In retrospect, I kinda wish that I hadn't tried to summarize the Magnaball soundcheck, because offering a PBP or trying to describe the many movements of that fine piece of improv come off rather flat on the page unless you know exactly what I'm talking about (I trust everyone knows what I was going for with "crazed outer-space insanity hose", for instance). So I'm not going to make that mistake here.

Instead, let me say this - one of the main drawing points for 2.0 jams (at least for me) is how thick and gruesome they can get, where the band seems to be exorcising some kind of disturbing beast out of a fetid swamp every time they go on stage, and one of the main demerits for 2.0 jams (at least for me) is that sometimes it got *too* gruesome, or soporific, or they'd lose the thread and just make noise until somebody decides "well, I guess it's *my* turn to go into something else this time" and the jam comes to a close. And the reason I bring all this up is because I think of the Drive-In Jam, the more I listen to it (and I've listened to it a bunch, even in a mere two months), as the best 2.0 jam never played in 2.0 jam. I described the 9/5/15 Light, a very close relative to this behemoth, as "material jamming", and that is the Drive-In Jam to a tee - a roiling, pulsating beast that never lets up in intensity from start to finish, but also never feels like they're wasting time or hoping for a spark of inspiration to pop up out of nowhere or anything like that. It's one of their finest pieces of longform improv, maybe one of the finest pieces of music they've ever devised. There are segments of the jam I will have pop into my head unbidden, and it will probably stay that way forever. It's the true highlight of Magnaball, one of the highest peaks in the history of this band.

Also, it's part of 8/22/15. Come on, now.