phishcrit

5/3/93 - NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ

Time for #phish project show 64: 5/3/93, New Brunswick, NJ, State Theatre. Not the basement from the Titus video: http://bit.ly/loygvE

5/3/93: Scary piano rumble from Page before Buried Alive proper starts up. And he’s really belting out his Rift vocals. I like it.

5/3/93: ‘Why weigh on a sunny day?’ a little painfully on-the-nose for trying to get work done in Chicago today.

5/3/93: Chalkdust does what Chalkdust do, shifted this set into a higher gear. Good to be back in AUD, feels more urgent than the last 2.

5/3/93: Kind of wish a big flubby slab of Esther hadn’t slowed things down between Chalkdust & Melt, but digging the Page-heavy mix here.

5/3/93: There’s like a solid minute of drumlessness in this Melt jam - weird.

5/3/93: Forbin’s narration - Paul releases experimental gas over crowd, band plays Vibration of Life, “I THINK I FEEL IT,” some wook yells.

5/3/93: Rest of narration is generic “floating thru space” stuff, with quick, quiet Star Trek teases by Page (cc: @bizarchive).

5/3/93: Little Mockingbird jam in the build-up to Possum, pretty typical Trey-wank the rest of the way. Still so sick of this song.

5/3/93: An AC/DC Bag more interesting than most this tour. Might be the band learning to play at less than full throttle. Very mid-throttle.

5/3/93: Crunchy jam in Tweezer reveals itself to be “I Feel the Earth Move.” Really like the patient approach here, more melodic than usual.

5/3/93: Yeah, this is the best 93 Tweezer in a long time. Band is finding riffs/teases and exploring/trading, instead of rushing to a peak.

5/3/93: Page’s voice sounds like Fish’s voice on this It’s Ice. Them’s some strange acoustics.

5/3/93: Ice > McGrupp is a silky smooth segue, surprised they haven’t used it more often. Kind of in a whimsical, composed stretch here.

5/3/93: Runaway Jim in the late second-set jam vehicle slot - highly unusual. Still doesn’t deviate from its normal track.

5/3/93: Rare double shot of acapella in the encore, sounds like the crowd is behaving itself. Nice job, Jersey.

5/3/93 verdict: So good to hear a quality Tweezer again, even if it hogged all the jam mojo for this show. Unusual setlist kept it afloat.