11/28/94 Field House at Montana State U., Bozeman MT (Rvwd 2/95) Nearly 45 minutes for this Tweezer, folks. Are
you sitting? ;^) From the opening lyrics segment, it is clear that something Awry is about to take place. Lyrics are standard, but
the music is pounded out with an energy and ferocity that is scary to behold. The jam segment is bewilderingly strong in the first
five minutes. Intense, fiery, together, everyone contributing equally. No ONE person trying to take center stage. The jam
definitely starts to mellow around the 10 min mark, but it still doesn't lose its bite or go into a spacey haze-mode. By 13 min or
so, Fish keeps a strong beat up (much to my relief.. I'm sick of the spaciness at this point in many 1994 versions), and this beat
keeps everyone in a severe-jamming frame of mind. At around 15 mins, everyone is still really wailing, and wailing together as a
group, but within a minute the jam abruptly cools off and winds into a more spooky, dark (tweezeresque) rythym. VERY
FUNKY BEAT from Fish at this point ("Montana" from ALO). I really wish they had SMOKED a groove using this beat, but
alas, the jam wasn't that fiery. Fish tried. Mike puts in a few notes, but Trey and Page are in the background and are really
quiet, merely putting in a note here and there. Then Mike goes silent, but returns after a minute or so. Meanwhile, Fish keeps it
going, trying not to let this jam fall into a Bangoresque spacey fog. The groove increases ever so slightly and steadily, like a
good Hood. Mike and Fish are basically leading, and eventually Trey and Page come in more prominently. By 21 minutes, the
jam is still groovy, relaxed, and climbing. Sounds wonderful at this point. At around 23, the jam turns spacey, unfortunately, with
nothing from Fish, and hardly anything to speak of from Mike. At this point (around 24 mins or so), the infamous Intro JAM
that started the Providence Bowie and NYE Maze kicks in (a la Trey & Mike.. that digital delay-loop thing). It is not the exact
same thing as at Prov and NYE, but it starts the same way and the same effect is clearly employed. This bit sounds much better
than at Prov and NYE, though, because Trey gently solos over the delay-loop-device-assisted "jam." Page comes in on the
Funky Keys, and Fish quietly starts grooving on the snare. Mike is really low key at this point. I just can't hear him (27 min). By
the 29 min mark the jam is slowly and steadily building (once again) in groovy fashion, with little contributions from everyone.
Soon some harsh chordwork from Mike and Trey get the groove REALLY building. At 31 and a half (or so) Page does some
beautiful stuff on the piano, and by 32 it is JUST PAGE SOLOING!!!! It sounds absolutely fantastic at this point, and reminded
me of the great stuff he did at MSG (which was HIS Tweezer!). At around 35, Page and Mike are really the only ones in the
jam. Fish is just invisible, and Trey is pretty quiet. Mike just plucks away slowly, not wailing or anything (and Page is basically
doing the same thing around 36). Mike actually solos melodiously in here, unaccompanied, for a little bit. At 38, the jam stats
picking up, and everyone returns. The jam slowly and steadily builds (AGAIN), only this time in a majestic Slave-like fashion.
Trey teases the Tweezer theme at 39 and a half or so, but just teases it. The jam is still basically tweezer-theme-less. The jam is
really smoking now, and reaches a spectacular high at the 41 min mark or so. Welcome to the Tweezer finale, finally!! The
dying out of the jam segment comes at min 43, only it is not typical. It is very fudged, as if you had it on a record player and
were deliberately slowing it down by pushing down on the record. I have never heard this sound out of Phish before, that I can
remember.. anyway, it's pretty cool! Sleeping Monkey kicks in at almost the 45 min mark (the Monkey was short and not that
moving, btw). ANYWAY, this Tweezer was spectacular, and must-have. Because of its length and degree of creativity, it is
not fair to rate it, because then it would be on the same scale as all of the non-experimental Tweezers, and this belongs on an
Experimental Scale (with Bangor, Mud Island, the FLeezer, Jones Beach). I enjoyed this version much moreso than Bangor's. It
was a hell of a lot less spacey, EVEN THOUGH it was longer by ten minutes or so. There was just a lot more interesting stuff
going on more of the time. Thanks immensely for this DAUD, Mikey! (a little aside. Does anyone know what the deal was with
Cameron McKinney, who came on stage to "play" the sax during the Simple at this show? I mean, the Simple was great until
Cam came on and "played" sax.. I assume this whole thing was a joke. The guy clearly couldn't play sax... at all (I can't play the
sax either, I should say at this point). Does anyone know the Real Story? The whole feel of this Phish Moment was akin to
when that girls soccer team came out onstage during the 10/8 Mike's and did their "chant."). two cents charlie