, attached to 1993-02-03

Review by DollarBill

DollarBill They're back!! After two months off, the boys return to the stage for the first installment of spring tour in Portland. The recording is good though a little boomy, which may have been the room's fault. It does sound like Paul had quite a time dialing in the room as you can hear various frequencies pop out in the mix throughout the show.

So...Right out of the gate we have a new cover! Introducing Page's new piano, the recording finds him tickling the ivories before a well deserved Loving Cup. Well played and worth the wait. Rift is a scorcher. Fast and reasonably tight. Trey picks up the megaphone for a nice, solid Fee. The harmonics fade out as Fish tears in to a rocking Llama. Great energy so far this set. Trey makes a special announcement about the piano, then... Woo Hoo! Another new song. And for you Wedge fans out there, definitely check this one out. The song had a totally different arrangement than what we are all now used to on the Rift album and all later performances. Sounds like Trey pulled himself out of tune a bit going into a good Divided Sky. Funny IDK with "The little Beast Boy Tubbs” on trombone tonight. Trey also busts out the acoustic guitar on this tour with a shaky My Friend intro. Mike also has some problems here. Strange ending on this one too. Poor Heart is a good standard version. Maybe a little Benny Hill tease from Trey? Guelah was ok. A little rough on the drum parts at times. Bowie had a really strange intro jam and a rough composed section, but a really good ending to a nice high energy first set.

Good, solid Jim to open the second set. Ice was ok. Tweezer is good and has the mumbling lyrics in it. The Horse also finds Trey on acoustic and has a funny moment towards the end waiting for Paul to fix the feedback noise. Silent was good as was Sparkle. Pretty standard versions here. Nice YEM. Complete with My Girl teases and the funny alternate lyrics. Good solo sections and vocal jam at the end. Alright! Another new song tonight, with a surprisingly rocking Lifeboy. It was fast and way more rocking than we are used to now, but overall a good song debut. The rest of the set is just for fun as we have the return of "Tubbs the little Beast Boy" with an absolute train wreck of a Terrapin including great stage banter and the crazy,"Give us the balls!" Big Ball Jam all dedicated to Marley. "Alright, now we're going to be serious." Fish says, as Possum closes up the second set in style. Nicely done.

Double encore tonight with another new cover, the a cappella Amazing Grace followed by a standard Tweeprise close up a good, high energy show.

I think I'll bump this one up to four stars only for the new songs and the energy they brought tonight. If I could give three and a half, I would.


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