Matt Dallman
6.14.95 Mud Island, Memphis, TN
Woke up this morning after St. Louis last night, and hit the road by
noon, got there around 5 pm. I really wanted to buy some water for the
show, but we couldn't find a Walgreens anywhere near, so I went thirsty. ;)
It was such a thrill driving across the Mississippi River to enter
Memphis and seeing SUCH A GRAND VENUE!! Mud Island is a great place to
see a show! What a relief after the debacle of a venue at St. Louis.
The venue sits on an island that is reached by crossing 100 yards or so
of the river by either tram or walking. The stage is pretty low, as the
seats, only about 6000 or so, angle fairly sharply up. Kinda like Red
Rocks...at least what I remember of Red Rocks from the U2 video, since I
have never been there. Perfect. Without the rocks, of course!
Most everyone seemed to park in the structure adjacent to the complex,
and there definetly was a cool vibe in the parking lot. Lots of drum
circles!! I am a big fan of those. We parked right next to a puppet
show presentation/reenactment of Gamehendge. Maybe y'all have seen this
before, but I hadn't. IT IS REALLY COOL! Describing it won't do it
justice, but there was a pretty big crowd sitting down and standing near
the show, listening attentively. EXCELLENT.
There was a police car oaming around the parking structure, but the two
officers were much cooler than the police at St. Louis. Instead of
confiscating alcohol. etc. from concert-goers like in St. Louis, they
simply asked that you put bottled beer in cups, and hide any hard-stuff
one night have brought, then politely drove away.
Oh. I forgot about the weather...blue skies, nary a cloud around, and in
the 80's, I guess. Great weather, which helped the lot vibe a lot.
Driving through all the parked cars and people hanging out reminded me of
why I love this band! Such excitment everywhere one went! I think
everyone kinda felt this was going to be an special show...
I MADE SURE to get into the venue with plenty of time, so I wouldn't miss
the first song like I did last night in St. Louis. I am glad I did, or I
would have missed...
I WANT TO GO. New song...a straight 4/4 JAM. The band kicks right in,
and the crowd is just SWALLOWED in the groove. DANCING, DANCING,
DANCING!!! Woo hoo!! I missed that part of Phish a lot, since it seemed
not a whole lot of heavy dancing was going on the night before. Mud
Island is great for letting down those locks and LETTING GO!! The sound
is really clear, so it was a bit nicer on the ears, as it was a bit
softer. Anyway, back to this song. Great groove, like I said, which
led into a nice jam. This song seemed surprisingly mature for only it's
third time live. GREAT OPENER. Into...
GUMBO!! More dancing!! Really sparse rhythm from Trey, sparser than I
have heard, anyway. Nice tempo...not too slow like versions I have heard
before. I love the time signature change, into the swing thing, where
Page just makes the outro his baby. Great. Totally unexpected song,
btw. Not as unexpected, though, as...
NICU. Perfect. Again, really sparse rhythm, and very light. Loose, in
a good way, ya know? These first three tunes were the BEST opening I
have ever heard live. 'I Want to Go' is THAT GOOD, pholks.
MOUND was next. Love that off-beat clapping the boys lead us
through...love it every time. The middle was a bit more sedate than I
have heard...more moody. And dancing!!
This may surprise some of the oldbies, but i really enjoyed hearing
CAVERN next. Great placement. Terribly energetic! Very tight.
Something about this tune has changed. I thought it was stale last I
heard it in Madison, but it came ALIVE in Memphis. I don't want to
devote too much explanation to this one, though. I was just STILL
Cavern, after all. But Downerman had it right in his review of Lowell
when he said Cavern was very listenable. Let's put it aside, shall we,
and talk about the rest of this set.
POSSUM!! In what I thought would end the set, Phish whipped out a great
Possum. Fish really took this one over. I mean, he is so DAMN TIGHT of
a drummer. Like clockwork. He kept this one chugging along into a
pretty long jam. Nothing earth shettering here, but it rocked! I
thought the set ws over, but no...
ALL THINGS RECONSIDERED came next, in what struck me as a very odd
selection. I went with it, though, and enjoyed it. The lights helped
out here, creating more of a trippy feel to it. I KNEW that the set
wasn't over with this one. ATR was standard, of course.
AMAZING GRACE, with no mics, was pulled off pretty well. The crowd was
mostly silent and attentive. Set closer? Nope...
THE HORSE --> SILENT IN THE MORNING came next. Nice, but standard. The
usual cathartic (sic) energy release during ,"...just last year!!!" I
like this tune, don't get me wrong. I really wasn't expecting it. I
thought this one would SURELY end the set, but no, it wasn't. And I was
happy, cause we got to hear...
SPOCK'S BRAIN! For those unfamilier with this one, which I guess is most
of y'all, it's a new one that has a very experiental feel to it. I
couldn't decipher ANY lyrics to this one, so I had no idea, upon hearing
it, what the hell it was. I asked Paul behind the sbd about it at the
setbreak, and he grudgingly
knodded when I asked him if it was indeed 'Brain'. I thought it was, but
was naturally unsure, since it was my first. I liked it, I guess. It
will take SEVERAL listenings to get the feel for this one. Lots of
potential. I thought to myself, "Maybe it's over with this, but I doubt
it..." and the set wasn't, cause next came...
SPLIT OPEN AND MELT. Solid version! I always find it curious that so
mant people can dance to this tune, cause of the odd-time jam. Anyway,
great tune, with a nice buildup. Trey continued his recent pattern of a
bit lower volume in his solos, so as to blend in more with the rest. It
is further evolution of his 'solo-rhythm' style I so love, where, during
solo sections, instead of just endless notes strung together fairly
randomly, he solos with a more chordal, rhythmic feel. Standard, but
GREAT, SOAMelt. Set one, 67 min. Seemed a lot longer. The best first
set I have ever been lucky enough to attend.
SET II
A half hour break gave us plenty of time to rest from the DANCEFEST of a
first set. Set number two began with a spacey thing, which grew into
2001. Kinda longer than usual, with Trey noodling a bit more in between
playing the theme. This one rose the energy level SEVERAL notches, which
ebbed with...
POOR HEART. Yes, it was standard. Yes, this tune doesn't vary much.
Yes, it was short, but DAMN WAS IT HOT!! Somehow, the energy level fro
the first set, which was built up from the incredible jams, was ALRREADY
attained in set two. The crowd EXPLODED with this one. DANCEFEST was
back in full swing. This is one of my favorite Phish tunes live.
The first set had me thinking of how Phish could POSSIBLY top that set.
I mean, Possum, SOAM, Gumbo, NICU, and started off with the GREAT I Want
to GO? Well, I am not sure if they topped it, but they sure gave it a go
when they stepped into the freezer with TWEEZER!! It was OUT OF CONTROL
at the beginning! The crowd went nuts, Trey was marching round the stage
to the beat, and the groove was ELECTRIC!! When they got to the
a pretty standard first section, I felt that a significant enough energy
level had been attained to take this particular version SKYWARD! And
damn did they! I am going to struggle trying to verbalize this one.
Let's just say that the recent discussion of Phish=Mozart was ALL I COULD
think of during this one. I mean, their improvisations could stand alone,
and one would have a great COMPOSITION! This ws along the
same lines as the BANGOR Tweezer. No segues. The purple, orange, pink,
blue, yellow lights gave this a very MODERN feel. This was the
cutting-edge, pholks, and everyone knew it.
The band came back to the Tweezer theme after 25 min, or so. I thought
it might end, but, keeping with theme, kept on going! I am not sure if
this was Tweezer -> Jam, or just Tweezer...I'll let others decide. I'll
call it Tweezer ->> Jam, cause what followed the return to the Tweezer
theme was in no way related to Tweezer. The jam WAS ALL-OUT beauty. I
had seats relatively high up in the theater, so I could stare into the
city skyline and the gorgeous moon as I listened to Phish brilliance.
X-mas tree type lights for the duration of this jam.
I mean, various themes were developed fully, to the point where ANY of them
could have served as the BASIS for the jam, instead they were
quickly thrown out in favor of even BETTER ones. THEY KEPT GETTING BETTER!!
This "tweezer" ended at 10:40 pm. The seond set began at 9:40. If you
give 2001 five or so, Poor Heart ive or so, that leaves Tweezer AT
LEAST 45 minutes long!! I really think,though, that this was a Tweezer
>> Jam. It was reminiscent of the Ann Arbor Mike's>>Simple>>Jam. One
can call it just Simple if they want, what what followed both that Simple
and this Tweezer IN NO WAY related to their respective structures. THIS
WAS GREAT TWEEZER.
ACOUSTIC ARMY was next, kinda curious considering it was played the night
before. So at first it ws kinda a buzzkiller...but then something hit me
that saved this one...the beautiful harmonies being played by Trey and
Mike were along lines very similar to those of the Jam after Tweezer. I
wonder if the band was thinking this, too, cause it didn't seem like this
one was planned. The preceding jam ended first with Trey taking off his
guitar, but the rest continuing. He walked around, almost searching for
a clue of what to do next, then he must have decided, cause Page next
joined him in walking around, then Mike. By this time the seats and
monitors for AA were set up, Fish finally walked out and the song began.
I thought of it as an end to this totally out-there Tweezer.
WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS ended the set. Very good playing by
Trey...he showed he can wail when he wants to. The crowd was excited to
hear this one. Great rendition.
Set 2, 67 min
ENCORE:
A great SIMPLE began the encore. Not much needs to be said about this
tune. It is just friggin GREAT!! Danceathon was BACK ON!! What a
groove this song creates. Thought the show was over, but no!
ROCKY TOP was OUTSTANDING!! Standard, of course, but it still shook
everyone limbs off from moving around so much. Everyone sang along with
the chorus. This song is great ANY way it is played. TN should be proud
to have a song like this to call their own!!
TWEEZER REPRISE ended the show. Gave everyone in the crowd one last
excuse to let IT ALL HANG OUT!! It ended this TRIP of a show. WOW!!!!!
E., 10 min.
To sum up this absurdly long review, the long walk back across the river
to the lot was pretty sedate...I think most were pretty spent dancing to
damn much. I must repeat...MUD ISLAND is a treasure! The best venue I
have been to (until I go to Red Rox, I guess!) Older crowd...seemed to
be fewer first-timers. I really don't know how to react to the FIVE song
second set! ;) I am VERY interested in finding out what Dirksen thinks
of this Tweezer...
But above all that, tonight really showed what a well-behaved, energetic
crowd at a very intimate venue on a hot summer night can amount
to...See y'all at Deer Creek!!!!!!!! :)
courteously abstaining,
Matty D
mcd1@cec.wustl.edu
==============================
From: "Craig D. DeLucia"
Subject: Show Review: 6/14/95, Mud Island, Memphis TN
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 11:59:55 -0400
I will start this review by saying that I hereby take back anything
negative I ever said about this Tweezer.
With that said, yesterday I popped in a show that I hadn't listened to in
almost eight months. I remember when I got this show from Herschel at the
Hershey Park show (have I ever mentioned that the Hershey summer 96 show
is underrated and that the Reba was breathtakingly beautiful ;^) but,
unfortunately, I got separated from everyone after the show and never got
to say good-bye. But that is another story for another time (like
tomorrow, when I review that Hershey Park show).
Anyway, this is the Mud Island show with the infamous 50+ minute Tweezer.
At first listen, I hated it. I listened to the tape twice and then left
it to collect dust. I almost liquidated it once but, for some reason,
decided not to. I found out why two days ago. Through email, a good
friend of mine remarked that he found it odd that I didnt like the Mud
Island Tweezer while I am so fond of the 11/22/94 Columbus, MO Funky Bitch
| -> Jam, which he said contained very similar jamming. So, I decided to
give the show another chance.
The first set is ODD. Scratch that; the whole show is odd. Honestly, in
my mind, it has no continuity. It is very disjoint. It has the feel of a
mix tape that was made without much regard for song placement.
The first set starts off fine; nothing remarkable. DONT YOU WANNA GO
opener, which was only played five times before being dropped near the end
of the summer 95 tour. Fun song, upbeat opener. Not Phishy at all,
though; it never really seemed to fit in with the rest of the show. Dont
get me wrong; I liked it. It just never fit right for me. Next comes
GUMBO and NICU, followed by MOUND. Still not much to say. Then, CAVERN.
This is where the wierdness starts. Cavern mid-first set? Next comes
POSSUM. Possum mid-first set? This has got to be a joke, right? Here
you have two songs that are usually set-closers or encores (and if Possum
doesnt close a set, it is usually in the second set and not the first) in
the middle of the first set...highly unconventional. Fun jamming in the
Possum, but no signals or blatant teases.
Another rarity, ALL THINGS RECONSIDERED, follows, and then AMAZING GRACE
with no microphones. An a capella song...in the middle of the set. Are
we seeing a trend here? Strange...
HORSE > SILENT follows, and then a fun SPOCK'S BRAIN. Another song that
was only played five times before being dropped. PLEASE being this one
back...Id rather hear it brought back than Destiny Unbound...but not as
much as Alumni Blues ;^) With no disrespect meant, I have a gut feeling
that it was dropped because of the tricky vocal harmonies, which are
sometimes a bit off.
SPLIT OPEN AND MELT closes the set. It closes the set. It CLOSES the
SET! I went back and did a search from 94 to 96 and found that, in those
three years, Split Open closed a set five times. And, in my eyes, this
SOAM is very boring.
So, like I said, this whole set was unconventional. We have traditional
set-closers in the middle of the set and middle-set songs closing the set.
We have three rarities. We have no idea, at this point, what greatness is
to follow.
(And I will pause here and ask that people spare me the flames that say
"well, Phish is an unpredictable band and they can play any song
anywhere." I know that, but this is a bit excessive ;^) To me, my musical
enjoyment is spurred by both the quality of the performance and the
continuity. This set had little of either, IMHO.
The second set, though...talk about different stories. Kicking 2001 to
open. It runs into POOR HEART, which wouldnt have been my choice here but
is still a song that keeps the energy going and the booty moving. TWEEZER
follows. Grab a six pack and sit back for the next 50 minutes, boys and
girls; were going on a ride. The jamming in this Tweezer is beautiful; I
take back *everything* negative I ever said about it. Yesterday, I kicked
back and *listened* for the first time, and I fell in love. I'll let Sir
Dirk post the song reviews; let's just say that this sucker is massive. I
cant even listen to the whole Bangor 94 (A Live One version) Tweezer
without getting sick, and I prefer my Tweezers in the short, tight, 15-20
minute range. This is easily the exception to the rule. It is constantly
morphing into new shapes and textures...this is some of the greatest 50
minutes of Phish. And this is coming from a guy who isn't too fond of
many Tweezers! There is, at one point, a Digital Delay Loop Jam (DDLJ), a
beautiful Slave-like jam, and several other teary eyed moments (including
a gorgeous one right after the DDLJ). Pure Hose.
ACOUSTIC ARMY follows and is a beautiful, serene way to bring us back to
earth. They follow it, though, with a slamming, in-your-face WHILE MY
GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS. Geez, they played the hell out of this from late
94-95 and then it disappeared. Wonder why...
On to the encore...now we're back to unconventional. SIMPLE opens. A
Simple encore? Not jammed out; instead, it has the a capella ending a la
the A LIVE ONE version. ROCKY TOP follows, and then a kickass TWEEZER
REPRISE to close the show. A three-song encore??? Ill take it!
This show is tough to grade. I give it a 5.5. The Tweezer, though, I
give a 9.5. Unfortunately, it is the only real good part of the show.
I'd say get the second set, for the 2001, Tweezer, and sweet acapella-ended
Simple. Only get the first set if you are dying to hear Spock's Brain and
Dont You Wanna Go.
Craig
BTW, I am still looking for two pavillion seats for VA Beach and Walnut
Creek. I'll give you cash plus tapes plus lots of public praise and
general ass-kissing ;^)
******************************************************************************
Craig DeLucia "The people on the hill, they all say I'm
cdeluci@hubcap.clemson.edu lazy, but when they sleep I sing and dance."
Phi Kappa Tau ---Pete Townshend
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for: live Rugby Road, Bruce, Phish, yeP!, DBR, Seapods, Percy Hill
******************************************************************************
------------------------------
From: charlz franz
Subject: Re: Show Review: 6/14/95, Mud Island, Memphis TN
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 00:44:21 -0400
Craig D. DeLucia sees the light:
> The second set, though...talk about different stories. Kicking 2001 to
> open. It runs into POOR HEART, which wouldnt have been my choice here but
> is still a song that keeps the energy going and the booty moving. TWEEZER
> follows. Grab a six pack and sit back for the next 50 minutes, boys and
> girls; were going on a ride. The jamming in this Tweezer is beautiful; I
> take back *everything* negative I ever said about it. Yesterday, I kicked
> back and *listened* for the first time, and I fell in love. I'll let Sir
> Dirk post the song reviews; let's just say that this sucker is massive. I
> cant even listen to the whole Bangor 94 (A Live One version) Tweezer
> without getting sick, and I prefer my Tweezers in the short, tight, 15-20
> minute range. This is easily the exception to the rule. It is constantly
> morphing into new shapes and textures...this is some of the greatest 50
> minutes of Phish. And this is coming from a guy who isn't too fond of
> many Tweezers! There is, at one point, a Digital Delay Loop Jam (DDLJ), a
> beautiful Slave-like jam, and several other teary eyed moments (including
> a gorgeous one right after the DDLJ). Pure Hose.
Sorry for the extended quote, but I just loved this paragraph! As I
recall, your main complaint about the Great Space Tweezers was that they
seemed aimless, with no sense of direction or purpose. And now here we
have the recognition that they are "constantly morphing into new shapes
and textures"! I'd just add that the morphing generally seems to have
an internal logic if not an inevitability, something like Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony or a fractal. This is easier to see in the 5-7-94
Tweezerfest, with its many discrete and identifiable elements that flow
from one to another, but it's present here and in the Bangor and Bozeman
Tweezers as well. Listen to this another 50 times and then tackle
Bangor -- you'll love it!
BTW, there's a site somewhere around that contains a remarkably
descriptive review of this show. After reading it, I now can almost
"see" it happening every time I listen. They must have had a
*wonderful* time playing it. Pure Hose, indeed!!
> BTW, I am still looking for two pavillion seats for VA Beach and Walnut
> Creek. I'll give you cash plus tapes plus lots of public praise and
> general ass-kissing ;^)
Moi aussi; me too; ditto!
Charlz "now to convince heehoo must remain unmonikered" Franz
==============================