Phish Unleashes Monster 26-Minute ‘Tweezer’ In Atlanta On This Date In 2000
By Scott Bernstein Jun 24, 2020 • 9:10 am PDT
Phish thrilled fans with a 26-minute “Tweezer” at Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta on this date in 2000. The well-jammed, all-killer, no-filler version of the A Picture Of Nectar classic came during the first set of a concert on the third night of the band’s U.S. tour.
After pairing “The Moma Dance” and “Runaway Jim” to open the show, along with a quick romp through “Bouncing Around The Room,” a fired up Phish lit into “Tweezer.” Phish are quite capable of delivering otherworldly improvisation in both dark and evil minor keys as well as pretty and light major keys. The Atlanta 2000 “Tweezer” saw the band move between each in impressive fashion.
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The sun was still out as the quartet finished the structured part of “Tweezer” and embarked on the jam. Guitarist Trey Anastasio set a delay loop that added a spacey texture underneath the action. Anastasio and bassist Mike Gordon drove the improvisation, which saw the pair connect on a blissful repeating pattern that Phish used to blow past typical “Tweezer” territory. Drummer Jon Fishman held down the beat as keyboardist Page McConnell added counter melodies on piano.
Phish alternated between major and minor keys with ease all while keeping the theme of the pattern Gordon and Anastasio created. Eventually, around the 15-minute mark, the quartet settled in on an intense chord structure akin to “Free” and explored this new space for a few minutes. Again, the band would quickly move between the dark and light. Trey used rhythmic work to build the “Tweezer” to a frothy, crowd-pleasing peak and at times it was hard to tell if the four-piece was jamming in a major key or minor key — one of the hallmarks of the best Phish jams.
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For the next movement, the band improvised on a soundscape that hinted at “Birds Of A Feather” as Trey continued to focus on rhythms instead of shredding. Gordon was on top of his game throughout the “Tweezer” and at times played lead bass. The last seven minutes of the jam contained more swift transitions between major and minor keys including a raging climax in which all four members of the band were going full blast in an egaliatarian way. Phish faded out the music following the final peak to end a “Tweezer” which stands among the best in the song’s history.
Watch fan-shot video featuring soundboard audio of the Atlanta 2000 “Tweezer” shared by Outpost South below:
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Stream an audience recording of Phish’s entire June 24, 2000 concert taped by JK and shared by From The Aquarium:
Set 1: The Moma Dance > Runaway Jim, Bouncing Around the Room > Tweezer, Strange Design, Cavern
Set 2: Birds of a Feather, Bug, My Sweet One [1], Run Like an Antelope, Frankie Says, Carini, The Squirming Coil, Prince Caspian
Encore: Guyute, The Inlaw Josie Wales, Driver, Tweezer Reprise
Tweezer included a Silent in the Morning tease from Mike and a Fire (Ohio Players) tease from Trey. My Sweet One was botched, which led to band introductions from Trey and extended solos from Fish, Mike, and Page. Trey explained that My Sweet One and Dog Faced Boy were both written about the same person by Fish and that one was at the beginning of the relationship and the other at the end, finally asking the crowd “can you guess which?” Mike “bantered” a bit and showed off his fight bell. During the banter after My Sweet One, Page teased “Charge!” twice.
