#Phish95 Review: 6.14.95, Memphis, TN
Phish, 6.14.95, Mud Island Amphitheater, Memphis, TN
Set 1: Don’t You Want To Go?, Gumbo > NICU, Mound, Cavern > Possum, All Things Reconsidered, Amazing Grace, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Spock’s Brain > Split Open and Melt
Set 2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Poor Heart > Tweezer, Acoustic Army, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Encore: Simple, Rocky Top > Tweezer Reprise
Well, what hasn’t been said about this “Tweezer”? It’s a little intimidating to try and write about what is regarded as an all-time version of one of our favorite Phish songs. But here goes.
Before we get there, here’s what Eric had to say: “This show is interesting in that it features the 50 minute Tweezer, and then literally nothing else is jammed out. The closest you get are shorter “Possum” and “Melt,” both just Trey shredding. Then all the band improv quarantined off in the freezer.” The first set did seem a little meandering, wandering, but still the energy was obviously working as they came out for the 2nd set.
Now the“Tweezer.” It seems to me (RJ) that there are some parallels between this song, the Providence “Bowie” and the Chicago “Bowie” from 6.18.94. Part of this is some similar devices, like the “Mind Left Body”-ish jam, digital delay loop, some voicing over, etc.
So getting into it, there’s a nice lead from Trey 6-7 minutes in, and by 10 minutes they break it down and slow the jam to a crawl. Sounds like the summer heat of Memphis has made this one as slow as it’ll go. Mike and Trey are going slowly along, and the song sounds like it could end then…into another jam with teases.
At about 18 minutes Page is banging on piano and Trey is playing the “Tweezer” riff very quickly, madness. Then just a minute or two later, they all slide back into the “Tweezer” theme. Great, 20 minute tweezer! Done right?
It seems like it’s over, and Mike and Page keep a little groove going that’s pretty similar to the overall theme of the song, then, silence.
For those in attendance, it must have been pretty odd to have this level of silence after an insane jam like that. Then we get to more weirdness. There’s some DEG-ish stuff going on, with some whistling. Whistling again! No Lassie sighting, though.
Around 27-28 minutes, they enter this beautiful “Slave” or even “Hydrogen” space, butter jam, just beautiful and it’s all working. Around 35 minutes, this is when I’m hearing the Chicago “Bowie,” an MLB-like jam. And this is about all I can say to do this justice.
The last 10 minutes are very classic ‘95 jamming: funky, cacophonous, wildness. What a great exercise to revisit this one.
In contrast to now, Eric points out that this epic version of “Tweezer” reminded him: “The other thing that sunk in is just how much Mike has grown as an artist, he has so much more fluidity he has and range of ideas in his arsenal.”
Excellent stuff.
