Review: Jam In The Dam 2010 Pt. 3

For the third night The Oude Zaal sees increasing crowds. This time The Bridge and the New Mastersounds are dipping into Umphrey’s crowd, with the latter also taking a sizable chunk out of the would-be Les Claypool audience. By the third night the two bands are quite familiar with each other and members of each band frequently sit-in with the other. The resulting funk party is one of the most memorable parts of the entire festival.

During all of this, Umphrey’s McGee is playing a rather uninspired set. The new version of The Linear, a currently evolving song being shaped in the live setting, is played but overall the set is standard. This final night is rather anticlimactic and leaves most Umphreaks in attendance feeling unfulfilled. Having just seen how much better they can be the previous two nights it is easy to understand why.

To close out the festival Les Claypool plays a set comprising of yet another extended drum and whamola jam with repeated songs surrounding the bassist’s break. These repeated songs and stale drum jams take up the meat of the set, adding to the anticlimactic nature of the night. As stand-alone shows there is no denying what Les Claypool and his band can do, but by the third night it is absolutely redundant for any band to play a 15+ minute drum jam for the third time. Technical chops only go so far as people like to see variation, and there is no excuse to end such an amazing festival on such a low note.

Not only does Les Claypool have the fewest international travelers coming to see him, but also plays sets 30 minutes shorter than the other bands. The short set time would not be an issue if all three nights did not contain drawn-out, wanking drum jamming akin to the giant chicken fights in Family Guy. The 45 minutes of repeated songs and jamming seem like nothing more than a replica of what was already seen, and reek of laziness of Claypool’s part.

The individual effort put forward by Les and his extremely talented band on this night cannot be overlooked. That effort aside, in viewing his work over the week as a whole one cant help but think he is the absolute worst choice to close this festival. Musically the third night is the worst of the three, but there is no denying when it is all said and done that this experience is unforgettable. One can only hope that this festival will return next year.

Check out the rest of Jason’s photos from Day Three…