Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 14:38:04 -0500 (CDT)
From: Ed c622428@showme.missouri.edu
Subject: review 7-25

Dallas 7-25

setlist: I - Beauty of My Dreams, Wolfman's > Maze, Water In The Sky,
Bathtub > Makisupa > AC/DC Bag
II - Chalkdust > Taste > Ya Mar > Drums > Ghost > Char. Zero
E: Theme

The venue was pretty standard as far as the classic amphitheatres go. The
people were friendly and the air was hot. The show started around 8 p.m.
and the sun was still bright.
BEAUTY...not a bad song, I thought. Had a Mikish feel and had some nice
harmonies too. WOLFMAN'S...ok here we go. I was secretly hoping for this
one after all the reports I heard from Europe. This version
certainly lived up to its advanced billing from overseas. I noticed
some improvement in the song 12-28-96 in Philly, but this version blew 
the doors off of that one. I can't wait to hear the Va Beach tapes
too. Long
and jazzy, it lasted more than 15 minutes (I didn't time it though) before
morphing into MAZE...This one was weird, I thought. It wasn't like summer
or fall 96 versions. It was more straightforward but it lacked a big
finish. Wasn't disappointed though. WATER IN THE SKY...I didn't recognize
this one from the new list of song titles. My friend Chuck swore its
structure was identical to an Allison Krauss song, and so I thought it
might have been a cover. We liked it - good set I material.
BATHTUB...another repeat that I didn't expect this early in the tour
again. Had a very solid jam for about 8-9 minutes. Good trading of leads
(we can hear Mike now!) and tempos. Then the jam slowed noticeably for a
few more minutes, very nice stuff, and I could hear about 30 seconds of
MAKISUPA before they actually jumped into the song. It was a slightly
awkward transition, but an interesting one anyway. In the song Trey
refered to "Breakfast at ???; lemon drops and nugs." I don't know about
everyone else but I am tired of the pot references (11/15/96 St. Louis,
11/28/96 Philly) in this song especially. We all know they get high so why
do they bash it through our heads ever so subtly? Anyway, it was a nice,
longer version than I had heard before. The short jam which followed led
into AC/DC BAG which was very slow. The whole set had a mellow feel and
this song typefied it. It had a nice deliberate jam which climaxed very
well despite a minor flub by Fish and Trey at the end.
First set - 5.5 on the Jordan scale, but it was a nice way to set the tone
for the show.
CHALKDUST...good choice for second set opener, but first, who's the
drummer playing with them. I went to get a beer at set break (which was
long) and didn't even notice the extra set of drums when I came back. We
found out later it was Bob Guillotti (sp?) with whom Trey played on
the Surrender project I believe. Maybe someone can confirm this? I'm not
sure at all. But back to Chalkdust: the jam took the normal path until
about 10 minutes into the song everything became dissonant and spacy. It
was unfamiliar territory for this song to me. Have they played it like
this recently. Either way it was fantastic. Bob and Fishman were feeling
each other out at first but seemed to settle down eventually. But the one
thing I did notice was that Bob seemed to be following Trey's lead. He
didn't take his eyes off him until the solo later. The Taste-like jam soon
developed for a minute or two so it wasn't a complete surprise when they
pulled out a full-fledged version. It was also terrific. Great exploration
and experimentation. TASTE is slowly entering Tweezerland, imho. It led
into YA MAR which seemed to catch trey a little by surprise. he didn't
seem too thrilled to play it, maybe hoping to pull something else out
instead. This one was cut short so that "Leo and the drummers" could have
some time to shine. After about a minute Page dropped from sight and let
the percussionists play. Their solo was very good with a jazz structure
(or no structure as it was). But it lasted about 8-10 minutes, floating
into GHOST by Trey's stroke, I think. This was very encouraging; I was
very excited to hear it and I wasn't disappointed. It traveled over 20
minutes and captured many themes without being too focussed or too
abstract. This one's a keeper, for sure. CHAR 0...is really growing on me.
have they dropped the vocal ending, I hope? The jammed ending really did
it for me and I will hope to hear this song at future shows. THEME...is
not one of my favorite new songs (call me a heretic...) and this version
did not help me to change my view about it. Second set - 6.5; short but
very interesting stuff, esp. in Chalkdust, Taste.
Overall - 6.0; nothing special, just very solid. Check out the different
jams in Wolfman's and Chalkdust, and the Bathtub trio is nice too.


Eric Edholm
c622428@showme.missouri.edu
------------------------------------------------

From: jazzbo@onr.com (Dave Hamilton)
Subject: Bob Gulloti RUINED Dallas
Date: Fri, 01 Aug 1997 02:12:28 -0500

You know, I don't get up on the soapbox very often, but after hearing all
the rave reviews about the Dallas show, I needed to stand up and say
something:

YOU PEOPLE WILL SETTLE FOR ANYTHING

That show was one of the worst I've seen.  The first set was kind of
lame... Rift was cool, but there just wasn't much energy... I was consantly
waiting for the show to start.  Then, for the second set, Bob Gulloti came
out.  That man overplayed so much it was terrible.  I could even see that
the band didn't enjoy his presence AT ALL.  Mike was pissed, Page was
pissed, and Trey just looked frustrated 'cause there was this guy that HE
invited on stage who was screwing everything up.  During Ya Mar, Trey made
it VERY clear (by saying it like 10 times) that there would be a jam
between "Leo and the Drummers" and pointed at both Leo and the drummers so
that anyone who wasn't hip to Page's nickname would get the hint.  Well, no
sooner did Trey say, "Take it away... Leo.... and the drummers" that Bob
Gulloti just closed his ears and launched into a free form drum solo.  No
interplay with Page, no interplay with Fishman, just Bob up on his
pedestal.  Page looked so frustrated and then finally (after about 30
seconds of really trying) just quit playing and let Bob have it.  And
that's not all... during every song, Trey kept giving Bob the signal to
chill out, and he never did.  It truly ruined the occassion.  

I'll bet that Bob got a talking to after the Dallas show... There was a
marked improvement for the Austin show, although I still feel that Bob
didn't add nearly as much as he detracted.  It would've been better without
him.  They oughtta take that guy off the list of potential sit ins...  He's
just not a musical player... technically, he's got speed... GREAT chops,
but there's just no musicality in what he does.

| -Dave

P.S.  Have a nice day.
| --
Dave Hamilton
http://www.onr.com/user/jazzbo

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