12/30/1992 - Symphony Hall, Springfield, MA
As a contrast to the later years, it is worth hearing Trey as the guitar shredder in these old recordings. Hear him completely tear it up in "Split Open and Melt" and "David Bowie" in the first set and "Llama" in the second set.
With the exception of a missed cue (or rather, an imagined cue) at the end of the "Reba" jam, this show is chock full of the classic songs played with precision on the composed parts and free-spirited flying on the jammed parts (see "Bathtub Gin"). Even that "Reba" is worth a listen for the sweet jam, as well as the insertion of "I Walk the Line" before the song's conclusion.
Any "You Enjoy Myself" from 1992 is worth hearing, and this is no exception, especially as it starts the sort-of tradition of Trey teasing "Auld Lang Syne" somewhere in the 12/30 show. The bass breakdown before the vocal jam gives Mike a chance to strut his stuff; and the vocal jam gets weird with the band shouting out "Pete Schall" (a member of the crew) before going into the hymnal sounds that they had been perfecting earlier in the month and then calling out "Oh Kee Pa" (which I thought would lead to "The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony", but instead led to "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday", dedicated to everybody's cousins (?)).
This show also brings out some tunes that were rarities even back then. As "David Bowie" begins, Trey leans instead into "Timber" (not played since 1990 and not to be played again until 1995), though I am pretty sure he inverted the two-chord progression. Toward the end of the second set, they play the jazz standard, "Take the 'A' Train" (they probably could not resist since they were playing in an early 1900's concert theater). And in the encore, "Ride Captain Ride" made its second appearance of the month, after laying dormant for two years, only to hibernate again until 1998.
12/30/2012 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Opening the first set with "Runaway Jim" and closing it with "Run Like an Antelope" seemed more like at '92 thing to do, and though 48-year-old Trey did not do the dizzying flurries of notes that his younger self would have done, he did drop a "Dave's Energy Guide" tease in the former and kicked the climax into high gear for the latter. Not a bad way to bookend the first half of a top-quality show that played to all of the 3.0 strengths.
"The Divided Sky" suffered a bit from not having the manic Trey shredding of old, but at least the composed half was delivered with perfect execution. Better on the jam front were the tunes with an easier pace to let Trey do some fancy fretwork - like "Back on the Train" and "Ocelot".
In an age when covers seem to have gone by the wayside, it is now a treat to rewind a decade and hear "Cities" and even "Ya Mar" ("Play it, Leoooo!"). But even more of a treat was the re-emergence once again of "Ride Captain Ride". Surely, this could not have been a coincidence (though 2012 does have the distinction of being the year with the most plays for the old Blues Image song).
That was all well and good for the first set, but Set II is where the action really is - the flow of the set, the selection of songs, the way the jams kept moving and twisting and turning through different themes. It is not just that I was there (feel free to read that account for my extended gushing) because listening to it again today, it still sounds fresh and interesting and thoroughly listenable. This is a set that I would recommend listening to as a whole, but if you need just the high-quality meat, "Down With Disease" and "Carini" are essential.
12/30/2022 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Dec. 30 shows rarely disappoint. As the penultimate show of the year, the excitement is in the air and the band delivers with gusto.
Not so with the gusto this year. In the first set, "Down With Disease" and "Foam" were choppy, if not sloppy (same goes for the "Chalk Dust Torture" encore); and "Pebbles and Marbles", "Reba" and "Run Like an Antelope" were functional. The jams all did stuff, but none of it seemed particularly inspired. And why the hell is Trey singing "The Moma Dance"?
Even the unusually extended jam in "Theme From the Bottom" felt directionless. It did things, but none of them were terribly interesting beyond the fact that things were being done. The only time the set felt like it had the energy it needed was during "The Howling", the show's only song from the 2020s.
The second set was reminiscent of the 2.0 era - a five-song set with sloppy or weak execution of the composed parts but long, winding, spiraling jams that may or may not have a direction. These are the kinds of jams that make non-phans wonder what all the fuss is about.
The one to enjoy is "No Men in No Man's Land", but doing so requires patience, a good listening ear, and a willingness to surrender to it and take the long ride - like a road trip where the feeling of merely riding in the car and watching the scenery is enjoyable enough, even if there are no big roadside attractions.
Unlike 2.0, the jams stay rather grounded, with none of the wild abandon of that period; but at least they know how to stick the landings these days, so you are provided with some sort of climax, or at least an arrival, each time.
While the noisy bits usually reserved for "Split Open and Melt" show up in "Sand", they seem to work better this context. That said, give me a late '10s "Sand" over this one any day.
Notably, the second set contains the first cover song of the run ("Golden Age") and only one song that is under 14 minutes (a well-played, if not quite climactic "If I Could").
Dec. 30 shows rarely disappoint, but this one, sadly, did.
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