From: Charlie Dirksen
6/23/95 Waterloo Village, Stanhope, NJ Many people really enjoyed this show. Closing the first set with this YEM was a
pretty cool idea! I'm honestly not too psyched about the Harpua in the second set, though (when compared with other
versions). Popper is great on Llama, however. Opening standard. The pre-Nirvana segment is spacey and beautiful, as
expected. Nothing unusal happens (no melodious themes). Nirvana at 3:33. It is GORGEOUS!! Page's playing is just lovely..
flows very well... nothing of import in the rest of the opening. "Boy" at 6:52. Good, punchy BMGS/WUDMTF segment, with
some nice fills and playing. At 8:59 the trampolines section kicks in. Mike gives the signals. Page is realllly active in here. A lot
more active than he was the other night at Deer Creek in this section!! Jam segment kicks in at 10:47 and is ultra-dank in the
opening. Mike and Fish grooving it out. At 11:05 Trey comes in strong, and starts darkly chording somewhat akin to much of
the 6/19/95 YEM. Just raw, vicious chording for the most part, until around 11:50 or so when all the band members join
together and punch out a groove that quickly evolves into a serious YEM jam! =^] The jamming around 12:30 is quite grand --
Page is hammering away, Mike is loooow and providing a rich bottom. Fish is just pounding out the YEM rhythm. Trey is
soloing reasonably melodiously (certainly moreso than on 6/19). Trey starts ripping it up and soloing MAGNIFICENTLY well
around 14 minutes!! Really excellent conclusion! Everyone is playing quite well, and around 14:50 they really WAIL OUT THE
ENDING!!!!!!! YES!!!! A very intense close to the jam segment, with everyone just giving it Their All!!! This is one hell of a
pushed out YEM ending!!!!! YES!!! YES!!! VERY POWERFUL CLOSE TO THE JAM SEGMENT!!!!!!! At 15:37 Bass
and Drums segment kicks in, and there are some leftover effects from Trey's 'doc unleashed in this intro. Mike funks out
mellifluously, accompanyed strongly by Fish... great stuff from Mike (again, all you folks impressed by his work in Fall 96
should check this out... Mike's been playing kickass solos in this segment in YEM for years). Closing WUDMTF segment at
17:43, and vocal jam quickly ensues. The vocal jam opens up somewhat quietly, with droning-vocal-harmonizing. It is
somewhat hypnotic, actually.. it is in this way very eerie. A vibration of life effect practically occurs, given the eerie harmonizing
going on in this vocal jam!! The last minute or so is active mouth clicking and clacking sounds, as opposed to vocal harmonizing.
Pretty cool little closing groove in this way.. this active mouth-clacking-jam. Is Trey playing his adam's apple!? Fish appears to
be vocalizing something very very quietly, somewhat "humming" a theme. Ends with a lot of crazy cough/ack/blllghhhh noises
and groaning, scratching sounds, not to mention monstrous breathing sounds. DAMN! This is F#*@&$ed UP!! That was
strange. Total time 24:15. Trey says "Thank you. We'll be back -- synchronize your watches -- cause we're going to take a
break -- we'll be back in exactly 15 minutes." This YEM was excellent. The opening wasn't much to speak of, but Page's
playing in the tramps segment, plus the beautiful teamwork in the Jam segment, plus the vocal jam.. I really have to give this
version an A-/B+. I realize that the 6/16/95 wYEM ith Boyd from DMB received a B+/A-, but I really think that this YEM is a
slightly better YEM all around. I still prefer the 6/16/95 jam segment to this one, however. And I was AT the 6/16/95 show (so
it isn't a matter of bias-due-to-presence-at-the-gig). This Waterloo YEM just has more OOOOOMPPPHHHH to it, if you can
believe it, in my opinion. Your opinion is all that matters ANYWAY (so please no "How could you say that the Waterloo YEM
was better than the XX/XX/XX YEM?" emails). two cents charlie