From: Charlie Dirksen
6/28/95 Jones Beach Amphitheater, Wantagh, NY (Rvwd 8/95) The opening segment is wholly standard. The opening of
the jam segment, after Ebeneeezer, is very dark and funky, with Trey spiraling around on little licks with touches of eeeerie
sustain. It is a very Curious opening, which is not to say bad, but it certainly isn't as wild and exciting as the FLeezer's opening,
or, for that matter, Mud Island or Gainesville. Around 6 minutes, the jam goes into one of those Phishy blended, foggy,
somewhat dissonant jams (you know, we need to name these sorts of Phish jams.. they are as jazzy as they are psychedelic, as
fiendishly mesmerizing as they are melodically gelatinous.. sure, this is I guess considered "fusion," but this is more phusion.. I
don't know.. Phish just doesn't usually do typical fusion sorts of grooves.. they add even more elements to the coalition, as it
were..). A bit too early for this hazy jam, though, for my tastes! Luckily, Trey spins out of it within 30 seconds or so, and plucks
away in typically tweezeresque fashion. Mike and Trey start grooving on a theme of sorts around 7 mins, with Page wailing
away beside them. Fish is still maintaining the common Tweezer rhythm. This is a normal, funky Tweezer jam, but definitely not
that melodically pleasing or exciting, in my opinion. It isn't even comparable to some of the versions earlier in the month, as far
as general palatability goes. Fish effectively drops out (gets really quiet) after the 8 min mark, and the jam drops down slightly,
into a somewhat more mellow groove. Everyone still throws in harsh licks here and there, but the jam has definitely gone into
one of those pre-spacey sorts of trickle-down-modes around 9 mins. Fish kicks back in the beat somewhat, however, after 30
seconds, and the jam kinda plods along. By 10:15, Trey starts a theme with Mike that is fairly engaging, and one that I've never
heard in any of their jams. It is nothing special, unfortunately, but I've heard much worse portions of Tweezer jam segments. At
nearly 11 mins, Trey starts chording a little spookily, as if he wanted to really pick up the jam and get into some sort of raging,
frighteningly gripping mode. Alas, after a minute, the jam is still more/less haphazard, trippy, and carefree. There is no melody or
harmony here. The only consistency is inconsistency. The only form formlessness. Aaaaaah... BUT, by around 12:45, the pieces
of the jam that each member was phondling start grooving together, and by 13:30 or so, the jam starts sounding like it is going
Somewhere again! Trey starts soaring over a pleasant quilt of sound sewn by the others around the 14 min point. It is here
where the jam finally takes a turn for the better. There's a consistent beat from Phish, and some activity from Mike Page and
Trey more/less on the same theme. The jam could segue into Free, really, at this time, but doesn't. Fish doubles the beat at
around 14:45, and the jam gets really GDTRFB-like. Page starts wailing, and there's some great little 4-note licks from Mike
and some rhythmic chords from Trey. Page is pretty much the leader still around 15:40, but within 30 seconds, the jam goes
into an genuinely groovy, almost upbeat Suzy-Greenberg-like jam segment, given what Trey is doing (he's not wailing, per se,
but kinda playin a lead & rhythmic guitar... you have to hear it to understand). Wow. These next few minutes are just WILD.
Really upbeat, with lots of complex little jams from everybody.. jams which worm their way in and out of eachother
harmoniously. There's a Dave's Energy Guide in here for about 40 seconds!! By the 20 min point, the jam is still in Dave's
mode, but just starts to mesh more together, perhaps planning to cascade into some other type of jam. Nope. By 22 minutes,
the jam is still more/less in this foggy, dissonant phusion style (not strictly Dave's at this time), but with a quick beat from Fish.
Trey throws some digital delay loop stuff into this Chowdah of a groove. CHAOS without any beat around 23:12. The "jam" is
in one of those Bangorian Cheese Modes, where there is just a Wall of Sound, which, to most people, probably sounds like,
dare I say, NOISE. Extremely spacey jam at this point, folks (24:30). Everyone is still present in the jam (Fish here and there..
no "beat"), but nothing of any merit happens, until around 25:15, when Fish kicks in a real beat which Mike and Trey and Page
join. It is an extraordinarily spooky theme jam that starts seguing, thanks to Trey and Mike, into Cannonball around 25:40 or
thereabouts. This Cannonballesque jam just plods along until Trey starts "singing" Cannonball at 28:52 or so. There's just one
line "sung", though, unlike on 5/7/94, and it isn't particularly exciting or audible. The jam stays Cannonball for another minute,
until by 29 mins, the jam is kinda in a weird, stop/start/slow down/speed up mode (Phish has done this style of jam off and on
for years). Not that fun on tape.. Although at 29:45 the jam sounds like it could have started going into Makisupa, it doesn't.
Just fizools out. ;( No return to the Tweezer theme. Setlist should probably read just "Tweezer -> Dave's Energy Guide ->
Tweezer." Cannonball really isn't played like it was at the Bomb Factory 5/7/94 (there's a Cannonball jam, and one lyric, but
not the song). There is definitely a Dave's Energy Guide in here, though. Gumbo kicks right in at 30:30, btw, making this
Tweezer roughly the same in length as Bangor's. You want a rating for this Tweezer? I think it had a very exciting jam around
the 16-22 min point, but otherwise contained some of the lamest Tweezer jamming I have ever heard. I don't know what was
wrong with them for this. I guess they just couldn't get into the groove. It is, frankly, probably the worst of the experimental
versions that I've heard (Bangor, Bozeman, Mud Island, FLeezer), and there are plenty of 12 minute Tweezers that I prefer to
this one. I don't recommend getting this Tweezer on tape. If you do get this show (it isn't a BAD show, but the first set is more
impressive than the second, imo), you might want to be doing something else when you listen to the Tweezer. It may upset you,
outside of the awesome 16-22 min point jamming. I feel like I've wasted a half-hour, and even after reviewing the other sizeable
Tweezers, I never thought my time had actually been wasted. I thought this Tweezer was, for the most part, lame. A hell of a lot
worse than FLeezer, Bangor, Bozeman, AND Mud Island.. i.e., the other over 30 minute versions. Cannonball was also not as
exciting as the 5/7/94 version, although, admittedly, at Jones Beach I would have been sooooo relieved to hear it after having to
deal with the noise that preceded it. I don't know. All of these huge Tweezers have periods of spacey dullness or dissonance or
freakish bullshittiness, but, it was my impression from this version that it didn't have enough melodic and intense grooves to
make up for the crap. In fairness, I won't "rate" this one, but it wouldn't even beat the average version of Tweezer as far as
I'm concerned. I thought it was a terrible waste of potentially awesome jamming time. Blggggh. Boooo.. What to hear is the
Fast, Reba, PYITE, Stash, Fluffhead, Chalkdust ending to the first set!!!! Yikes!! No Cavern, Bouncin, HorseSilent, Golgi,
Rift..!!! You should acquire this show, though.. you'll probably like the Tweezer more than I did! Many other people do!