YEM review - 8/6/98 Lakewood Amphitheater, Atlanta, GA

Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000 08:22:44 -0700
From: Charles Dirksen cdirksen@earthlink.net
To: rmp@archive.phish.net
Subject: 8/6/98 Lakewood YEM
 
8/6/98 Lakewood Amphitheater, Atlanta, GA
 
How about the "Running with the Devil" encore?  If you haven't heard
it, it's pretty amusing.. They may have rehearsed it once, if even
that, though (and it shows).
 
Opening of this YEM -- this show's second encore tune -- is standard.
The pre-Nirvana segment is spacey and enchanting, in spite of the
crowd's clapping along for part of it.  Nirvana at 3:34... I never
tire of this beautiful part of YEM's opening.  Page's piano never
sounded better.  There's a small flub from Trey shortly after a roar
from the crowd (stage climber?) during this section.  Mike is very
active in his solo section but sounds forlorn...  A roar from the
crowd at the start of the precharge segment but it isn't very loud, so
I can't be confident that Brad brought the trampolines out. ;-P  Good
precharge segment, but nothing over the top.
 
"Boy" at 7 mins after an OK scream.  Trey doesn't say the "Wash Uffizi
drive me to Firenzi" lyrics, fwiw, between the collectively sung
WUDMTF lyrics -- he just plays.  This time it doesn't throw the others
off, though.  Tramps jam begins at 9:12, and they are definitely on
the tramps in light of the crowd noise and Mike's playing.  Page funks
around on the boards.  Trey eventually comes in chording along
repetitively.  Mike and Fish lay out a good bottom.  Page gets more
textural on the boards as soon as Trey comes in.
 
Mike plays That Riff that he has often, almost always, played in YEM
over the last few years (11 mins).  It's the riff that reminds me of
that 70's funk tune "You've Got the Look" (or whatever it is called).
I was told that this lick was taken from a James Brown tune, but that
tune has yet to be ID'ed.  The jam just funks along, stopping after
every four measures for dramatic effect (12).  It's very repetitive --
but in a good way! :) Mike just keeps playing That Riff... Page and
Trey compliment it well.  Fish is all over the place -- while
simultaneously keeping the groove in Funk Mode (13).
 
This would bore the hell out of you if you weren't into shaking your
booty.  Crowd starts clapping along around 13:30.  Mike continues to
play That Riff.  Trey continues to throw down funky chords while Page
noodles around on the clavinet and Fish pounds out a forcefully funky
rhythm... but it Just Isn't That Great.
 
At 14:51 Trey starts repeating the main riff of "Running with the
Devil" for two verses, at this funky pace.  It's the most melodic
thing to occur in this jam segment... until Mike and Fish take off
around 15:30 -- oh wait. That was fleeting. Sounds like Page and Trey
started vocal jamming at the same time as Mike and Fish thought about
wailing.
 
Fish is the only one playing -- on woodblocks -- by 15:50.. Mike, Trey
and Page are vocal jamming.  Fish drops out around 16:15.  Vocal jam
gets really loud, but is otherwise typically bizarre (and arguably
less of a collective effort than usual for the last few years).  Total
time 19:12.
 
I gotta say, though I loves the funk, this was without doubt a below
average YEM, IMO -- even when compared with other funky versions from
the last several years.  Easy B-.
 
two cents,
charlie


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