, attached to 1993-04-14

Review by Campster

Campster Amazing box set, in need of a review:
Buried Alive is the opener (and a choice one at that). No time wasted in getting the energy levels up!

Poor Heart maintains the manic pace and is replete with some welcome shouts of Cactus! from Trey.

Maze makes an appearance in the third slot and continues the frenetic energy of the show. This is an excellent version, plenty of pace and Page’s solo is energetic and well done. Trey is full of vinegar as he takes control and guides us to a clean and fiery conclusion. Water break!

Bouncin’ fits here very well. It’s a relaxing selection after that opening.

It’s Ice is very well played, but is not the best version (high standards in the early 90s) as the middle jam section is nothing too groundbreaking. Still a great setlist call and plenty of fun!

Stash -> Kung -> Stash -> Kung is as good as it seems on paper! An deeply exploratory Stash (with fine composed work) is given the full treatment and appears destined to return to song form, but the band has other ideas. A cool backing jam leads to the Fishman led Kung chant! They then make a full return to the Stash conclusion - with Kung vocals included! Trey makes for an acoustic guitar and they perform a Kung reprise jam. This is an absolutely awesome suite of music and you don’t get to hear much acoustic improv like this.

The Horse>Silent is a nice follow up and played well.

Divided Sky is up next and is very well done. Fans of the song will be pleased, even if it’s not in the upper echelon. It’s still crisp and triumphant and is nicely placed in the set.

I Didn’t Know gives us some hijinks.

Golgi Apparatus closes the set in adequate fashion. Pretty nice version, with some energetic set closing banter from Trey.

Overall, this is an excellent first set. Jamming highlights a plenty in Maze & Stash madness along with plenty of well executed and great songs like Divided Sky & It’s Ice. If you wanted a microcosm of the tightness and exploration that ’93 has to offer, this is a fine set.

Set II kicks off with an unbelievable little piece of audio history in the form of an on-stage wedding proposal. What an amazing insight and just a magical moment from a band on the ascendency.

Trey then initiated Bag in honor of the newly engaged. This is a very crisp version. Pretty high speed by today’s (and latter years of 90’s) standards. Features a fiery solo from Trey.

My Sweet One is second up, and is short but sweet before they kick into Tweezer!

The Tweezer is not annotated on the setlist, nor is it particularly long, but it bears the hallmarks of the early 90s Tweezers in the form of a clean opening section (although there’s a stumble before the jam, where Trey gets lost momentarily). They kick into a dark Tweeprise-esque jam to start before sliding into a more chaotic, chromatic, note filled early 90s Tweezer jam. It reaches a couple nice climaxes without going anywhere too crazy before reaching the early 90s slow breakdown ending to Tweezer. It’s certainly a nice addition to a solid set.

Resolving into Mound is quite pleasant to my ears and seems to jive with the breakdown ending of the Tweezer. This is a strong version of the tune.

Big Ball Jam is up next and is what you’d expect (these don’t always come through on tape). It’s a decent enough musical interlude to me.

YEM is the anchor of the set and what a version! Opening arpeggios are delightful, the spacey section is serene and magnificent & the drop in out of the space is sublime. Mike takes an inspired bass solo around 4:30 or so and it really cranks through the SBD! A screaming Trey solo gives way to a screaming lyric section (Trey shouting versus trying to be too funky). The music though remains appropriately funky and Trey dials back the shouting. Mike is laying down some fat lines, Fish and Page are working quite well in tandem here as well. The organ and bass take over at 9:15 or so, with Fishman remaining insatiable with his fills. There’s some good start stop stuff around 10:30 before Trey jumps in with some nice rhythm guitar. At 11 minutes it’s a Fishman solo with the occasional bas bomb and an eerie Trey drone at 12 or so. Trey then plays some quiet funky/jazzy solos over a very quiet jam and boy is it good. Well they slide right into Spooky with ease and it’s sublime! Inspired stuff here and it fits like a glove. The jam gets cooking right back into YEM and we are off. Trey throwing out some inspired and climbing leads with Page coloring the organ overtop. Good peaks and Trey teases the spooky melody as they break down the jam into Bass and Drums. Mike proceeds to eviscerate his instrument, with a sly spooky quote as well. There’s some awesome and heavy interplay between the percussion and band here as well before the vocal jam arrives. It’s a fun enough conclusion to an inspired version!

Follow that up with Harpua! Yes please! Great narration and good song. Nice treat. Early 90s Phish magic.

Runaway Jim gives us a final dog song to wrap this set up with a bow. This version has a soaring solo from Big Red and acts the part of set closer with aplomb. Most excellent. I’ll throw out the term “extra mustard” here, since I don’t use it often.

The encore is a triple threat of Lengthwise Contact & Tweezer Reprise. Not many better ways to end a show.

Overall, another excellent set. Good jamming throughout (type I mostly, but still great). Loved the opening Bag, the Tweezer Mound combo and of course the YEM. The Harpua and Jim were both nice cherries-on-top!

Classic show. Worthy of praise and a great SBD release.


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