From: Charlie Dirksen
4/29/94 Boatyard Village, Clearwater, Fl Thanks to Peter Bierman for
the tapes! Trey jams the opening a bit before Mike
comes in. Indeed, Trey does a lot of nice fills in the opening, even
though he fudges part of the theme badly at one point. Mike
runs out of breath, too, on a lyric (and laughs a little). Trey is
especially active in this opening, but as a result, there appear to be
missed notes here and there (sounds sloppy on the standard theme parts,
ironically). Tramps jam kicks in at 2:36 (usual time),
with seriously dark chording from Trey. Just rips it up (he wasn't
on the tramps for this, right?!). Trey jams the opening of the
tramps segment. At 3 minutes, Trey lets out a scream, to go along with
the chords. The jam in here sounds akin to part of the
Bomb Factory Tweezer, if I remember correctly (near the GWAR segment).
After chording darkly in the opening part of the
tramps segment, Trey takes off off-key sustaining, throwing out some
nice trills here and there. It's a very upbeat jam (a lot
better than many from the last year). MikeS ending chords kick in around
5 mins. The post tramps jam starts out with some
Yeah-yeah-ing from Trey, over a still very raw and intense jam. At
6 minutes, the jam is chaotic, with everyone kinda spastic.
At 6:30 or so, Trey plays a theme that I swear I've heard him play
before on the spring-summer '94 tour. It is a beautiful theme,
and he noodles around it fairly well. At 7:19, it is arguably Mind
Left Body. I say arguably because it isn't right on point, but it is
close enough to be considered the Mind Left Body jam, or at least a
tease thereof (I've heard many Mind Left Body jams from
Dead shows, and well, this is close enough). He gets off this pretty
quick, and just starts soloing beautifully. Fans of the melodic
groove in the 12/30/93 MikeS have got to hear this.. the jam is just
spine-tinglingly awe-inspiring around 8:15.. just a
teary-eyed transcendent moment for me. Damn. To think I've gone this
long without hearing this.. ;( Thanks, Peter!! At 8:50,
Trey chords and the jam kind fumbles around.. Page mimics the theme
that Trey had been soloing on a minute before.. and then
at 9:16 or so they kick into the closing MikeS theme jam. It is typically
awesome, with some sick wailing from Trey. I loved this
Mike's Song, especially the post tramps segment, but I only wish it
had been more "organized" and smooth like the 12/30/93
version, or many other similarly moving Mike's Songs... Still, this
version contains an awesome melodic jam from Trey that I find
VERY compelling, and which I highly recommend to people who share my
taste in melodic jams. Hydrogen comes in at 10:20.
It is very good... but it has an Edge to it that bothers me. Doesn't
sound as genteel and soft-spoken as it usually does. Hydrogen
with a BITE. Weekapaug at 13:24. Mike rips it up at first -- just goes
nuts -- and then melodically screws around. This is an
absolutely fantastic opening, blowing away everything I've heard him
do in '95 to open Weekapaug, for damn sure. A very
creative, active opening, that has him going all over the 'doc. EXCITING!
Trey opens the jam segment sustaining, and teasing
the theme. Not that exciting at all for about 30 seconds or so, until
he gets progressively more and more active, trilling madly.
(Mike goes off in here, too.. damn!!) At 17 minutes, Trey is just hosing
everyone off in typical Weekapaug fashion. Spectacular
jamming in here. I suppose I shouldn't still be awestruck by Trey's
abilities, but christ.. Closing verse kicks in at 18:53... it is
standard. Total time 19:53. I really enjoyed the theme Trey wailed
on in the Mike's Song post tramps segment, which, at one
point, was arguably Mind Left Body for about two bars. Everything else
was pretty straightfoward MikeSHydroGroove
material.. B+ rating.