, attached to 1994-05-25

Review by Miguelito

Miguelito Things start out very promising with The Curtain to open. I'll take this tune to open any show. Sample to follow is just another step forward in high energy and the two pack a nice one-two opening punch.

The Stash is very-well played, tight and energetic. Forbin's > Mockingbird is an always-welcome visit to Gamehenge for me and this is a well-executed version with fun narration from Trey. As with the acoustic tunes the next night, they are nearly inaudible here, which is a shame. The Chalk Dust to close out the first set in more high energy stuff.

We get an exemplary rendition of the title song of Rift to open set II, which they were playing quite often during this era. It seems like these days this song is more of an afterthought but back then they were really working it, playing this almost as an exercise in group thinking and practice.

The Tweezer that follows is phenomenal and I'm a bit surprised it doesn't at least receive noteworthy recognition. It's not a very lengthy version but long enough to allow the band to take its time building to one of those impressive crescendos that existed during this period in their jamming. If you're familiar with '94 Phish you know what I'm talking about. I miss this era mainly for this reason. As much as I love later Phish for their exploratory type II jams, these build-and-release type jams were top notch and something that made them very special back then. After the peak, they slow it down into an easy transition into Lifeboy, a song I used to think of a throw-away when it was played but it here is a well-deserved breather and I can appreciate it much more now that it's pretty much absent from setlists.

A friend once said to me, "I've never met a Maze I haven't liked" and this version certainly meets that criteria. It's one of my favorite versions that I've heard recently. Things finish very nicely with a fine Squirming Coil, and a Sleeping Monkey Tweezeprise double encore. Overall a very good Spring '94 show with a couple of excellent renditions.


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