Mini Episode #3: Tweezer, 7/31/09, Morrison, CO

Attendance Bias

Welcome to the third mini-episode of Attendance Bias! Mini-episodes feature a breakdown of a single song or jam from a show that I’ve attended. I’ll pick a song or jam for any given reason—it was the highlight of the show, it meant something special to me, it's widely renown--who knows?

Mini-episodes are posted on a bi-weekly basis in between full episodes of Attendance Bias, when a guest and I will go over a full Phish show.
Today's episode focuses on "Tweezer" played on 7/31/09 at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. This show was the second of four nights of the band's triumphant return to one of the best outdoor venues in the country after last playing there in 1996. I had already seen five shows in the summer of 2009 before Red Rocks, and I was entirely thrilled that Phish was back. Everything was there--old music, new music, the best community in music, a new and better sound system--except for one thing: the jams. Throughout the early summer of 2009, there were hints of great jams (like the Camden "Sand"), but nothing at any of the shows I attended. This "Tweezer" changed all that.
"Tweezer" is only 12 minutes long--not a monster. But in that short span, Phish creates two interchanging melodies, structures them in order, and creates what could otherwise be a perfectly written instrumental. The best part is that this is an improvised jam-they did it all in real-time. And this version convinced me that Phish, and truly everything we love about them, was BACK!
AUD recording for this episode: Tweezer