Tweezer review - 07/19/98 Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA

Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 10:33:00 -0700
From: Charles Dirksen [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: 7/19/98 Shoreline Tweezer
 
07/19/98 Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
 
Does anyone think I should review the 7/25/98 Austin Tweezer?  If so,
please let me know why and email me about it.  I have never heard it.
 
There are some tasty, funky flourishes added to this opening segment
by Trey, but otherwise, it's a pretty standard opening.  Not much
screaming from anyone after the Ebeneezer lyric.
 
Jam segment begins at 4:28.  Trey lets loose a flurry of digital delay
loops within the opening measures.  Page is silent.  Mike and Fish
just coast along.  Fish rides the ride.  Trey starts chording along
with the groove rhythmically around 5:45.  Fish starts hitting the
cowbell around 7 mins - and Mike goes up an octave.  Trey still chords
along.  No one leads.  Collective jamming, but it doesn't do much.
Page plays a wee bit here and there, but isn't very audible. YAWN.
(8mins)  The whole groove just dies out completely at 8:15 or so, and
Trey starts noodling eerily at 8:27, with digital delay loop sounds as
the backdrop.  Trey finds a cool theme, and starts repeating it, but
drops it at 9:28 or so. At 9:41, everyone comes back in, as Trey plays
some bluesy guitar riffs.  And at 10:02 they segue nicely -> into
Jesus Just Left Chicago, to the enormous pleasure of the audience.
 
This Tweezer went nowhere. It's probably the weakest version I've
heard from the last few years.  Even though the 7/24/99 Alpine version
was dogshit, in my opinion, at least it did SOMETHING.  3.5 rating.
It's also the shortest version I've heard since 10/17/96 (a version
which also went nowhere). It's just not worth hearing, unless you are
a fan of segues, I suppose. The segue into Jesus Just Left Chicago is
fairly smooth.  And the JJLC is a good version.. great fun to catch
live! =^]
 
two cents,
charlie
 
p.s.  The talk about Phish "selling out" in light of the impending
releases of "Farmhouse" and the "Heavy Things" single is very
amusing.  I remember the same fears being expressed in this forum when
"Hoist" came out (before and after).  There was a near panic amongst
some fans.  I remember being Concerned, myself, actually, especially
upon hearing "Hoist" (my least favorite Phish studio release).
Personally, I find "Heavy Things" cute, amusing and satirical.  It
seems to me to intentionally mock Popular "Rock" Music, which often
talks about "heavy things", that is, very serious issues (e.g., drug
abuse, teenage pregnancy/sex, depression), with a light, gay, almost
trite melodic sense.  Very ironic, in other words.  And if "Heavy
Things" becomes popular, then it'll be that much more amusing and
ironic a tune, IMO.
 
I'd love to see Phish get richer off of a tune that mocks popular
music.  Sure, it might mean even more fans at shows who "don't seem to
get it", who don't laugh their asses off when Fish picks up the
vacuum, who sit down during improvisational jam segments but who go
crazy for Phish's short, poppy tunes, who take Phish and/or themselves
too seriously, who talk to or yell at their friends during jam
segments and bother those around them, but BFD. They are fans, too.
Every Phish album has brought new fans into the fold, be they
inconsiderate jerks or Kind Bro's and Sistahs (besides, the more shows
we go to, the more we are likely to be inconsiderate every once in
awhile to SOMEONE, accidentally or otherwise.. I bet most of us have
been obnoxious at a show at one time or another!).
 
The more accepting we are as a community to new fans the more likely
the new folks will be considerate in kind.  "Touch-heads" didn't ruin
the Dead community and scene in the '80s.  Inconsiderate "Deadheads"
or "fans of the Grateful Dead" did.  Likewise, IMO, don't expect
"Farmheads" ("Heavyheads"? ;-) to ruin anything in the Phish scene and
community.  I think we have a lot to look forward to this year, in
light of the spectacular music of Big Cypress.  I mean, christ, we're
already getting two shows at Radio City Music Hall!!  Sure, though all
of us can't be there in person, we can be there in spirit!  Hopefully
Phish will perform something exceptional musically or at least
remarkably rare, and make it an even more memorable occasion!
(LEPRECHAUN! NO DOGS! MELT THE GUNS! MR. PC!)



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