Tweezer review - 7/1/98 The Grey Hall, Dopenhagen, Denmark

Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 21:17:08 -0800
From: Charles Dirksen [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 7/1/98 Tweezer
 
I'm so excited for those of you who will be blessed enough to attend
the Radio City Music Hall shows in May!  Talk about a tough ticket!!
On the one hand it's wonderful that Phish will be playing two fairly
intimate gigs out east ("intimate" as compared with the larger rooms
and sheds they usually play; not as "intimate," of course, as the
Fillmore or the European venues).  On the other hand, this is a great
opportunity for the wookie circus to make it damn certain that Phish
never plays there again. 8^|
 
Let's hope for the best!
 
 
7/1/98  The Grey Hall, Dopenhagen, Denmark
 
God I love the sound of the tapes from intimate European venues. 8^]
Trey plays a few chords using a kinda metallic-sounding effect in the
opening segment of this Tweezer (before the Uncle Ebeneezer lyric).
There's no screaming from anyone after the Ebeneezer lyric (not even
the crowd), though Trey unleashes a bunch of effects.
 
Jam segment begins at 4:50.  After the first few measures, Fish starts
riding the hi-hat (which I looove).. but he does so only for a couple
measures.  Trey lets loose some spacey, quiet effects/noises.  Mike
funks along with Page (on the clav).  Very, very textural at this
point (6:19).  Some digital delay loop effects.  Mike is about the
most active of them all (6:41), and he just repeats a riff made up of
only a few notes.  Trey adds misc. sounds here and there but nothing
Definitive and direct, until around 7:30, when he starts noodling
melodically.
 
Trey's soloing around the 8:15 mark is pretty, but doesn't go
anywhere.  After a few measures he starts repeating a riff that builds
a collective crescendo -- but isn't that gripping, IMO.  This changes
course into something more funk-oriented after a few measures.  Trey
repetitively chords along around 10 mins, as Mike becomes increasingly
melodic.  Fish is still drumming a la Tweezer.  Page is accompanying
well on piano (at least it sounds like a real piano and not like a
synth effect!).  Trey continues to chord along until about 11:50, when
he takes a more mellifluous turn.  He starts soloing around 12:15 in
the lower octaves, and -- instead of aimless noodling -- it sounds
like he has a vision for the closing of this jam.  Around 13:40 or so,
Trey plays a few notes that may remind one of part of the melody line
of Zepplin's "No Quarter" -- but I don't think it is a conscious (or
setlist-noteworthy) tease.
 
Excellent, collective jamming around 14-16 mins!  It isn't a very
complex groove, by any stretch.  It's more dark and deep than
intricate and melodic.  But what once sounded  aimless has
nevertheless become a United Front. This groove builds and builds, and
though it is repetitive, it is repetitive in a good way, IMO. I really
can't describe it well, and for that I apologize to anyone who has
read this far. Basically, Trey chords along in an almost hard rock
fashion, as Mike, Fish and Page key into what each other does, and
march along.
 
This jam drops down a notch in intensity around 18 minutes... And
though Trey returns to a theme that he milked a bit earlier on in the
jam segment, Fish has dropped the typical, strong Tweezer rhythm, and
is accompanying in a gentle, somewhat spacey fashion.  Around 20
minutes the key changes into something Antelopian (still very spacey
at this point, though).  Trey starts repeating a gentle and
mellifluous theme around 21 minutes, but this doesn't last very long,
before he sustains out... and there's a collective crescendo from
everyone.  Must be Also Sprach.. and it is. (22 mins)  Fish begins
Also Sprach's rhythm at 22:49.
 
I thought this Tweezer definitely had it's moments, but is absolutely
NOT something must-hear... Easy 7 (above average over the course of
the history of the song, but nothing All That Remarkable).
 
two cents,
charlie

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