Hi Folks,
 
Welcome to the third edition of AIR!  Tonight I thought I would look at
NYE from 1994.  It was suggested to me and when I had a listen, I thought
it would make a good subject as it was a great version.  Here is the
complete info:

12/31/94 Boston Garden- Boston, MA  Set I


NICU -- Spacy outro into:

Antelope -- Intro stumbled onto by Trey with Mike close behind.  Very
interesting wood-block work by Fish, quite unusual, but nice.  Trey misses
the timing of the end section to the intro, but hits it on the second try
and ...

2:16 -- BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM!!!  Opening theme: Trey is really hot with his
usual licks, smoking like it was NYE!!  The energy of the night is
building!!  The trill comes at around 2:42 and 

2:54 Key change to E minor... very nice as Page takes the reigns for a
change.  His chording is very sharp and almost defensive.  Trey is
thinking with him and a complex jam develops that is so typical of RLAA
but utterly beautiful.  Trey is getting flamboyant with some wildly
artistic peak- notes.  The jam gets strange at around 5:00 as they dive
into an abyss of textures and dark note scattering.  It’s all Trey and
Page until 

Trey throws it into second gear at around 6:10 and a cheer erupts from the
crowd!  Wow, but Page is there and forces the jam back to that crazily
intense repetitious noting.... the energy and tension is palpable and the
crowd goes wild

Third gear erupts at 7:14 as a monumentous tension release, the phans
going crazy...!  Build up again instigated by Page and the jam is so
intense that words can no longer function to describe... and then as
Fishman is flailing into the next year and the climax is so close... it
falls a millisecond short as--

Pre- Marco-Groove at 9:15 quiets the band, but leaves Fish in a daze as he
hammers away a bit longer (yes, it was that intense!).  Sharp Page Hammond
stammerings fill the space of the quiet but intense groove and then:
Trey- HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  (Tom Marshall is introduced and brought out on
stage by Trey)  Tom is welcomed by the crowd and starts in after a comic
pause: RY, RY, Rato (or something in Spanish).
 
MARCO ESQUANDOLAS at 10:40  WOULD YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE ANY SPIKE, MAN?   The
scene erupts back into the opening theme in D:

11:40 SET THE GEARSHIFT...
A couple of very well executed choruses of Run Like and Antelope out of
control-- to round out the end.  No jamming at the end as usual and the
song ends at 12:30.
 
The intensity of this version has to place it as one of my top ten
favorites.  The timing and execution was all very precise and only a bit
askew in some sections.  Although this show, imo, was a bit lame compared
to other NYE shows of years past, I would say that this song was one of
the highlights of the night for me.  I really thought that the intense E
minor jam section was fantastic and even more so that it was instigated
and kept together by Page for the most part.  It was truly an intense run.
Well, that’s all for now, email with your thoughts and suggestions, I have
gotten a few, and actually this is one of them.  So until we meet again,
another time, another show, another Antelope, 
Ciao!    
Victor 
AKA-- Captain William Prichard