I had tapes of both Mud Island and the Fleezer a short time after they played them. Never could get into the Mud Island version but the Fleezer is great. Strictly speaking, neither of them were full sets. They played "Theme From The Bottom" before the Fleezer and here is a cut and paste of the Mud Island set: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Poor Heart > Tweezer, Acoustic Army, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Ah yes - that was all being posted in the 10 seconds while I was typing my message and then looking up the date and then editing my post!
This was the first mega Tweeze I remember getting a tape of (set II only). Was THRILLED when it was released as a Live Phish back in the melting binder days. MAY 07 1994 PHISH The Bomb Factory Dallas, TX, US SET I Llama Horn > The Divided Sky Mound Fast Enough For You > Scent Of A Mule Split Open And Melt If I Could Suzy Greenberg SET II Loving Cup > Sparkle > Tweezer > Sparks > Makisupa Policeman Tweezer > Walk Away > Tweezer > Cannonball > Purple Rain > Dallas Jam > Tweezer Reprise ENCORE Amazing Grace
6/22/95 The whole second set was: Theme From The Bottom ->Tweezer->Tweezer Reprise. That was it. I was highly disappointed.
You may not be particularly motivated to hear it, but if you wanted you could sign up for a free trial of the LivePhish+ app and then stream it there.
The music actually started out as background music for a specific narration portion of Trey's original recording of Gamehendge. The lyrics came later. As a Phish fan, and a musician, I am more fascinated by the composing that Trey did back then. It's very classical in form, so I honestly didn't think of them as a jam band like other jam bands of the time. They were more like a prog rock band that could improvise quite well, too. The improvisation sections weren't really long until '94 or '95, and the approach was much different. I guess that's why I like Esther. It's a seriously interesting composition when looked at with music theory.
10/31/09 Finished that EXCELLENT reading of Exile On Main Street. Now I'm getting blasted by this mind-meltingly insane Fluffhead! Woah!!!!! I though Number Line was great but this took that outside and just put it out of its misery with a shot between the eyes. Holy crap.
10/31/09 Sorry to spam post again but this set is killing me. This is some of the greatest jamming ive ever heard. GHOST IS FREAKING INSANE!!!!!!
2 words: Tahoe. Tweezer. That one got almost everyone's juices flowing when it happened. Mr. Minor (phish thoughts website) went as far as to say it was the best Tweezer, and possibly the best piece of improvised music the boys had ever done! Ha! A bit of hyperbole for sure but never-the-less that is a pretty kick ass version... I believe that Phish can "jam" just as well as they ever have. It has always been an evolving thing with them, obviously, and some eras are jammier than others, but on the whole I have no complaints about a 20+ minute Bowie or whatever else.
Not to say that the song shouldn't be the important part, but I'm seeming to notice that, unlike with the Dead, the song (in Phish's case) seems a lot less important and more just a great excuse to get jamming - I say that because a lot of time once you "escape" the song and the jam takes off....that's it, man! Ya know what I mean? Not to diminish their songwriting at all, because that is still the base of everything, just that once the jamming takes off it really doesn't matter, imo, what song it was as long as the music is good. And so far I haven't heard anything to convince me otherwise.
Setlist is a bit oddball - and I have never been a fan of Prince Caspian, just a 2 chord vamp that doesn't really go anywhere. The only thing that redeems it for me is that heavy coda at the end, which they only seemed to do about half of the time. But I'll take a Jesus Left Chicago any day, and Saw It Again is A-OK in my (helping friendly) book.
I think thats about right. I mean, Tweezer isnt really a great "song" but it is a guarantee of great high-energy improvisation. With the Dead each song was a strong indication of the type of improv: Dark Star will sound like Dark, Eyes of the World will sound like Eyes of the World. Phish can launch off of any tune really and end up anywhere (Type I vs Type II jamming.) Phish also has a lot more long, composed tunes a la Weather Report or Terrapin such as Fluffhead, YEM, etc. The Tahoe Tweezer sounds much more like spontaneous composition than improv to me. Its fascinating, but I wouldnt call it a top ten Tweezer (although I dont really have a list.)
2.20.93 has a 2nd set Tweezer fest SET 2: Wilson[2] > Reba > Tweezer -> in from "Tweezer." "Walk Away" is sandwiched inside "Tweezer."">Walk Away -> in from "Walk Away" to finish this "Tweezer."">Tweezer > Glide > Mike's Song[3] -> in from "Mike's Song." The first of several brief segues in the midst of an inspired and popular "Mike's Groove." -> back to "Mike's Song."">My Mind's Got a Mind of its Own[4] -> in from "MMGAMOIO" to complete a tease heavy version of "Mike's."">Mike's Song > in from "Mike's Song." Part of an epic tease and segue-fest, the "Hydrogen" sandwiches brief versions of "The Vibration Of Life" and "Kung."">I Am Hydrogen -> in from "I Am Hydrogen." All part of an incredible and hugely popular segue-fest "Mike's Groove." -> to "Kung."">The Vibration of Life -> in from "The Vibration Of Life." Both are sandwiched inside of "I Am Hydrogen."">Kung -> in from "Kung" as the roller coaster segue and tease-fest continues.">I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove -> in from "Weekapaug Groove." This incredible "Mike's Groove" is a segue and tease-fest, with 12 bona fide ->'s in a single set. -> back to "Weekapaug."">Have Mercy[4] -> in from "Have Mercy" as this incredible tease and segue-fest "Mike's Groove" continues and -> to "Rock and Roll All Nite."">Weekapaug Groove -> in from "Weekapaug." An audience member dressed as Gene Simmons joins the band in singing this Kiss classic. -> back to "Weekapaug."">Rock and Roll All Nite Jam[5] -> in from "Rock and Roll All Nite" to wrap up an incredible "Mike's Groove."">Weekapaug Groove, Fast Enough for You > Big Ball Jam > Hold Your Head Up > Terrapin > Hold Your Head Up -> in from "HYHU." A cool and very improvisational jam, coming at the end of a historic show. Shredding, intense peak.">Harry Hood, Tweezer Reprise Hmm I just copied/pasted the setlist off of phish.net and now all the comments are expanded within the setlist... interesting... One of those night they were feeling particularly frisky and just jammed into and out of a bunch of different stuff, throwing the Tweezer riff in whenever it fit.
I was at the Jennifer Dances debut...ahhh...Rochester 99. Actually, aside from that the set list was great. It was not, however, a great show.
The prog-rock compositions were what converted me, far more than the improvs. To me they felt like a continuation of the early Genesis and Yes stuff I was also discovering as a kid in the mid-90's. It wasn't a big jump from "Close to the Edge" to "You Enjoy Myself", at least in my head at the time.
Yes! Ice Cream Is Awesome. In fact - Tweezer has always reminded me of the riff in this Joe Walsh song - Time Out, check it out, the riff starts at 0:30
