YEM review - 9/12/99 Portland Meadows, Portland, Oregon

Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 12:52:20 -0700
From: Charles Dirksen 
To: rmp@archive.phish.net
Subject: 9/12/99 Portland Enjoys Itself
 
9/12/99 Portland Meadows, Portland, Oregon
 
YEM closes the second set of this show, and starts up out of a
melodic, spacey Also Sprach jam segment.  Trey could certainly be
tighter in the opening, but so what, he was probably a bit weary.
It's incredible how well he plays when any HUMAN person would be
exhausted! ;-)  The pre-Snoopy segment is typically spacey, with
sustained, harmonious chords, but nothing special or unusual.  Snoopy
at 4:10.  Mike's solo section begins at 4:56, and he stays in the
lower octaves for most of it.  It has a somewhat dreary mood, IMO.
The pre-charge segment is good, but not great.  It doesn't have as
strong and punchy a feel as it usually does -- again, Trey sounds a
bit weary. He isn't DRIVING it, you know?  Just playing along.  He
nails the first shot at "the Note", though.  Second "Note" is
sustained cleanly.  Charge at 7:22 and then
 
"BOY" at 7:39 after a hearty scream.  Trey fudges the opening chords
to the BMGS segment a bit. This segment is its usual funky self...
Nothing special about it, until around 8:44 when Trey plays his
guitar instead of asking the query, "Wash Uffizi Drive Me to
Firenzi?" (before the others come in on the WUDMTF chorus)  He does
this twice.  Trampolines jam begins at 9:53, and Page is on the
organ.  Judging by crowd noise and Mike's signals, they are on the
trampolines.  Page and Fish are straightfoward in accompaniment.
Nothing too fierce from either of them.  Mike and Trey are off the
tramps after a minute, and the jam picks up a bit.  Nice groove
develops very quickly.
 
12:07 is as good a time as any to start the jam segment.  Trey
starts throwing down these funky chords that accompany the jam
rhythmically quite well.  He solos a bit here and there -- riffs
well.  But nothing fierce, at least at first.  I still dig this
groove.  Around 13:41, it picks up a bit more intensity -- Fish
wails away a bit more, perhaps trying to punch it up higher.  Trey
is finally starting to *rock* in the upper octaves.  Mike and Page
accompany well in here, too, but this is definitely one of those
more traditional Trey-led YEM jam segments.  There's some good
jamming in this version, for sure, especially around the 15:30
point.  Strong climax.  Trey climbs his 'doc quite well, too, in the
15:45-16 min period, and around 16:19 there's a Johnny B Goode tease
(JBG chords for a few seconds).
 
At 16:35, though, that's it.. Trey just chords out and the digital
delay loops begin.  It's easier to hear Mike now (17 mins).  The
digital delay loops die out by 17:20 or so, and around 17:32, Trey and
Page very softly come in with the closing WUDMTF vocals.  Mike and
Fish don't really try to keep the jam going at all, and drop out
pretty quickly, as the vocal jam takes over.  It takes over very
slowly and mellowly, though.  They all harmonize at first.  No small
furry creatures vocalizations, in other words... slow harmonizing.
The vocal jam is very slow, and arguably dull. Total time 21:15.
 
You've all heard more inspired versions than this one before, and you
will again. A "great" version to be sure, but "average great for YEM"
at best, IMO.
 
two cents,
charlie



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