Phish Announces Mud Island 1995 Archival Release
By Nate Todd Sep 30, 2020 • 3:58 pm PDT
Phish will release official audio from their June 14, 1995 concert from Mud Island Amphitheater in Memphis for the next archival release via LivePhish.com. The band’s archivist Kevin Shapiro made the announcement on SiriusXM’s Phish Radio and will spin the entire show tomorrow, Thursday, October 1 at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT and 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, ahead of the official release on Friday, October 2.
Phish’s show from Mud Island in Memphis marked their only excursion to the venue. It is also notable for containing the longest “Tweezer” to date at just over 50 minutes, which is the only 50+ minute “Tweezer.” Not only is the “Mud Island Tweezer” the longest, it is also top shelf in terms of improvisation with Phish.net calling it “more a symphony with movements – a masterpiece of improvisational artistry.” JamBase also detailed the monster jam in 2016 when an unofficial recording of the “Mud Island Tweezer” surfaced. Read an excerpt below:
Phish quickly worked through the composed section of “Tweezer” before building the jam to a powerful peak complete with bits of “Gypsy Queen” (popularized by Santana) thrown in. However, once they reached the first peak the quartet dove back into outer space for explorations featuring wild psychedelia. Around the 20-minute mark the foursome reengaged the “Tweezer” theme, yet instead of ending the song they embark on another round of out-of-the-box jamming. Eventually the music faded to near silence and lost all structure. Guitarist Trey Anastasio started a delay loop that served as the base for a noise-rock excursion that would make Sonic Youth proud. The band then explored a beautiful, major-key chord structure not too far off from “Billy Breathes” for a few magical minutes. From there, they dove back into the rock and funk for one final time before finally ending the exceptional “Tweezer.”
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Other highlights from the show include the gospel rarity (performed only in a handful of times in ’95) “Don’t You Wanna Go” — which was prefaced by a “Stairway To Heaven” tease, as per Phish.net — to open the show. The band must gave been in the gospel mood as they also did “Amazing Grace” sans microphones to go along with an a cappella ending in an encore opening “Simple.”
Head to LivePhish.com on Friday to stream Phish’s Mud Island show. Dinner And A Movie resumes tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT with the first webcast in the new monthly format featuring the Vermont quartet’s '99 Columbus concert. Watch it on the JamBase Livestreams Calendar.
Set 1: Don't You Want To Go?, Gumbo > NICU, Mound, Cavern > Possum, All Things Reconsidered, Amazing Grace [1], The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Spock's Brain > Split Open and Melt
Set 2: Also Sprach Zarathustra > Poor Heart > Tweezer [2], Acoustic Army, While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Encore: Simple [3], Rocky Top > Tweezer Reprise
Donât You Wanna Go was preceded by a Stairway to Heaven tease. Trey teased Jean Pierre in Possum. This 50+ minute Tweezer included a brief Gypsy Queen jam, a Digital Delay Loop Jam with whistling, and an Also Sprach Zarathustra tease from Trey. Simple contained a Jump Monk tease from Trey and was performed with an a cappella ending instead of a jam, akin to the A Live One version from December 8, 1994. Amazing Grace was performed without microphones. In the soundcheck, Funky Bitch was peformed as a slow version and Rift was played as an instrumental. This show is available as an archival release on LivePhish.com.
