14Nov.1994 - Devos Hall, Grand Rapids, MI
I
My Friend - brief noodle before intro proper, nice welcoming song, still only 1 year after Rift, rather weak recording overall, I'm listening to the mp3s btw, love the break into the my friend section/verses, tension into big chorus!, trippy/extended Mike, its cool to see Mike playing/practicing all night on the bus playing along to albums on the Bluegrass sessions, all-time version because of the extended and playful nature.
Scent of A Mule - early Mike theme, nice choice, Page drops in at 2:15, this tune by this tour was some of the berst versions ever played(hear 2Nov.1994), trippy Trey behind, subtle Mike, Trey jumping in, trio between Trey, Page and Mike, Page trying to build tension, laying down Gershwin in between, can't recall a version where Mike accompanied Trey on the return melody?, solid yet fluid Fishman, nice version.
Guelah - nice opening 2 numbers, Trey brings the E down a bit, variety is key, almost small club feel to this show, Trey at the height of his guitar prowess in AFest, pause, crowd loving it, Paul the wizard on sound, good version
Split Open and Melt - ayuh!, Trey leading in early at 4:00, nice patience and sustain by Trey, choosing notes wisely, perfect ex. of Trey surrending to the flow, some atonal variations thrown in, jam quickly on and off track, much tension but on the fly, nice breaks back into Melt key, super dank Mike, trippyness near 8:12, solid version. Like Stash, a '94 Melt mix would be sweet.
Bouncing - in college, my gf and I used to sing the alternating chorus, I remember Trey saying he was influenced by African music in this piece, solid into
Landlady - again variety, sick ass Trey!, Trey at his fluid psychadelic best, at that time he could out-shread anyone imo, I don't see how any Landlady would complain about this music?, personally not a big fan of PYITE so I treasure this as a stand alone, into
Maze - time turns elastic, eeerie, ghostly intro, varied intro, sickness!, Trey leads in at 6:36, similar to his playing in Melt but more daring, trying new things, Fish and Mike laying down a reminder, Trey in deep dissonance w/ Page accompanying, trying to build a tension bed, squeeling by Trey, both Page and Trey playing long, extended ascending dissonant lines, almost 3 min. Trey's solo melting in a dissonant sound scape, sick bend at 9:25, final Maze release near 10:08, strange version, trippy vocal outro, into
Lawn Boy - fun and easy tune, tuned down Mike on the fretless? into
Cavern - Trey continuing his chord variability, tease of something in the intro?, tease continues, sounded like Lawn Boy slightly, confrimed , Fish, random surprises in this version, another all-time version, "don't do anything I wouldn't do", love the extended trippyness outro,
Overall solid first set. My highlights: Melt and Landlady although the whole set was consistent, playful and full of dripping improvisation.
II
Peaches - nice way to open any set, zappa big band, nice runs by Mike, solid version into
Bowie - Trey sounding like a low flying jet before the scratch, jam kicks in at 4:01, playful beginnig, neat little happy jam, again Mike playing outside of the box, really Flatbed Jam esque type playing here, phree jazz, nice exchange between Mike and Trey near 6:25 that continues, 3:30 into the jam still loose and jazzy, hard jam follows, 5 minutes in still no sign of Bowie proper, raging jam ensues, nice descending jam into more phree phish, approaching 8 minutes of pure improv., crowd loving it, trippy Trey, love this kind of open Phish jamming(see the next night's 16Nov. Simple as well), first Bowie drop near 13:52, jam drops back into its trippy space, space riff jamming ensues, I'm sure there were a few freaks losing it in the hallways, Mike lays down a neat little melody into silence, subtle effects, very Pink Floyd-esque near 17:00, crowd in time, crowd erupts, effect continues into clapping, could easily segue into a bluegrass riff, dog log like riff by Mike, Trey comes in hard, descending jam, Page playing ascending over the top, briefly, whistling(early seeds of Providence), a very Acid Test jam, jam comes out of it near 20:55, liquid Mike underneath, nice return to Bowie proper, trippy Trey in outro, super-fast trill action, subtle Fish snoring underneath, solid ending. Incredible, one of their all-time best performances! into trippy
Y Shel Zahav - beautiful, one of my fav.
into
Slave - this show foreshadowing 26Nov.1994 bigtime, again not a big fan slave fan, sounds good.
Poor Heart - time to cut loose, nice tribute to a filming Rev. Jeff, "Pug ...?" by Trey, Trey would have out shredded any of those Nashville pickers, fun version into
Julius - nice placement, purple hues, Trey leads in at 3:44, preety straight foward, some deviations evolve near 5:00+, Trey really playing at his best, Fishman yelling, Trey wanting to mimic Fishman but Fish stopped, near 4:00 minutes of high energy output by Trey, solid playing.
TOHP - variety.
Nellie Kane - nice scale run by Fishman;), hyhu tease by Mike on the banjo, Trey sounding sweet on his leads, the Rev. loving it.
Sweet Adeline - love their acapella style, it helped add to their psychadelic aura.
pause into
You Enjoy Myself - beautiful, solid intro, my fav. piece next to the jam, Trey riffs in near 9:25, fairly mellow noodling by Trey, better tone his second time around, Page rocking his clav, Phish had a funk sound in '94, its not as wha-wha drenched like '96-98 but its still preety good, it has more freedom then the funk that evolved 2 years later, mellow jam continues, kind of flat, Trey sounds bored, Mike picks up the pieces w/ some interesting ideas, overall C + version.
E
Golgi - I saw you!
Overall great second show of the tour's second leg, the first 3 shows, 12, 14 and 16Nov. feature some of Phish's most unique improvisation as this show reflects. Really hearing that Bowie for the first time was awesome. definitely a version I've been looking for but couldn't find. Basically this section of the tour should be in everyone's archive. If the YEM wasn't so wankery I'd lean on a A+ but my grade: A.
Nice pic.
