LivePhish has announced the release of Phish‘s entire 11/28/94 show at Montana State University’s Field House in Bozeman. Full-show, soundboard audio of the concert will be available to stream and download via LivePhish on Friday, December 18th.
While this will mark the first release of the full show, fans are likely already familiar with some of its contents. A two-minute segment of the legendary second set “Tweezer”, which in total stretched for over 45-minutes and was henceforth known as the “Bozeman Tweezer”, was put onto A Live One and titled “Montana”. The show also features the fourth and final guest appearance from Cameron McKinney, who contributes saxophone to the first set “Simple”.
Phish’s first of two career performances in Montana is memorable for reasons other than the “Tweezer” in set two. Before the show even started energy among the band was high as the concert—originally scheduled for MSU’s Shroyer Gym with a capacity of 1,800—was ultimately moved to the Field House which could hold 8,500. Phish gave the enhanced capacity crowd their money’s worth with a show that was smoking from the start, opening up with a traditional “Chalk Dust Torture” that was followed by a rare first set “Also Sprach Zarathrustra”.
After some more quick hits with “Scent Of A Mule”, “Stash”, and “Sparkle”, the band brought out McKinney as they segued into “Simple”. In a way, Phish helped raise McKinney as his first appearance with the band onstage was on May 14th, 1988 when he was just three years old, per JamBase. After a sublime, late set “Divided Sky” the band went a cappella for “Sweet Adeline” and put a wrap on set one.
Coming out for set two, the energy remained a constant with an opening “Suzy Greenberg” seguing into a bouncy “NICU”. Then came the improvisational highlight of the show, the “Bozeman Tweezer”. Midway through the mammoth experimental vehicle, Trey Anastasio diverted into a “Digital Delay Loop Jam” only to find his way—along with the rest of the band—back into “Tweezer”. It was time for a cool down as Phish fired up the Jon Fishman anthem “Sleeping Monkey” in an unorthodox setlist slot and closed out the set with “Julius”.
Upon returning to the stage, Trey gave a classic “Fee” performance through a megaphone followed by a customary “Tweezer Reprise” and that was it. Tune in to PhishRadio on SiriusXM Tuesday at 10 am ET and Wednesday at 4 pm ET to hear archivist Kevin Shapiro preview tracks from the upcoming archival release. On Thursday Shapiro will air 11/28/94 in full at 9 pm ET ahead of its release on LivePhish the following day.
Setlist: Phish | Montana State University Field House | Bozeman, MT | 11/28/94
Set One: Chalk Dust Torture, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Scent of a Mule, Stash, Guyute, Sparkle > Simple[1] > Divided Sky, Sweet Adeline
Set Two: Suzy Greenberg > NICU > Tweezer -> Digital Delay Loop Jam -> Tweezer > Sleeping Monkey > Julius
Encore: Fee[2] > Tweezer Reprise
[1] Cameron McKinney on saxophone.
[2] Trey sang verses through megaphone.
Simple featured Cameron McKinney on saxophone. A portion of the jam segment from this long (nearly 45 minutes), experimental Tweezer appeared on A Live One as Montana. Trey teased I’m a Man (Spencer Davis Group) in Tweezer prior to the Digital Delay Loop Jam. Trey sang the verses of Fee through a megaphone. This gig was originally scheduled for MSU’s Shroyer Gym (capacity 1,800), and was later moved to the larger Field House (capacity 8,500).
[H/T JamBase]