from the previous night.  I had forgotten how good some of the Temple of the Dog songs are and this weekend played a very large tribute to Temple thanks to Chris.

A lot of congrats and thank you’s were throw around by the band and all the guests that played with them.  Eddie referenced Brendan O’Brien as a “7th member of the band”, Matt Cameron was thanked for keeping the band going after they rotated through 3 former drummers in their early days.  Chris Cornell wished them a happy birthday and gave hugs to everyone on stage before leaving.

The ending of the show brought a lot of nostalgia for me with Sonic Reducer, Rockin in the Free World and Yellow Ledbetter.  My high school band did Sonic Reducer and Rockin in the Free World fairly regularly and I think RiTFW was the best song we were ever able to somewhat pull off as a bunch of 16 year olds making noise in a basement.  Brett, my friend who came from New York for the show is about the only other person that I’ve met who knew who The Dead Boys were and our conversation around that band immediately earned my trust in his music tastes.  There was a lot to be thankful for making the trip from New York.  The band seemed very relaxed and at home with all their friends to support and celebrate what a milestone staying together for 20 years can be.  I feel a little weird to be reflecting on the band so much the last few days since I always look forward to what they will do and not what they’ve already done.  Rumor is they are working on new material for next year to put out a follow up to Backspacer.  I’m really looking forward to digging through some bootlegs in the next few months to feed my nostalgia but I look even more forward to what’s yet to come.