From: Charlie Dirksen
5/14/94 Civic Auditorium, Knoxville, TN (Rvwd 10/95) The very opening of this MikeS is interesting (for a change), in that
Trey is creative with the opening licks, adding some notes here and there, fleshing it out. Otherwise, the pre- 'fog/tramps'
segment -- except for some lyrical sustaining stuff from Mike (which isn't normal) -- is standard. This whole MikeS sounds a
TOUCH slower than usual, but I'll let this slide. ;^) There's a little glitch before the tramps segment kicks in (at 2:53), but
nothing serious. Trey starts jamming RIGHT AWAY with the others, not allowing Mike and Page their usual opening tramps
groove. This segment contains a lot of stuff from Page and Mike, but Trey is only putting in chords every second or two, not
really jamming at all .. no noticeable design. There's nearly a 'Walk Away' tease at 4:38. Fortunately, Trey eventually starts
skiing and somersaulting all over the frets, sustaining on appropriate notes and ripping out lick after lick. This segment also goes
on longer than usual... It finally ends at 6:30 ish, when the post-tramps jam comes in (notably without ANYTHING vaguely
related to Simple in the opening). This jam is actually very wild -- they are all doing their own thing (Page and Fish are
prominent at first). They are stuck in this carefree jam until around 7:50, at which time they more/less merge into a groove. Trey
comes in more strongly at this time, but doesn't add anything in particular. In fact, the jam kinda falls into a dying, bullshit mode
until just after 10 mins, when Fish fortunately kicks in the MikeS beat, and picks everyone up a notch. Alas, the band members
don't FULLY oblige Fish for some time, choosing to plod along merrilly, without a care for harmoniousness, lingering in the
void, until just after 11, when the final MikeS segment really comes in. The final MikeS theme segment is well-done, and ends at
12:29, when H2 comes in. It's ok. Weekapaug kicks in after the official 3 mins of H2, and begins with Trey tooling around on a
theme, but Trey doesn't start preppin' the meat until 18 mins or so. From thereon it is a typically fantastic Weekapaug (but,
strangely, a version that contains some off-key sustain stuff from Trey, which isn't at all kosher for Weekapaug.. except perhaps
for 1994 Weekapaugs). By 20 mins, Divided Sky is played for a bit (the main theme), and this tease segues back into an Ideally
Weekapaugian jam. This jam quickly melts, though, into a trippy 'quiet mode.' Page and Mike tool around a lot in this segment,
but it is not very interesting or impressive (given their talents). Trey comes in at 21, and starts playing TMWSIY. It's a beautiful,
gorgeous, fragile transition from Weekapaug into TMWSIY, without a doubt, BUT IT IS STILL a truly blaaaah ending to an
otherwise solid Weekapaug. B- rating for this MikesHydroGroove...