From: Charlie Dirksen
10/8/94 Patriot Center, George Mason Un., Fairfax, VA (Rvwd 10/95) I was blessed enough to be front row for this
show, immediately in front of Page. I had a great time, but I honestly did not think it was AS GREAT a show as apparently
many of you out there. Indeed, the Hood I found unsatisfying, yet I have noticed that some of you find it unduly impressive.
Whatever. I had a great time at the show... SampleRift preceded this MikeS, and, well, I cannot even begin to describe to you
how pleased I was to hear MikeS (that's right, even on 10/8/94 I was a scornful spoiled arrogant SampleRift-disliking
aphishionado). I had actually written the band months earlier about playing MikeS at this show, but never thought they would
actually do it -- or do it FORRRREVERRRRRRRRR... This is the first of the approx. 30 minute MikeSGrooves, to my
knowledge (it is the longest MikeSGroove that I've reviewed to date). The opening segment is very passionately played and is,
indeed, about as perfect as can be. The tramps segment begins at about 2:45, and I can't remember whether they were actually
on the tramps for this (the crowd reaction appears to suggest that they were). Trey comes in after some intriguingly ominous
jamming from Mike and Page, after about 45 seconds or so. He sustains, and jams, and sustains, and jams some more, and
generally twirls in some fundamentally swampy and dark grooves. Very evil and chaotic trills from him around 4:40 or so. The
jamming is very *raw* and powerful. A devilish MikeS, indeed... At 5:33 or so the tramps segment ending jam occurs, and at
5:51, the jam starts slowly quieting down in a Simple-esque (but dark and far from cheery) groove. This is NOT Simple -- this
jam around 6:30 -- but is rather something More Wicked with Simplistic Elements. At 7:17 the jam quiets down to nothing, at
which point some little girls (about 12 years old) came out and did a chant.. the "Muppets" soccer team, who were apparently in
town and ran into the Boyz in the hotel. From what I heard, Fishman really wanted them to come on stage and do their chant,
but the other band members weren't to keen on the idea. Fish won. I remember Trey and Fish grinning a lot during the girls'
chant, Page smiling in an "Oh, aren't they cute" sortof way, and Mike looking somewhat perturbed and despondent (imagine
that!). I thought it was hysterical ... The jam returned and the girls promptly giggled their way off the stage at about 7:56 or so,
and Simple kicked in solidly at 8:28. A very weird thing, this was. People were boo-ing (I was laughing hysterically in the front
row, and Trey appeared to be amused that I thought it was funny..). This Simple was, frankly, awe-inspiring for me. It was
much better than the Summer '94 versions that I'd heard, and I was honestly enchanted and moved almost to tears. Such a
simple tune, and yet so compelling in a most intensely transcendent way. The harmonies are excellent in this version, imo, as are
the fills. I find it a beautiful version (but not as good as 10/31/94, of course). They had clearly practiced this before this tour,
and this first version of the tour was downright spectacular for those of us who had heard the choppy, rather loose versions of
the summer. The ending on "Skyballs," however, which came in late Fall versions, and fortunately not this one (this one segued
into a TRIUMPHANT CLOSING TYPICAL MIKES SONG ENDING JAM at about 13:15), really annoyed me, but
enough of that... The MikeS closing jam is very solid and powerful, but otherwise typical. It ends at 14:41, when I Am
Hydrogen -- like those first drops of rain -- lightly segued in. The opening of this Hydrogen (before Trey comes in on the
theme), however, is a bit longer than usual, with some rather passionate drums from Tubbs, passionate especially in light of the
genteel character of this tune. The crowd is ooo-ing and ahhh-ing during it, too, which leads me to believe that they were either
walking around the stage when playing this or on their backs. I can't remember. I think they were walking around the stage in
Fall '94 Hydrogens.. A flawlessly played version. Ends at 18:00, when Weekapaug jumps. Mike's opening jam is KILLER!!!! I
watched him do this and thought -- HOLY SHIT!!! This is a truly fantastic opening. Yes yes, snappy and funky and quick as
usual, but I don't know, it grabbed me more than usual, having as it does a more melodious quality than Quandolas' typical
opening. I was really into this Weekapaug in that damn front row, and made some room as I often do by throwing elbows and
my 190 pd frame around. Trey wastes no time after the opening lyrics segment in building a gorgeous jam. Trey jams well in
these first few minutes, but doesn't go off the deep end. There seems to almost be a design to this jam. He sustains on an eerie
off-key note at just over 22 minutes, which gets old fast, unfortunately. At 22:30, and around this time, the jam takes an
exceedingly evil and off-key, yet fiery and intense all the same, turn. At 23, Trey sounds for a second like he is going to break
out ... but doesn't. Within 20 seconds, the jam goes into a quick, stop-start mode. Fishman turns the Weekapaug beat off... and
then kicks it back in at 23:55, for a bit, when the jam clearly starts quieting down, getting spacey. At 24:25, Page starts playing
that funky clavier (is that what that thing is called.. the board on top of his piano, I think it was.. a small little thing). Very funky,
loose groove around the 25 minute point. Not "spacey," mind you, like Bangor or Bozeman or some Summer versions... but
active, playful, & somewhat jazzy. This groove gets more and more funky and intense, building in spell-binding fashion, until it
just EXPLODES BACK INTO WEEKAPAUG GROOVE AT THE MOTHER F*CKING 27 MINUTE POINT!! A highly
original Weekapaug for its time, indeed. The closing pre-final lyrics segment is typically fantastic with some masterful trills from
Trey and gloriously tight accompaniment from the others. The closing lyrics segment kicks in at 28:24. Instead of just closing it
out normally, though, they don't start singing for an extra few bars... otherwise typical ending. Ends at 29:40 or so, at which
point FLUFFHEAD was played!! It was quite a moment, indeed (and the Fluffhead was GOOD!). Even though I'm fairly
certain some MikeS-> blah blah -> Weekapaugs from after 10/8/94 have been longer, this was the longest reasonably
straightforward MikeSGroove up until this time (I'm not counting stuff like 12/30/93, obviously, where there are many different
songs between the MikeS and Weekapaug). So what is the rating for this? I've definitely heard better versions, but this is still
strong. B+/A- two cents charlie