From: Charlie Dirksen
9/30/95 Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA The highlight of this show for me will always be the Suspicious
Minds (there was actually a couple in front of me that seemed to be taking it seriously, which, of course, made it THAT MUCH
MORE AMUSING). Some of you already know that I'm not fond of the Reba at this show (too damn fast, and hence, short).
Antelope is well-jammed, and I believe the Jim is great, too, but this will be one of those that I drop. Mike's Song begins after
Scent, which I always prefer in the first set (sorry), if at all. MikeS begins fudged by Trey, with guttural noises from Fishman
(i.e., not at all ordinary). Trey just fudges the very opening, which is probably what elicited the first of three or four sustained
guttural noises from Moses. The opening segment is otherwise standard, until just before the tramps jam comes in when, if you
can believe it, they almost completely screw up and start the tramps jam early (sounds like Trey again)... they get out of it
quickly though, and the tramps jam begins at the usual 2:31. There were no tramps at this show, if I recall. Trey jams right
through this.. usually Page and Mike have the first thirty seconds of this jam to themselves, as you know, but not this time. Trey
just lets loose on the MikeS theme that Mike usually controls in here. Trey is very active, and there is no off-key sustain. There's
some reasonably melodious jamming in this version -- it isn't typical, in this sense (typical versions tend to be very dark and
spooky and ominous and off-key...). This is definitely a more intensely jammed version than usual. Good stuff. Tramps ending
jam kicks in at 5:30, and the post tramps jam begins twenty seconds later (with no Simple tease, well, I guess from Mike..
sortof). Trey gets spacey with sustain almost immediately, and beneath it Mike and Page wail. Fish maintains the groove for
about forty seconds, before dropping it into a spacey jam mode.. (SPAM). I think the jam in here, around 7:15, is your run of
the mill Phish space -- Fish is still keeping a quiet, semi-active groove, Page is doing misc. stuff on the keys, Mike is hanging in
there with Fish.. Trey is doing spacey sustained effects. (cut to side B, so this timing could be off by a few seconds, it sounds
like.. at most a few seconds) I'm not at all excited by these spacey jams.. at 8:58, Trey starts teasing Keyboard Army (and
there's a scream of terror out of someone in the audience.. it may have been me). At 9:40 Trey is still just teasing K.A., but at
9:52, he gets on the piano and really starts. This segue is actually quite cool. Mike dropped out, Fish & Trey got progressively
more quiet.. Perhaps my greatest annoyance with this whole MikeSGroove was its predictability. We had been joking about a
MikeS -> Keyboard Army -> Groove in the lot before the show (after having already seen K.A. three nights in a row), and
well, I believe I was quoted as saying "Oh, God no.. they wouldn't do that to us. Not in MikeS. But then again..." I was
certainly not the first to predict this.. Dan Purcell's friend SCOTT did it! I suppose I consider Scott a friend, too, but ever since
he called this K.A. in the 'groove, well. Things just haven't been the same. Keyboard Army is, if you can believe it, standard.
There is no -> before Weekapaug. Weekapaug kicks in after a few seconds of silence (or rather, a pre-Weekapaug jam).
Mike opens it up on the bass at 14:30. Fish doesn't come in until 14:45. Trey and Page come in, too, funking around
haphazardly. A definitely shaky opening, but it gets very groovy, with everyone just jamming around with Mike until 15:11 when
Weekapaug really begins. No Mike opening solo in here, in other words. The jamming is very strange, frankly. Trey doesn't
really get on any themes particularly, which is quite unusual. Well, around 18 minutes he finds one to soar on, finally! ;) Up until
then, though, it just seemed shaky to me (Trey even teased the Weekapaug theme, which he ordinarily doesn't do in the middle
of the jam segment). The jamming at 18:40 is typically gorgeous Weekapaug hose, with some fantastic, melodious licks from
Trey (with the sustain in the right place..;^). This is great, of course, but hey, great = average (especially for 1995). At 19:30 or
so, the jam sounded like it might drop into a quiet/relaxed mode, but Trey drags out the jam for another twenty seconds... and
then they drop the jam down. Very jazzy around this point 20:10 or so.. at 20:30, Trey starts chording as if to segue into a
Can't You Hear Me Knockin' jam (this is NOT teased, though..). Doesn't do it, though. At 21:10 or so, the jam literally FELL
into the Weekapaug theme.. as if through a trap door.. lots of Page in here. At 21:50, Page starts playing Suspicious Minds.
Well, a terrible ending, really. I mean, the segue into Suspicious Minds is great, but hell, I wouldn't have minded hearing
Weekapaug's ending... I loved this Suspicious Minds at the show... ask Dan Purcell. ;-) I honestly thought, though, that they
would finish Weekapaug after doing this, and so imagine my shock and horror when I got Cavern, Amazing Grace and GTBT
instead.. ;^) [Insert Obligatory Cavern Bashing Remarks here.] Seriously, though, I thought the jamming in the first 6 minutes of
Mike's Song was **great** -- unusually intense and impressive -- but from then on, forget it. Weekapaug was short with a
non-ending and only so much typically amazing jamming (nothing awe-inspiring, given what The Boys are capable of). Plus, it is
one of the shortest MikeSGrooves in a while.. B-/C+