From: Charlie Dirksen
6/25/95 Mann Music Center, Philadelphia, PA The Maze to open this set is huge, fwiw. MikeS opens with some somewhat
unusual licks from Trey, but is otherwise standard (Trey laughs on the first Me No Are No Nice Guy line). Kinda slow opening
segment, perhaps. Tramps segment doesn't enter until 2:50 or so. Typical Mike and Page to start it off (but Mike isn't especially
active, strangely). Trey comes in off-key jamming, not sustaining anything too much. It is a typically spooky MikeS tramps jam,
but Trey seems almost to find an eerie somewhat melodic (though very sharp) theme in here, especially around 4:40 or so. A
very captivating tramps segment, frankly (and I usually don't like these off-key/sharp ones). Trey is still going at it at 5:30.. I
don't know the technical guitar word for what he does through most of this jam, but I imagine it has a name (he basically
vibrates each note by playing a note next to it, alternating between playing the orignal note and the one immediately down or
upscale from it, quickly and repeatedly, if this makes any sense.. yodeling, of sorts.. ;^). At 5:54, MikeS theme comes in, and
then the post-tramps style of jam starts twenty seconds later (I don't think they were on the tramps for this one, based on Trey's
jamming throughout this MikeS). This post-tramps jam is exactly the same as the tramps jam in form and character (which is
unusual), until about 7:20 or so, when the jam gets noticeably more raw (serious hard rock sorts of chords from Trey) and less
unsettlingly off-key. This hard rock sort of jam continues for a bit.. Trey really doesn't do anything in here. Just these chords
over and over and over again.. with some occasional nice fills, I suppose. Mike and Page are funking along, as typical for
post-tramps mode. Page gets on the Clavinet around 9:45 or so, and Trey starts taking off... jamming really thematically and
intensely. This is the best MikeS song I've reviewed in awhile, probably. Just very active and coherent, still (11:15). Usually,
MikeS would be in some spacey and chaotic groove by now. Everyone is still jamming away in here quite well (ooooouuuuuu...
some great stuff from Mike in here!). The jam at 12 mins is just siiiick! Very inspiring. The best jamming in MikeS I've heard for
a hell of a long time, to be sure. This is much better than all of the Fall '94 MikeSs I recently reviewed. At 12:30 or so, though,
the jam starts sounding very Montana (Bozeman Tweezer) -esque. Stop/start drums from Fish. Gets more and more quiet. LET
THE SPAMMING BEGIN! This is very cool, though. The jamming in here .. damn. I wish all spacey Phish was this active and
auricularly pleasing.. .. Fish is quietly snaking away on the snare rapidly.. keeping the SPACE upbeat. Mike is soloing a lot in
here, fwiw. Trey is vaguely around (14:30)... spacey effects from him.. Fish stops snaring (the jam fades out on my tape, and
then fades back in, during the spaciest part, so my timing may be off in here) ANYWAY, the spamming around the 15-16 min
point ain't that pretty. It is typical somewhat active spacey jamming. At just after 16 minutes, though, everyone gets into this
intensely psychotic groove that reminds me of Day in the Life's end, to a certain extent (it isn't it, so don't get excited), but the
same idea is present.. just crazy stuff from everyone that doesn't really blend well at all (deliberately). Fish leaves the drumz in
here and Trey heads for them. Do It in the Road segues nicely out of this rather BLECH ending to MikeS.. at around 18 mins. I
loved this Do It in the Road, of course (Henrietta is truly THE Little Hairy Beastman). It ends, and then the HYHU theme
begins (Fish bows) immediately. This may be the only time the HYHU theme has been played in the middle of a MikeS Groove.
(?) Out of this HYHU theme segues a crazy jam, though, that sounds vaguely reminiscent of the jam ending the Mike's Song
before DIITR began, and it is out of this that they break into Weekapaug at 21:11 (this timing is off by a few seconds at least,
fwiw. This jam wasn't that exciting, though). Mike's opening solo is not as upbeat as usual, but it is longer than usual by about
20 seconds or so -- very long opening solo!! It is snappy and funky, but he stayed in the lower reaches of the 'doc and didn't
transcend or alternate octaves that much (as he often does). Trey immediately solos melodically in the opening of the jam
segment. Around the 23:30 minute mark or so, Trey starts soloing on a gorgeous theme that I'm almost 100% sure is a
nonPhish song, but I have no idea what song this theme is from. He stays on this theme for about thirty seconds or so, and then
starts jamming all over the place... not so much on one theme as on many. This Weekapaug is honestly as GOOD as 6/20/95
was BAD. Trey's jamming in here is very active and enchanting. It is the sort of improv that doesn't sound like improv. At
around 26 minutes or so, the jam enters what I usually refer to as the "quiet mode." It basically relaxes just a touch.. Trey drops
out. Page and Mike funk out (Fish just keeps the Weekapaug beat..). Trey comes back in around 27 on a Suzy
Greenberg-esque style of jam. I think this was the jam that, at the show, I thought would kill me.. very magical (not LOUD)...
true Weekapaugian Hose. The jam is still in this extremely active but somewhat quiet mode until around 28:45 when Fish starts
getting excited (lots of fantastic drumming from him in here). Damn. Everyone is just **HOT** .. at 29:13 by my watch Trey
comes in loudly soloing on a Weekapaug-esque sort of jam and everyone joins in. This is a must-have Weekapaug Groove, in
my opinion. Just a KILLER version of it. Everyone's jamming in this version is simply exceptional. At 30:30, the chords that
start the beginning of the end kick in.. a-ha, a final Weekapaug lyrics segment. More "Sharin'"s from Mike than usual. Total time
31:42 (or something resembling this). I thought this MikeSGroove was *wicked good*. Having heard all of the Fall 94 versions
so recently, plus Red Rocks, I think I can honestly say without batting on eye that PHISH WAS JUST BETTER in this version
than in any of those versions. Hence, a rating of A- for this one. I really think it is better than Red Rocks and 12/28/94. The
jamming was simply more coherent and harmonically attractive to my auricular nerves.