From: Charlie Dirksen
4/26/96  Jazzfest, Fairground, New Orleans, LA

Somewhat shaky opening, frankly.. Trey isn't quite as smooth as he
usually is in the first minute.  "Play all night!!!" scream from a few
members of the audience in the pre-Nirvana section (!). The segment is
nevertheless delightfully enchanting but definitely not that
impressive in light of many other versions.  "Nirvana" at 3:52.  Trey
fumbles a little in here, too.  Mike's solo section at 4:36 is very
melodious and pretty good.. not its often eerie and despondent self.
The pre-charge isn't that smooth.. first shot at the Note is
well-sustained by Trey.  The jamming around it before the second Note,
and around the second Note, is typically great..

"Boy" at 7:25 after a good scream.  A very groovy WUDMTF segment..
light on its feet... =^]  Otherwise uneventful.. Page's jamming in the
tramps segment (I take it they weren't on the tramps.. Mike isn't
signalling, and Trey is quietly accompanying this jam) is
excellent!!!  He's very active (as is Mike in accompaniment).

Trey comes in at 11:37 noodling melodiously right from the start!! And
Page's accompaniment is quite groovy, not to mention Mike's.  Fish is
very, very laid back.. around 12:10 the jam gets very quiet, with
precious noodling from Trey.  Mike is very prominent in this FOB,
fwiw.. very nice to hear him so clearly!  This jam isn't that
exciting, frankly.. just laid-back, stoned grooving.. Fish is very,
very quiet.. as are Trey and the others, around 13:15. Trey is
somewhat teasing the typical YEM style of soloing (slight hints at Oye
Como Va.. I can't believe all the chatter from this damn audience..
damn phirgins).  This jam isn't doing that much, though. It sure as
hell isn't rocking.. you can't really dance to it, frankly. This is
about as "B-" a YEM jam segment as they get around 14:30..

Finally, after 15 minutes, the jam starts to pick up.. nice slow and
steady crescendo, and then at 15:27 or so, it breaks out a little, but
still doesn't rage.  At all... until 15:45, when Trey starts soloing
beautifully in the upper range of the 'doc (a little repetitive,
though... very repetitive, actually).  Fish picks it up.. at 16:26 it
is finally a strong YEM jam that one can dance to, but it still
doesn't rage like many YEMs.  Trey is jamming well around 16:45,
but this jam still seems a tad on the "mellow" side...

At 17:02 the jam just ends suddenly, after not much of a climax, and
the vocal jam kicks right in.  And guess what?  It is a vocal jam of
Wolfman's Brother.. Trey starts singing the lyrics, and the others are
vocal jamming the accompaniment (the melody, in proper time).  Second
verse around 18 minutes.  It is Wolfman's Brother, vocal jammed.  At
18:31 Trey starts playing the 'doc, repeating That Note (see 12/9/95
YEM jam segment.. it is repeated constantly in that version.. so much
so that all Trey has to do is repeat that Note and I get excited), and
at 18:55 the others slowly come in on the instruments.

Not really a "segue" into Wolfman's Brother, since this vocal jam
started right up after a YEM jam (with no B&D segment or closing
WUDMTF chanting).  Just started right up.  The Wolfman's Brother (a
capella, vocal jammed) segued into a good non-acapella Wolfman's, but
not at all a great version.  No jam segment.  At 21 minutes, Scent
starts up.

Well, C+ rating for this YEM.  I enjoyed the Wolfman's, even though it
didn't jam, but this YEM is definitely not recommended.  It is
REASONABLE given Trey's precious noodling in the jam segment, but this
is (of course) not at all unusual, and, well, the jam doesn't rage at
all in typical YEM fashion.  You can't even dance to this YEM for much
of it.  Plus, there's no bass and drums segment.  Plus, the opening
segment was below-average without question.  All and all, I think my
rating is extremely generous (but the segue into Wolfman's is
intriguing enough to bump it up from a C- I suppose).

two cents
charlie