I don’t mean to complain, but this show continued a tradition for me where I missed a classic by one show. Within a one-year period: I was in New Haven on 12/29/93 just before the classic 30 and 31 shows, at Jones Beach the night before the 7/16/94 show at Sugarbush, and here in MSG the night after they killed Providence on 12/29/94. Now, this is only a retrospective analysis – at the time I did not know what I just missed – but it still feels as if I was cheated as 4 of these just misses are easily top 10 ever contenders on many a list. Of course, I was at Glens Falls on Halloween in this stretch, which happily blows the theory of conspiracy out of the water – you win some and you lost some. I guess it was just a great period to be seeing the band, where any given night could be a classic. Onto the show…

Wilson is always a nice way to get show going, but while this was the one they chose for A Live One, I didn’t hear anything special in the version. Simple was well-played and fun, but the band did not open things up until Stash which gets interesting about 6 minutes in where they play a NO2-type motif and the whole thing feels off-kilter for a while (in a good way) and is brought home with some good ‘ole hard-driving rock and roll.

For the second set – things get interesting with Tweezer. While solo-piano breaks are odd for the song – sounds more like the ending of Squirming Coil – I personally find it a cool and interesting version. This one for me is the undisputed highlight of the set and the show. The rest of the show was fine – not going to argue with a YEM and Hood AFTER a Tweezer – but not particularly notable.