From: Charlie Dirksen
2/8/91 Music Hall, Portsmouth, NH This may be net.hero J()e Rioux's first show, but he isn't sure. Bill Bowman was the only person I could locate with a tape of it... a rarity, to be sure. Opening is standard, although the audience is loud and crazy. Tramps jam at 2:37, and it is straightforward (the usual stuff from Mike and Page in the opening.. just funking a long). Trey comes in at 3:20 eerily and melodramatically sustaining in the low reaches of the 'doc, slowly but steadily stepping from note to note in a spooky and auricularly discomforting manner (to me). He proceeds to climb up the frets, slowly, all the while sustaining darkly. As you know, I call this segment the tramps jam segment, but I don't know whether they were on the tramps for THIS particular segment. Tramps segment closing chords at 5:09, and then the post-tramps jam at 5:27. More of the same off-key sustain stuff from Trey, then the final Mike's Song ending chords begin at 6:10 or so. Hydrogen comes in at 6:49. In the opening, Trey is repetitively plucking the 'doc until 7:37 when he and Page begin the melodious theme (Fish mimics Trey, repetitively hitting the snare in here for a little while, before swinging back into the traditional Hydrorhythm). Hydrogen is Fiiiiiiiine. Weekapaug kicks in at 9:40, and Mike's opening solo is fast, fiery, funky, and fantastic! A very inspired opening from Mike, albeit nothing THAT far off from how he often opened Weekapaug in '91. Trey opens the jam segment sustaining and making the 'doc whine, which is quite a treat. Don't hear him make whining noises on the 'doc too often. Then he begins to wail in typically Weekapaugian fashion, employing all frets to full effect, and combining some nice trilling with some pleasant, well-placed sustain & noodlin'. He also plays off-tempo in here, a bit. The accompaniment contains no surprises, although Page is very hard to hear on this aud tape. Trey is clearly out front and leading, while Fish and Mike maintain the upbeat but still funky Rhode Island 'groove. Trey's jamming in here is QUITE GOOD, but he doesn't hit any unusual themes for Weekapaug (like usual for the old versions). Final segment at nearly 15 minutes or thereabouts. Standard. Total time 15:50. C+ rating.