From: Charlie Dirksen
11/04/94 War Memorial Aud., Syracuse, NY Curtain opened the set... and MikeS came in at its end, much to the
amusement of many in attendance. Opening lyrics segment wholly standard. Tramps segment kicks in around 2:40, with Trey
quiet as usual for the first thirty seconds or so. At 3:17, Trey begins jamming, and for the most part, the tramps segment is
typically dark and eerie, with a great deal of off-key sustain from Trey. Trey does chord a lot, though, but still in an
anti-melodic, typical Mike's Song sort of manner. The closing of the tramps segment theme comes in around 5:33, and at 5:50,
they start up Simple. This first portion of Mike's was solid, but contained absolutely nothing noteworthy. It was honestly TRUE
TO FORM, and is about as "average" or "standard" a Mike's song as one can hear. If you love Mike's song, you'll love this, but
if you tend to only enjoy it when Trey (and/or the others) get into melodically pleasing, unusually intense jams, this version will
annoy you. Simple has reasonable vocals from everyone -- a strong Fall '94 version. Nothing special, but everybody's voices
blend fairly well (no horrible out of tune clashing, which has occurred in some versions). The jam segment (led as usual by Trey)
is fine, but not exceptional given other Fall versions of Simple (no noteworthy jams). Trey suddenly tries to crash back into
MikeS when no one else was ready, for some reason, so it ends very poorly. Trey quickly recovers with a short build back into
the typical Mike's Song theme ending jam. It is a solid ending jam, but nothing unusual transpires. ;( The jam sustains out at
12:30, and then at 12:38 or so, Tela comes in. Tela is my favorite Page tune, and an all around beautiful Phish tune (which I
wish they played more often). I think I've only heard a handful of Telas *live*. This is a precious version, played excellently, and
sung magnifiscently. Until the great jam at the end, in which Trey kinda sounds forced ... not as smooth as usual. Oh well. At
19:17, Fish kicks in the Weekapaug, and Mike starts up his opening bass solo at 19:32. It is rather strange, nothing at all like he
ordinarily jams. He is mostly tooling around in the lower octaves, with quick short snappy little licks. The solo isn't even vaguely
as IN YOUR FACE, HERE I AM as it usually is. Not really upbeat at all, frankly. Oh well. Trey immediately solos melodically
after the opening lyrics. His solos are marvelous, typical for Weekapaug, and there is excellent accompaniment by the others.
No teases of other tunes, no special jams that demand mention, until around 24 mins.. the jam kinda quiets down, just a little.
Fish doesn't drop the beat. Very repetitive for the next minute and more.. after 25 minutes the jam goes into a not uncommon
stop/start sort of mode that you can tell should start building any second here.. They stay in this funky, stop and start mode for a
little while, until the 26 min point, when Fish kicks in a more Weekapaugian groove, and the jam takes on a "Can't you Hear me
Knockin" feel again, just like 10/21/94. At 26:45 or so, they basically are playing the Can't You Hear Me Knockin' near-ending
jam, although admittedly it isn't exactly Can't You Hear Me Knocking.. Trey is changing it slightly. They are playing a form of it.
Weekapaug segues back out of this jam around 27:20 or something, quite nicely. This is a sick finale jam!!!! There's a fantastic
build and climax in here. I highly recommend serious Weekapaug fans getting their hands on this. It ain't shabby!! The final
Weekapaug closing verse comes in around 28:35. In the midddle of this, at 29:20, they do the REAL CLOSING JAM TO
'CANT YOU HEAR ME KNOCKING' BY THE STONES, and then end this Weekapaug -- as on 10/21/94 -- just like
Can't you hear me knockin ends. This Weekapaug was fantastic! Highly recommended. I'm surprised that they chose to end
Weekapaug with the Can't you hear me knockin jam again, though. Kinda strange.. and so soon after 10/21, too. Sounded
great!! 29:51 As far as rating this goes, the Weekapaug smoked, at over ten minutes, but the rest of the version wasn't that
great, even with Simple AND Tela in here. Lots of versions best this in a huge way. B rating overall.