From tjwade@tconl.com Sat Sep 12 23:35:43 1998
Date: Sat, 05 Sep 1998 23:43:47 -0700
From: Tim Wade 
To: dan@netspace.org
Subject: RebaReview 30: 7-6-94 Montreal

I Gotta Have My Mike (RebaReview #30)
7-6-94 St. Denis Theater
Montreal, Quebec, set I
Time: 14:15/ 16:24

Charlie Dirksen was my benefactor for this fantastic show - Thankee
Charles!

This is just a fantastic show from start to finish.  The Tweezer is
phenomenal, there's a great Hood and Bowie, lots of great acoustic
bluegrass, my favorite Poor Heart ever (FWIW), teases of "Free Ride",
"The Munsters", "Donna Lee", "HYHU", a 2001 jam, and "Dance of the Sugar
Plum Fairy"...

Oh, yeah, and a REBA!

THE DIRECTIONS (0:00): Oooh!  Mike comes in early and sweetly!  I do so
love good Cactus!  Gordo is trying out some different stuff here and
there and everywhere through the first verse...Fish has got the feel in
the second verse...nice lyrics section.

THE SIP (2:28): A little shaky at the start, it soon settles down...more
fat Cactus mid-sip...wow, now Page is taking big gulps and we build
nicely to

THE SWALLOW (4:51): Ah, that's a good stiff swallow...and now Mr.
Gordon, show us to

THE CHILL (6:14): Solid Chill intro, with Page blending in with Mike and
Fishman steady as a rock...they fade perfectly for Trey's quiet
entrance...Trey noodles around in the Chill...that's CHILL for you folks
that are SCREAMING right in here...wow, great work from Trey in here,
and nice fills on the low end from Mike...a little shift at 7:14 pushes
things into a groove...Trey eases down into it and starts to merge with
his mates...deeper and deeper into this groove...even the clapping is
good...Trey disappears beneath this THICK GROOVE laid down courtesy of
GordoFish Grooves, ltd.  Page rolls along with it... seriously, folks,
this is good...we roll on, and the jam starts to swell...Page starts to
let go and explore a touch...Trey reappears at 8:15, still rolling with
it, steadily rising upwards...this he begins to repeat, then play with a
bit...sweet slides...wow, so wonderful!  More funk from Mike, Page gives
perfect backup, and they never lose the groove...Trey starts to add some
more distorted, sustained stuff...this builds through one shift, then
another...finally there's a good strong shift at 9:35.  Fish kicks up
the tempo and Trey starts to really open up...great fills from
Fishman...they continue to ride this groove for all it's
worth...fantastic...
Trey hits a sustain more clearly about 10:25, then pushes up a bit
higher, pokes around, then begins to descend...hits a nice phrase into a
sustain and a *perfect* shift at 10:54.

Wow, right back into the chill...Fish hints at some syncopation, then
Trey goads him into it, culminating in another nice shift that chills
things even more... Page has moved to piano, and Trey noodles around
softly, hitting a lick that Mike answers him on...wow, are these guys
tight.  Another little shift follows shortly... nice fills from Fishman
as Trey continues to poke around here and there...now there's an odd
sounding shift, and tension builds...Trey starts plucking his way
upwards, and with Fish's help really gets things jumping...things get a
little syncopated...a semi-decent release hits at 12:32, but there's
still a syncopated feel...at least they're not together yet...Trey digs
down and starts a run, but then really digs into it, giving everyone
fits...another near release just brings the tension up a notch...Fish is
all over the place...Trey ascends and releases at 13:31!  Nice one! 
Classic high-level Reba wailing now...Trey starts wailing on a lick that
grabs Fish...woops, Fish kinda missed it...Trey starts to build again,
Fish starts crashing, accompanying Trey to the Rebasphere!!!!

except there's no toms...Trey drops back down for one more measure
before Fish, belatedly and I hope somewhat sheepishly, does give us the
toms at 14:15.

Trey (during the pause): "Just keep your eye on the ladder now, keep
your eye on the ladder..."

THE WET WHISTLE (14:58): It's a long pause filled with the above quote,
lots of hollering, and some weird unidentified noises.  This whistle is
not all that normal...woodblock, odd stops and what not.  It's good,
though!  Final blap comes, finally, at 16:24.

* * *

There's that darn Axilla again...what is it with that song and Reba? 
Weird.

Anyhoo...

This Reba is different right from the get go...then again, this show is
different right from the get go, too.  There are shining moments for
Mike, Fish, and Trey throughout the song.  That groove that makes up the
first part of the jam is one of the sweetest sounds I've ever heard Reba
emit, and it out-grooves one of my personal faves (10-31-94) by a long
shot.  And when they finally do drop off back into the Chill, they make
it sound effortless.

>From that point on I find myself having to be less kind.  I find the
syncopated stuff in here only semi-interesting, as it seems that once
they do let that initial groove go, they can't really get back together
again.  Also, that ending is downright funny, as Fish just plain falls
asleep at the switch.  I personally would interpret Trey's comment there
as "Fish, I was up as high as I could go." (And he was.) "That's your
cue, man."  Then again, maybe it was just someone moving a ladder, who
knows.

But damn is that a great groove in the beginning...so good that I have a
really hard time downgrading this one too much.  Normally the
just-average closing section and botched ending would earn more of my
ire...but, like I said before...
I DO SO LOVE GOOD CACTUS!!

Finest in the nation?  It's gotta be tried.

A