From: Charlie Dirksen
5/6/93 The Palace, Albany, NY (Rvwd 7/95) Opening to this MikeS is standard. The tramps jam contains jamming eerily
reminiscent of a ZZ top tune, at one point, or, rather, some other 70s classic rock tune, but I cannot say with accuracy exactly
what. It is a jam that is similar to the 70s archetype. There is, unfortunately, the usual off-key distorted stuff from Trey, with
some chord-jamming, but, alas, no substantive fiery licks or anything that speaks to Trey's prowess. The post-tramps jam
(which starts a little late at around 5:20) is, like most versions, chaotic and disoriented. Around 6:30 Trey gets into a jam that
sounds akin to the Tweezer jamming earlier in the set. [As an aside, I am a big fan of the 5/6/93 Tweezer .. it contains, for the
most part, some great jamming, especially around a Sweet Emotion theme in the beginning... and the last few minutes include a
really beautiful jam that is one of my favorite Phish jams of all time.. it is a melodically pleasant, original and truly spectacular
jam, albeit simple] At 6:58, Ob La Di (Beatles) jamming segues in (Trey and Mike started it), and the crowd playfully starts
singing it (the band doesn't sing it, but just plays a few verses gleefully without vocals). Trey kinda fumbles through the song
(botching it around 8:30), and the Ob La Di theme continues until just after the 9 min point, when the jam gets haphazard and
centerless, as if to hint a return to Mike's Song, but NO, they hang in there. Dick Solberg on violin at around 9:40 comes in with
a sort-of Ob La Di jam. When he enters the musical scape, the band noticeably picks up the groove. Fish kicks the beat up a
notch at 10:25 or so, and then again at 10:50, so by the 11 min point, everyone is rockin' in a cajun-like jam with Dick
Solberg... in fact, the jam comes close to SPARKLE around 11:45, since the pace continuously picks up. Rocky Top segues in
at 11:55 or so, and Dick jams with them on this. Anyway, the MikeS only gets a C. It is good enough.. what is really cool is the
Tweezer from this set, and the Ob la Di and Rocky Top with Solberg. I recommend this Tweezer, though, HIGHLY, even
though the middle part of the jam segment is slow, imo. If you are a serious Beatles fan, I wouldn't recommend getting this show
just for the Ob La Di jam, because it isn't very good (it wasn't planned or practiced.. I guess it is FUCKING GREAT with this
in mind, though!). Get this Tweezer.