From: Charlie Dirksen
12/31/94 Boston Garden, Boston, MA Opening segment standard, and tramps segment begins at the usual time (2:40ish).
Mike and Page have their way with the jam for the usual 30 seconds or so before Trey comes in. Trey comes in at 3:16 off-key
sustaining in typical eerie MikeS fashion. Sustained off-key notes, some chords, a little noodling, but not that much. At 4:20 he
gets into the upper octaves of the 'doc but doesn't do anything that pretty. Mike's theme comes in incredibly early at 4:39. This
is REALLY @#$%! early! At 4:57, the post tramps segment begins with Trey effectively teasing Simple (not actually playing
Simple, but ALMOST playing it.. playing a jam about as near to Simple as it can get). The jamming at 5:38 is still in this Shall
We Play Simple mode? Trey just teased something... was that Shine? (Relistening) YES! Trey teased the main Shine theme (the
verses' melody, not the chorus) TWICE! I never knew the song 'Shine' until NYE the other day. Anyway, somewhere around
the 6 min point, if you listen carefully to Trey, he plays the main theme to the song "Shine" that Tom Marshall sang the other
night. (this is f*cked up, I know, but it is really there.. you have to listen closely.. Trey outright plays that melody from Shine..
TWICE!!). Anyway, the post-tramps jam is kinda crazy, and then segues into a semi-spacey, stop/start mode, with some
funky, casual stuff from Mike (basically in the lead). At 8:30, the jam starts sounding very Makisupa-esque. At 8:48 or so,
Buffalo Bill clearly begins (this is, fwiw, one of my favorite segues that Phish has ever done.. this one is just soooo sweet.. I love
the way that Buffalo Bill just Falls Into Place). I can't help but laugh whenever I hear the key change after the "bent over and
buffalo billed" lyric... bwaaahahaha.. sorry. It is admittedly more pronounced in the 10/29/94 version. At 10:44, the beat
steadily increases and builds and becomes a MikeS post-tramps segment style of jam pretty quickly (HOSE ON), with typical
MikeS chords from Trey at 11:20, and even a Midnight Rider tease of sorts for about two seconds (given what Mike did, in
combination with what Trey was doing). This is The Mike's Ending Jam now, around the 12 minute point. Mike's Song ends at
12:37, with Fishman immediately starting the Hydrogen ride-cymbal action going, but then dropping it... and then JCOG begins
(unaccompanied). Very short.. a few verses were not sung (I don't know this song well, but I know this was awfully short!).
What was sung was sung WELL.. JCOG ends & there is silence. Complete silence. No -> at all or even close to it. Fish just
kicks in the Weekapaug beat. Mike's opening solo is much better than 12/28 imo. Snappy, funky, quick and all over the 'doc.
Just a great opening solo! Well. Weekapaug is typically great in the beginning.. a straightforward kickass Weekapaug. At 18:35
or thereabouts, the jam starts sounding a hell of a lot like it would suddenly dive into 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking'
(STONES) again, and indeed, Trey does tease it solidly at 19:15 or so, but they drop this Can't you hear me knockin style
almost immediately after Trey's strong tease of it... and go into a spooky, crawling but still gripping Weekapaug jam (reminiscent
of part of the 12/28 Weekapaug's quiet segment). Trey is especially funky in here, along with Mike and Page. Fish is keeping a
Weekapaugesque rhythm going (read: quick!). Standard Weekapaug hose in here, basically (nothing profound, I'm sorry to
report.. nothing extremely tight and spell-binding). At 21:25 or so Fish drops out, and, as on 12/28, they go into a kinda laid
back sort of jam, that sounds somewhat like the opening of Low Rider at times (but not quite.. Low Rider is NOT teased). At
22:15, Fish kicks back in a Weekapaug groove.. Trey starts machine gun action around 22:40 or so. Just breaks in. Mike gets
funky.. Hosing everyone down by the 23:30 point. Trey just takes off. Melodiously jamming on the Auld Lang Syne theme
(DOH! missed note at one point!).. not perfect by any stretch. Damn!! That missed note really hurt ... he wigged out for a bit,
but the jam just kinda deflated with that missed note, unfortunately. Final Weekapaug closing verse comes in around 24:15 or
so. It is not standard, with some vocal sustain from Mike that is kinda unusual... but nothing special. Ends at 25:11. This
Weekapaug would have been awe-inspiring had Trey not missed that note in the closing jam, and then cut the jam short. Oh
well. This is still w/out a doubt a great MikeSGroove. I highly recommend it for serious MikeS fans. As far as a rating goes,
well... I really liked the Buffalo Bill and segue into it, and Weekapaug was good in parts .. buuut.. in light of all that I've heard...
B+ for this whole groove. Again, I realize that this doesn't at all comport with claims I've made about this version before this
time. This is because I've heard a lot in between that time and now, viz., 1995 versions. It is with these versions in mind that I
hesitate to give out extraordinary ratings for 12/28 and 12/31/94. I encourage everyone who, like I did, at one time thought
these versions were the best they'd heard, to not only listen to these versions again, but to check out these outstanding pre-1995
MikeSGrooves: date rating timing notes 11/28/92 A-/A 20:20 (Amazing Hydrogen) 12/31/92 A- 17:16 Auld Lang Syne (no
H2!) 02/20/93 A- 25 (wild version, just incredible.. get this show at all costs) 08/13/93 A- 12:05 (MikeS only) 12/30/93 A 20
(HorseSilent,PYITE,McGrupps) 06/17/94 A- 23:29 (OJ, Simple, H2) 06/22/94 A-/A 28:45 (Midnight Rider Jam in MikeS
(excellent!!), Catapult, Simple, Icculus, H2) (fwiw, I have seen NONE of the above highly rated MikeSGrooves *live*, but I
did see 12/28 and 12/31/94) two sheds