From: Charlie Dirksen
11/25/95 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA Timber Ho and Kung open the set (not bad..). The Kung is extremely strange,
even moreso than usual.. they SING it. I mean, really SING it... with sustain and everything. It is magnifiscently ludicrous... Trey
laughs after he tells everyone to stand up on their 'knees'... MikeS kicks in after this ultra-weird Kung. Trey fudges the first
chord. Opening is more/less standard (perhaps a little more strange activity from Trey than usual, to be fair.. but not good..
sloppy at times in here). NOT a Sound opening, imo. Tramps jam at the usual time (2:42ish). It doesn't sound like anyone was
on the tramps for this.. am I right? Mike and Page get more than their opening 30 seconds together... Trey only half-assedly
plays a few quiet notes.. until about 3:45, when he finally begins to thematically noodle. And noodle he does!! Quite active,
really.. some fiery, somewhat melodic licks from him in here (Page also seems more excited than usual in this jam, fwiw.. Mike,
well, no.. Fish also screws around with the rhythm a lot). At 5:50 it sounded for a second like they were going to plow into the
closing chords of the tramps segment, but nooooo.. Trey begins sustaining a note... and doesn't do anything else until 6:30 when
he does some weird effect for a wee bit.. but then he's back in there, noodling, at 6:50 or so. Standard tramps jamming in
here... not that thematic. Trey seems to be wandering around... sustaining here and there. Page won't quit, though. He's just
tooling away. Mike is just keeping the groove with Fish. I wasn't at this show, so I can't really review this switched instruments
jam... (8:40 now) I hear Trey's percussion kit. Is that Page on the piano? Yeah. I get the impression from the depth of the jam
that everyone is still where they belong around 10 minutes. This jam in here sounds quite good, frankly.. like the lead up to the
MikeS close.. indeed, at 10:30, the MikeS tramps segment theme ending jam kicks in, and at 10:49, the post-tramps jam
FINALLY begins. FWIW, this may be the longest "tramps jams" on record.. if not THE longest. I can't remember any post
tramps jam starting at f*cking 10:49!!! Ok, Crowd goes nuts at 11:30 or so.. people are switching instruments for sure. Crowd
goes nuts again.. and again. I wasn't at this show, and can't remember from people's comments who switched to what
instrument when. At 12:36, there is definitely someone on the drums who can't play them. Sounds cute.. bwaaaahahaha.. I'm
sorry, you just can't help but laugh at how lame this sounds. 13:30. Although .. hmm.. I guess that is Mike on the guitar right
now. (Someone else should step in here.. someone who was AT the show and has the tapes and would like to help me out
here.. I clearly need it). At 14:15, someone who can't play drums is still on them. Misc stuff on the piano, including a keyboard
army tease for a second. ;-) The bassist is hitting two notes over and over again.. (15 mins now). This whole section is quite
amusing.. (amusing for now.. I can't imagine actually wanting to listen to this EVER AGAIN) Sounds terrible at 15:30. Fish must
be on the guitar.. bwaaahahaha.. yeah. That has to have been Fish, right? Sounds like Trey on the drums.. now (16 minutes).
Yep.. that's Trey. There is basically no bass in here. WHO IS ON GUITAR!? 16:23.. it is hysterical!! Misc. notes that sortof
go together.. this is nuts. Bwaahahahaha... At 16:50 someone new steps onto the drum kit.. I think. Or 17:10.. crowd speaks
up again. Another switch? At 17:30, there's practically nothing going on... then someone gets on Trey's percussion kit. Whoever
is on guitar in here (17:50) really sucks.. ;-) (but knows it, I'm sure) At 18:30, someone is on the drums who sounds like they
could keep a beat, but just don't want to try too hard... 19 mins now.. who is on guitar now? Page? Nothing really going on..
whoever is on the keyboard is doing keyboard army like maneuvers (let me guess, FISH!?). ACK!!! GUITAR BLECHY
STUFF!! WHAT THE HELL!! That was crazy.. I must admit, this whole "Switching Instruments Jam" has been quite amusing,
and basically doubles as some interesting Space. But I don't want to hear it *ever* *again* ... but that's just me. At 20:34, there
is someone wailing away on the piano.. doesn't sound like Page (it is REALLY LAME.. very humorous, of course.. ;-). I know
I couldn't do any better. At 21:30, someone else got on one of the 'boards.. is this Trey and Page?? (No drums or bass in here
at all, folks.. fwiw.. just keyboards) Hmm.. now at 22 minutes it sounds like three people on the boards.. maybe.. ? What the
hell... I give up. FWIW, I don't recommend trying to use any of this stuff to impress anyone. This was really only for their (and
by extension, our) amusement.. but on tape this stuff gets dry really fast... at least to me. Very repetitive on the keys at 23 mins
(still no drums or bass.. just a mess of keyboards, and it ain't no keyboard army.. this stuff makes me WISH they were playing
keyboard army). I shouldn't be so harsh.. this isn't that bad, I guess. There. I wasn't so harsh. Enough!! Enough!! Just stop!!
AAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! At 25 minutes, the Crowd cheers, and the "jam" is effectively just piano notes being hit
repeatedly (roughly the same notes). I guess everyone returns to their instruments!!! YEP!! At 26 minutes, it sounds to me like a
build will be occurring, and that everyone is indeed back in their proper place! Trey starts playing the MikeS theme at 26:15 or
so.. strumming away. The jamming in this final MikeS segment **SMOKES** .. you can tell that everyone is damn happy to
be back where they belong. This jam KICKS. Page changes the key at around 38 minutes but Trey didn't change, so it sounds
discomforting for a little bit.. then Page returns to the original key. At 28:33, Trey starts chording a bit, and the jam actually
sounded TweezeRep-like for a couple seconds. This is a CRAZY MikeS closing jam, if one can really call it that (Trey teases it
around 29:15!!). I guess you have to.. yep. Final MikeS chords at 29:25. Wow. (wipe sweat from brow)
Phhhhheeeewwwwwwwwww... No hydrogen. No Contact.. No Leprechaun. Just sustain from Trey, and a few notes from
Page and Mike (Fish quit at the end of MikeS)... this fades away. Niiice ending! Total time roughly 30:30 ish, although I
stopped paying attention since the ending was soo neat... ;) Then Long Journey Home, Blue & Lonesome, and Strange Design.
And then... Weekapaug drums kick in after Strange Design (no segue). Mike's opening solo is snappy and funky, just not as
quick, and shorter than usual by like ten seconds. ;( Trey comes in late with the Weekapaug chords, for some reason. No big
deal, though. The opening of the jam segment is very shaky.. is Trey ok? Ok there he goes.. at 2:30 or so he starts noodling
melodically, and the jam quiets down (since he does). Fish maintains the groove, but Page and Mike get quiet along with Trey..
the jam is still sort-of intense... Trey just hasn't really done much in here, frankly, but it isn't "bad." Given what he is capable of,
though, he sounds under the weather, except for spurts here and there.. this was likely all intentional, of course. Just creating a
new mood for yet another Weekapaug. Searching for a strong theme. At 5:20, the jam drops back a touch.. basically the "quiet
mode".. Suzy Greenberg-esque chords from Trey, Page is GOING NUTS!!!!, and Mike lets loose some nice licks on the bass.
Christ, Page, SLLLOW DOWN MAN!!! WOW!! Page is just hosing everyone down at 6:20.. Trey is just chording.. and then
at 6:44, Trey starts playing the theme again (Page is still NUTS.. just took this jam away from Trey in here!!! way to go! If Trey
wasn't going to lead!!! Damn straight! ;^). At 7:22, everyone is jamming in unison, more/less.. Trey is chording Weekapaug and
Page is wailing away. At 7:45, without warning, Trey starts singing the final verse (and surprised Page, it sounds like.. this kinda
pisses me off. . . Trey should've let Page have even more of a go at it.. Page was ***ON FIRE***!). Ends at 8:24 kinda
sloppily (Trey was sloppy). Well, this is easily the most insane I've ever heard Page get in a Weekapaug, but because Trey
wasn't helping at all (it was almost like they were competing, but only it was NO CONTEST.. Page was knocking Trey down
around 6-7 mins). Whatever.. This Weekapaug really *FAILS* for me. Just ain't coherent. Page fans absolutely MUST HEAR
THIS, though, because it is some of the most incredible stuff I've ever heard him do IN WEEKAPAUG. This MikeS and
Weekapaug combo get a B. Only a B. I know, just a mere Awesome rating, but I'm not going to defend it. Yes I am. The
switching instruments jam was very amusing, but compared with other Mike's Songs, in general, it really wasn't competitive to
the 1994-5 versions (it blows the old versions away, though, of course..;). Listen to it yourself. As you'd expect, it isn't that
pretty most of the time. Regarding Weekapaug. Well, I just told you how I felt about that. It certainly wouldn't have raised the
rating I would have given the MikeS... even with Page's ferocious wailing (just wasn't smooth).