12/29/1992 - Palace Theater, New Haven, CT
If you want big guitar climaxes, look no further than "Llama", "My Friend, My Friend", "The Divided Sky" and "Stash" in Set I. And "Wilson" is worth a listen as it continues the interesting pre-"blap-boom" excursions from earlier in the month.
In Set II, "The Curtain -> Tweezer" is an interesting segue, though the latter does not stray too far out of the song's formula. Later, rather than go full burn, "Mike's Song" plays around with themes, with Trey landing on "On Broadway" and Page doing "Blue Bayou" (which Mike continues in his "Weekapaug Groove" intro), but there is good usage of dynamics and I suspect something visual must have been happening. Near the end of the show, Trey promises the slowest "Terrapin" ever and delivers.
There are two "Big Ball Jams" - one in the second set, as a segue out of "My Sweet One", and one supposedly a capella in the encore (though it does not really come through on the tape). They finish with a "Rocky Top" that is so ridiculously fast, Fish can not even keep up.
For some rare lyric flubs from that period, check "Guelah Papyrus" and "Tela" (the latter providing an instance of the '22 version being better than the '92!).
12/29/2012 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
I do love a "Crowd Control" opener, setting up some good energy. That energy made its way into "Rock & Roll" and "Gin", the highlights of Set I - the former is an ass-kicker and is nice to hear since '92 was too early for it and '22 seems not to have any covers; the latter takes some time to get there but once it starts peaking you're happy you stayed.
For Set II, "Golden Age" (see "R&R" above) and "Waves" make for some good 3.0 jamming, "Boogie On Reggae Woman" provides some excellent bass action from Mike, and "46 Days" rocks out a big ending. Sadly, I recommend skipping most of the encore - "The Squirming Coil" is cringeworthy and "First Tube" doesn't really smash as hard as it should. But "Grind" is always fun to hear, so at least the encore is not a total loss.
12/29/2022 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
This show comes out swinging with an excellently executed "Fluffhead" that extends the coda into a jam where new themes are explored as it moves into the territory of a 3.0 Everyjam (thanks to aLi for that phrase). Eventually, it teases "Dave's Energy Guide" before it melts into a segue to "Your Pet Cat" which, along with "Hey Stranger" and "Blaze On", is a refreshing change after listening to '92 and '12 shows all month.
The Everyjam comes again during "Tube" and again in the second set's "David Bowie". That is not necessarily a bad thing. While they are rather interchangeable from song to song, they are perfectly enjoyable when they do it well (and they usually do it well).
The oddest thing about the first set is the "Slave to the Traffic Light" that clocks in at a mere 6:41. That's got to be the shortest "Slave" since the 1980s, right? Someone needs to look into that.
Things really heat up in Set II with the trio of "Everything's Right", "You Enjoy Myself" and "Ruby Waves", the essential 51 minutes of this show. When Trey decides it is finally time to shred, hold on to your hat.
Bringing the sweet "Lonely Trip" into the mix offers a well-deserved cooldown before closing out the set 1990s-style with "Back on the Train" (sounding fuller and shinier when Page moves from the clavinet to the piano) and "Character Zero".
For the encore, "Guyute" gets rather bungled and "Possum" mostly falls flat, but Trey saves it at the end by getting goofy, and who doesn't love when Trey gets goofy?
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