From: Victor Szalvay
Subject: Antelope in Review Pt.22 10/12/88
Greetings once again, Ahhh... nothing new to report on the AIR front, except for this review itself. This show is a widely circulated show from 88 and is clearly one of my favorites from that time. Usually referred to as the Red Barn show, or something similar, it really jams all the way through... no need to grovel, you can probably trade with most anyone for a nice copy. Please note again that this song was positioned in the finale spot, this time the encore! 10/12/88 Red Barn- Hampshire College, Amherst, MA Set II Antelope -- Intro: Returning for the encore Trey starts it up and not too long thereafter strums a little Popeye (sp?) tease! Mike and Fish get things rolling and Page chimes in with some wonderful notes. This is one of my favorite intros of the year, pretty smooth and well crafted. Trey starts harping on a single note theme and then it gets back to standard. Nice build from Page et al to bring on the > Opening theme: (2:43) I like it right away, even though Trey is lacking the distortion, again, there is considerably more energy then in other versions. Trill!: (3:18) standard Key Change to Em: (3:21) Well done and nicely executed by Page. The chording starts immediately from Page, but Trey holds out the solo for some bars while the background is painted. Trey starts out very modestly with some conservative runs before really diving into the solo with a passion... Nothing too remarkable for the first 2 minutes or so, but then Trey ups the tempo (with Fish of course) and they hit a nice peak... not exactly a gearshift, but sweet nonetheless. Trey is really 1 noting it out. The intensity is pretty high at this point, but the ideal of actually hitting a gearshift is eluding the band. The climb is mounting and then it all falls to the > Pre-Marco-Groove: 6:55 Trey funks it out for a sec before Ry, Ry, Rocco!! (no pauses) MARCO ESQUANDOLAS: Happen you to have any spleef, man? (check the tape, Charlie! I think I�ve got you on this one!) High Gear Theme: (7:30) Page really mounting this charge with the B-3!! Sweet! Trey is there but this jam sounds so much like an old GD jam with Pig Pen on the boards for a while. Trey:- Set the Gear shift: the rest of the song is pretty standard and clocks in at: End: (9:00) Really short for a Lope, but who knows, it was cool anyway. The inability to shift gears is a strange phenomenon. I know this is just speaking for myself, but I have tried to play this song with some friends in a jam (albeit we are NOT as good as phish :) and hitting the gearshift requires a special trick that is just plain tricky for some reason! I don�t really get it, but the band�s dynamics seem to have to be just right to *get it*. So, thanks for the bandwidth, folks, and Charlie here we go again!!! I am standing by this one, go listen to your tape of it and please tell me that it is not *Happen* or A�been or something. In this version it *clearly* is. I will rest my reputation as a discriminating listener on it!! This one lands a 5.0 on the Victor scale. Take it easy everyone!