Mikes review - 9/22/99 Pan American Center, Las Cruces, NM

Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 21:39:10 -0700
From: Charles Dirksen 
Subject: 9/22/99 Las Cruces Mike's Groove

9/22/99 Pan American Center, Las Cruces, NM
 
Thanks to Jared Proctor for the heads up on this version and to Dr. Paisley
for the discs! =^]
 
This Mike's Song, overall, has a really impressive vibe to it.  The tramps
segment jam isn't very melodic and doesn't "soar", but it has a very full,
rich, raw, deep, phaaat feel. It also BUILDS and BUILDS in power steadily and
slowly. It's not a "collective" groove -- Trey solos overtop the groove thrown
down by Page, Mike and Fish.  But Trey's soloing, though not mellifluous, is
still inspired and passionate, most of the time.  At least, it sounds that way
to me. :-)  He's repeats a really mournful riff around the 8-9 min section,
too.
 
The whole vibe of this Mike's Song is like a WAKE, or something. Around 10:20,
a sustained wall of sound erupts and envelops everything.  Fishman starts
getting real nasty on his kit. Page and Mike also pick things up! Great
climax, and at 11:11, they launch into the tramps segment closing chords, and
Simple starts at 11:29. Fish has to take the rhythm down a bit.  Things got
really intense in the final minute of the Mike's!  Jared Proctor told me that
the Mike's Song had a lot of "raw, spinning energy," and he's DEAD ON! This is
a fierce Mike's Song!
 
Simple isn't impressive.  It's nice..  I mean, it's Simple.  It's fun.  
Doesn't do much of anything, though, IMO. Standard great Simple at best.  It
segues into Trainsong at around 20:10 or so. Trainsong is nice, too.  Nice.  
Let's hear it for "nice"..
 
Weekapaug begins at 23:15.  Wow!  This is about as "average great" as they
get. =^] They all play well, but there's nothing of special merit.  Nothing
unusually inspired for Weekapaug.  No special jams, nothing to report that's
anything unique... until the very end, when Trey heavily teases 2001 in the
closing cacaphonious final chord (which comes after the "normal" ending,
fwiw.. they did this periodically in 1999 at the end of 'paug, and used to end
'paug this way pre99 now and then).  See, this version ended with a climactic
"jam off of the final chord", just like the 9/29/99 version of Weekapaug...
and it is in THIS final "jam", in this final sustained cacophonious full-band
climactic closing "chord" (even though there's more than one chord in here),
that Trey teases 2001's melody. The La Grange (E) contains far more passionate
playing from everyone than Weekapaug, fwiw..
 
two cents,
charlie


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