While many newcomers to Phish have dubbed the band’s July 27th, 2014 show at Merriweather Post Pavilion as “Tweezerfest,” as well as the band’s August 12th, 2018 performance at Merriweather as “Threeprise”, longtime fans know that the Tweezerfest title was bestowed on a show long ago. On May 7th, 1994, Phish settled into The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas, for the original Tweezerfest, which featured an experimental second set that essentially contained a full hour-plus of “Tweezer” shenanigans.
The set starts off straightforwardly enough, with “Loving Cup” and “Sparkle” opening things in standard fashion. Then, the band dropped a totally monster 25-minute jam session on “Tweezer”, taking things to the brink of improvisation and riffing on new ideas throughout the track. The group reeled things in for covers of The Who’s “Sparks”, Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” (jam), The Breeders’ “Cannonball”, as well as “Makisupa Policeman,” all the while weaving these songs through “Tweezer.” The incredible hourlong jam session came to a close with Jon Fishman taking the lead on vocals for Prince’s “Purple Rain” before one final jam took them into, you guessed it, “Tweezer Reprise.”
You can listen to a playlist of the full ’94 Tweezerfest below:
Phish – Bomb Factory – Dallas, TX – 5/7/1994
Setlist: Phish | The Bomb Factory | Dallas, TX | 5/7/1994
Set One: Llama, Horn[1] > Divided Sky, Mound, Fast Enough for You > Scent of a Mule, Split Open and Melt, If I Could, Suzy Greenberg
Set Two: Loving Cup > Sparkle > Tweezer -> Sparks -> Makisupa Policeman -> Digital Delay Loop Jam -> Sweet Emotion Jam -> Walk Away[2] -> Cannonball Jam -> Purple Rain > Hold Your Head Up Jam -> Tweezer Reprise
Encore: Amazing Grace[3], Sample in a Jar
[1] Ended with a brief, atypical jam.
[2] The jam after Walk Away included a Page solo and a Simpsons signal.
[3] Without microphones.
Teases:
· It’s Ice and McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters teases in Walk Away
· Tweezer tease in Sweet Emotion
· Tweezer tease in Hold Your Head Up
Notes: Horn ended with a brief, atypical jam. The jam out of Walk Away included a Page solo, teases of It’s Ice and McGrupp, and a Simpsons signal. The Sweet Emotion and HYHU Jams both contained Tweezer teases. Amazing Grace was performed without microphones. This show was officially released as Live Phish 1