(8) Jive Lee - 09/30/2025 vs. (9) Big Modern! - 02/15/2025

Wow, close match up! I absolutely love this Big Modern so that gets my vote.

Devasting loss for Jive Lee here. Really liked that jam.

Man those Michigan shows sure were something special huh?

Really wanted to like the Jive Lee more but my vote goes to Big Modern.

Actually, I take that back. Big Modern! Or Bust

This one is tough. At the time driving home from WSP in AC, I thought this big modern was the best to date so it's going to be hard because this jive lee is fire

Always love a good Jive and honestly wish it was more represented on the bracket, but this one was no choice. Going to come down to the wire but BMFTW

Hopefully this photo finish will not be the last that goes down to the wire!

Nail-biter. Listened to each multiple times before going with big modern. I think Jive Lee is fun and funky, but the whole band was doing really cool stuff during the modern jam. God I love this band.

I take people's point about Cotter - he is kind of going apeshit throughout this Lee. However, the rest of the band is not doing much especially interesting and the jam ends up touching on a bunch of different things vaguely without really committing to anything fully. Cotter aside, it just feels a little lackluster.

This BM presents a nice contrast. Rick finds a riff that kind of sounds a bit like the vocals in Smooth Criminal and just toys around with it in increasingly frenzied ways while Peter creates a nice drone dynamic with his piano and Cotter goes to town around it. It does not roam very far from where it starts but there is a growing intensity to it that stands in contrast to other more light hearted BMs.

Big Mo - not even a question and what Joe said below

Neither made my bracket They’re both kind of meh.

It’s a shame someone has to lose this matchup. These two are wayyy under seeded - I’ll take either over any from yesterdays matchups including #2 Wysteria!!!

Jive Lee had some good fun spots but too much down time too long. BM was a ride!!

I refuse to believe that any sane person could listen to that big modern and NOT pick it?!?! wtf????

Total toss up here. Enjoyed both of these about equal. I'll take Jive Lee just for general funkiness and 02/15 GR overrepresentation. Let it play!

Oh wow this one’s close 👀

Have to go with Lee on this one.

My #17 overall vs my #32 overall

This *should* be an easy win for Big Modern. It's a veritable masterpiece and then they stick the landing as the cherry on top

This Lee has some really cool stuff going on in it but it's also kind of all over the place. Disjointed ADHD jamming

This Modern is my #2 I absolutely love how Arrow it feels.

Lee surprisingly good had a hot start but peters out for me

This Lee is super unique in this bracket. It is a remarkable jam. Way better than it's seed

Give Lee a chance to beat the 5/30 Thatch!

My #20 v. #23 JOTY. Toughest of the first round matchups. Cotter is insane on this Lee and for that reason it gets my vote over the best Big Modern of the year in my opinion-yes, better than the Big Pod backed Michigan Modern. Both worthy of the round of 32.

Both of these jams are superb high energy ragefests. Cotter evolves to Mega Cotter-zard in the first few minutes of the Lee and breathes fire from behind the kit for ~20 minutes while the rest of the band sustains the energy with some top quality jamming that hits a variety of spaces.

This Big Modern! is pure hose excellence that doesn't have the dynamic quality that the Lee has, but is a transcendent jam nonetheless

I'm team Big Modern on this one. I think I had this jam ranked higher (no. 6 overall) than anyone else. It's like the evil cousin of Cap Pancakes 4/7/24 with a dash of Minneapolis Drive 9/14/24 (my JOTY from last year). It finds a theme, and then it keeps layering and building upon that theme to a fever pitch. While I appreciate a multi-sectional jam as much as the next guy, multi-sectionality isn't a requirement for me. I'm perfectly happy with a it-does-one-thing-but-does-it-well jam. And this BM does its furious, dark build very well indeed.

Speaking of multi-sectional jams: This Jive Lee is great, no doubt. It ended up at no. 66 overall for me, so I was not as high on it as others. It's another jam that I respect and am intrigued by, but that I didn't find myself going back to very often. The jam is truly all over the place, and I think that can lead to amazing things sometimes. (I think Wilmington A Western Sun 6/17/25 is a good example.) In this case, however, while I appreciated the band's willingness to experiment, I wasn't as crazy about the results as others.

I’ll just say I don’t get this Lee at all. To me doesn’t sound like anything special. BM is decent but doesn’t do much.

I was at the 2/15 show but even attendance bias can’t deter me from voting for this superb Jive Lee!

Lucky enough to make it to both of these shows and I’m telling ya that Lee goes places ! Not to discredit the Big Modern but that Lee had the trip sauce fully activated

As a massive jive lee fanatic, it’s big modern or bust on my behalf… gotta stay true to my word. Although this Lee is ridic

Great matchup here. These jams were next door neighbors at 20 ^ 21 on my list. Slightest of edges to the BFM (big fuckin' mod)

This Jive Lee is insanely good. One of two JOTY selections that Cotter is absolutely the driving force.
(The other being Toronto's Pancakes ). Lee all the way.

Lee was the best of year and maybe best in last couple of years

My favorite modern and my favorite Lee, modern by just a nose

I’m not a huge fan of Big Modern!, but this one is probably my favorite Big Modern!. The jam has some uniqueness to it which sets it apart, but then there’s also some attendance bias... and the simple fact that it is a part of one of the best shows of the year.

That said… it's not often you get the chance to vote a Jive Lee on to the next round, so here’s your opportunity. Kinda like the above mentioned Big Modern!, there's some attendance bias here, as well as the fact that this one is also part of one of the best shows of the year. Do me (and yourself) a favor and listen to the last few minutes of this Jive Lee ( from about 11:00 to 19:00)... and then let me know if you pick up on the Tevin Campbell / I2I teases thrown in there. A few of us picked up on it that night at Kemba, and were like “Oh shit… are we gonna get this corny, super-rare, Goofy Movie cover tonight”? It never went there, but you can definitely hear the hints in there.

Both of these were mid-30s for me. I relistened this am and, head-to-head, found this a very difficult match.

Lee takes it by a nose for me. Great BMo!!

Will we finally get our first close matchup?🤞

It's amazing how many 1st round matchups are between 2 songs that I didn't rank very high, and then there are matchups like this. The Kemba Lee is literally a 1 seed for me, lol. It is what it is. I'm just not sure there's a song in the bracket that does a better job of using every single second to explore ideas and create magic. It's a special version to me and has had dozens and dozens of listens since it was played. It's not going to last long, but it's getting my vote as long as it does.

I had both of these ranked way higher than the seeds they ended up with here (the Jive Lee was my #9 and this Modern my #20) so it hurts to have to vote against either of them. I'm sticking with my rankings and voting for the Jive Lee, I just think it's incredibly sick and a real achievement, for me it is the GOAT Lee. I love this Big Modern though, it deserved better.

The Lee is a thrill ride and one where they go off script super early. Love these kind of Lees. Had this higher seeded so unfortunately going against the behemoth next round will not be pretty

Tough one here but I'm going with the Lee - absolute masterclass from Cotter and I love how many ideas the band runs through during it

absolute travesty seeing 2 top 20 jams in a first round matchup. But they find a space somewhere around the 14 minute mark and settle into one of the best grooves all year and then explosive peak. I've also listened to this modern so much I hear the flubbed words now in the first verse

Another very tough first round matchup. I love both of these but am going with this locked in slow-burn of a Big Modern. It just kept rising in my rankings as I listened throughout the year. One of many things from February that technically Just Does The ______ Thing but does so perfectly. That has to count for something.

Super tough Fall vs Winter tour matchup! That Columbus show was really special, and this Jive Lee really went hard. Up against another scorcher from 2/15, its a tough call.. maybe one of the most interesting matchups in round one right here.