From: Charlie Dirksen
8/5/96 Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO Opening a teeny bit sloppy, but otherwise standard. "Tramps" jam at 2:40,
but there were no tramps at this show. Totally standard Mike & Page at first, with nothing unusual. Trey comes in within 30
seconds as usual, noodling in a reasonably melodious manner, around a somewhat dark and flaky theme. He doesn't get into the
upper reaches of the 'doc until nearly 5 minutes, fwiw. Around 5:15, though, Trey repetitively, thematically and fiercely chords,
and by 5:40, the jam just SOARS, with powerful noodling from Trey overtop ominous, raging accompaniment. This lasts for
nearly a minute, when, at around 6:45, Trey ends the tramps segment (rather shakily at first). At 7 mins, the "post-tramps"
segment darkly kicks in. It begins, unusually, very similar to the tramps jam earlier. No key change, no structure change.. simply
some MORE FEROCIOUS noodling from Trey overtop strong accompaniment. It is basically just a continuation of the jam in
the tramps segment (this doesn't usually happen.. usually the post tramps jam is very different from the tramps jam -- often more
dissonant and eerie). There's really nothing to say about this Jam in here, except that Trey melodiously and forcefully noodles
(much moreso than usual).. he is even trilling fiercely around 11:15 or so! And the accompaniment takes no unusual turns, either
(no unusual turns given what transpired in the tramps segment). It isn't clear until after 12 minutes that Trey is listening to any of
the other band members.. he's been going absolutely INSANE in this jam.. just firing off licks left and right, apparently without a
care as to what the other members were doing. CLosing Mike's Segment begins around 12:30, and the VERY FINAL chords
to the Mike's Song are completely and utterly fudged by Trey.. (he screwed up at the beginning and just fudged his way out).
Absolutely hideous, lame ending.. Hydrogen segues in around 13:27ish. At the show, I remember Mike sheepishly moving out
to the front of the stage to join Trey for The Usual Hydrogen Frolicking. Hydrogen sounds shaky at times.. isn't all that clean.
For some reason, I thought Mike played around with his Role more in this version (this is what I thought at the show), but the
tapes don't lie: basically standard. Because of the shakiness, below average Hydrogen for sure, unfortunately, imo. Weekapaug
at 16:33, with a spectacularly GRAND opening from Mike!!! =^] Snappy, funky and quick as expected, but also very
melodious and playful! One of the better openings for Mike. But when Trey comes in on the opening chords he's not that tight,
unfortunately, at least at first. Trey's soloing is at first loooow on the 'doc, and reasonably thematic (he doesn't sound like he's
just screwing around.. one can detect a Design of sorts to his noodling). In other words, his soloing for the first min or two is
akin to many a Weekapaug. No surprises here. By 20:30 or so, though, Trey has moved up a few octaves, and really starts
wailing away. Some nice trilling, mixed in with a fair amount of sustain, over the next minute. Very reptitive at certain times, but
not displeasingly so, imo. Around 22 minutes, though, this Trey-led groove (typically strong accompaniment from the others)
sounds like it falters a bit.. but it soon picks up, as Trey does. At 23:22, Trey just starts playing the closing Weekapaug chords.
No climax to speak of, nothing that really sounded like Trey was trying to blend with the other band members, no unusual jams,
no "quiet Page-dominated segment." Total time 24:16. To put it simply: this Weekapaug is absolutely nothing like many of the
late '95 and '94 Weekapaugs, and is more of a return to the pre-'94 Weekapaugs, frankly. Just all Trey in this MikeSGroove.. I
still enjoyed it. But it really is a Trey-dominated version (outside of Mike's fantastic opening to the Weekapaug). B rating.
FWIW, at the show, this version just knocked me out.. this was my favorite set of the Red Rocks run. It ended both the show,
and one of the best sets of Aug '96 imo. A "great" version of MikeSGRoove is worth a C, so please don't bash my rating if you
SAW ICCULUS during this version, at least without examining my ratings of the other 50 or so MikeSGrooves I've reviewed. I
want to reiterate, though, that this version was NOTHING ALL THAT SPECIAL, EXCEPT FOR TREY'S POWERFUL
NOODLING DURING THE MIKE'S, upon re-listening to it carefully (at the show, Nooter can attest to the fact that I was
blown away by it.. and that I thought I could never review it.. this is primarily because the MIKES SONG was sooooo
Trey-dominated and fierce.. just nonstop, fiery noodling.. see also 8/16/96). I was definitely lifted spiritually during this
MikeSGroove at the show, which is probably why my post- version comments to Nooter were what they were (and why he
looked at me like I was even more insane than he had thought I was). Again, upon re-examination, this version is neither
must-hear nor especially original. I think Dan had a greater handle on his senses, hence why he seemed befuddled by my initial
*live* reaction to this MikeSGroove.