Sunday, 10/12/1986 Haybarn Theater, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT
Set 1: Golgi Apparatus[1] > Slave to the Traffic Light, Wilson[1], Halley’s Comet, Possum, Sneakin’ Sally through the Alley, Makisupa Policeman
[1] First known performance.
Notes: This show featured the first known performances of Golgi Apparatus and Wilson.
This is an alright sounding audience recording, a little bit on the thin side. The best part of the show, may just be that this is the first recording where Holdsworth is out of the band. Yes, I am that much of a jerk that I would relish that fact. Anyways, on to the show.
The first Golgi Apparatus makes an appearance, and the beginning is played a pretty slow pace, but that quickly fades to the wayside as the song picks up speed. An overall solid performance, and this transitions excellently into Slave to the Traffic Light. Another good performance, and really, what else needs to be said. Not the best, and certainly not the worst.
Then comes another first, Wilson. No “Wilson” chanting in the beginning, the song kind of slowly builds out of nowhere, and there really wasn’t too much to this song musically yet. This is probably why the crowd felt the need to clap along. Towards the middle of the song, it seems as if Trey isn’t even playing, and after the “blat boom” part, there is less than ten seconds of shredding before the song is done for the day.
Nancy is on lyrics for Halley’s Comet, and the lyrical section goes on without a hitch. Trey takes off with a blistering solo instantly, and Mike is sticking right with him. Very impressive jam, which takes a quick turn and it is pretty apparent Possum is being jammed. Gordon takes over the lyrics from Jeff, and Trey no longer “groans” over them as he did in every other version up to this point. Interesting to say the least.
A very quick paced Sneakin’ Sally is performed, which included the usual vocal jam before heading back into the instrumental jam. Fantastic version, followed up an incredibly relaxed Makisupa Policeman. Keywords were “woke up this morning, dioxin on my bed. woke up this afternoon, Qaddafi in my bed.” Page, usually someone who has really shined during this song up to this point, really took a back seat on this version.
Highlight is the Halley’s Comet, and the lowlight I think may have to be the Wilson. It kind of pains me to say that.