, attached to 1993-02-20

Review by EducateFright

EducateFright Set 1 is nice. In terms of the band's playing, nothing stands out to me as being especially good or bad. Certainly the song selection is fantastic; overall this set serves as a solid example of what the band was all about in '93.
Set 2 is truly bizarre. It starts out strong: Wilson is infused with extra enthusiasm (Trey SCREAMS some of the lyrics), and there is a great sequence of psychedelic silliness before the BLAT BOOM. I like the transition into Reba, and the Reba solo is one of my favorites for the pliable interplay between band members. Tweezer -> Walk Away -> Tweezer is also quite memorable: while the transitions are good, more than anything it won't be easy to forget the atypical “straight from the sewer” rap. The ensuing Tweezer-infused Glide works well as one of those early-'90s “woah, are they really... really?” moments.
At this point in the show, it's clear that the band is in an especially playful mood... Still, it would be hard to predict what comes next. I must say that I really don't like the Mike's Song segue-fest. The Vibration Of Life / Kung / N2O mishmash is pretty cool (the audience sounds eerily silent during the “STAND UP!” segment). However, the majority of the Mike's Groove (up to FEFY) is a derailed train that the band mercilessly drives deep into the ground. Many of you will disagree with me or present reasons that this sequence is great despite the sloppiness (or perhaps FOR the sloppiness), which is fine. It just doesn't do it for me. To my ears, Mike and especially Page have a very hard time following Trey's sharp and discordant changes. I'm glad that the band got this out of their system early on.
Every serious fan ought to listen to this show, if only because the first half of the second set is quite strong, and the Mike's Groove exemplifies a kind of outlandish abandon that is rare for this band. You might like it... apparently a lot of people do.


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