Wow.....just wow.....can we NEVER be happy? "they didn't jam this enough"...or "Trey ripcorded that"...or "07/27/14 was ok but there were no jams"...This is a three song EPIC second set, and STILL we find a way to bitch about it. We are the most ego killing fan base ever, lol we are so bad that it's comical! I have to admit I do love the irony of it all...it's like never missing a Sunday dinner with your parents, " yeah mom the chicken was good.....buuuuut I wish it was ham." (next week) "Yes ham! But what happened to the chicken?" lol

Super weird that people think of this as the band "giving the finger",

This show was advertised as "Space Jam", no? I can't find the flier / poster now.. But it's out there somewhere.

This Tweezer isn't as held together as Bozeman, Tahoe or Mesa, or even Jones Beach or Mud Island. But it's a lot more listenable than Bangor, which they released on their career defining A Live One. Not to mention a few dozen other jams that were actively confrontational in their off kilterness.

Think of it more like Phish are fans of free jazz, psychedelic rock and the ambient stylings of Brian Eno and Aphex Twin.

I'm guessing that in Phish's minds, they were giving you a great gift. If it was my first show, maybe I'd be turned off. But if I knew the deal I'd have been ecstatic to see a show where Phish was comfortable enough to get this knotty and weird. Certainly more happy than seeing 10 songs that differ from previous versions solely in how well they were executed.

Bozeman is the Forever King of experimental Tweezers, but the June 95 versions are no slouch. This is just what they were doing with the song at the time. The first 6 Tweezers of summer tour add up to nearly 3 hours of music. In today's era, you'd be familiar with Mud Island and Salt Lake City. In 1995? You might not have even heard Bozeman and Bangor and Mesa and MSG yet, and your vision of a weird Tweezer might be confined to Bomb Factory and Big Birch from earlier in 94, possibly even stretching it all the way back to Louisville 93!

Did someone say there's a board of this show? That should be interesting!

C+ average great first set.
A+ thank you for trusting us Phish 2nd set.

Although I wasn't at this show, the 4-song set II and the 40 minute Tweezer -> Tweezer Reprise intrigued me. After all, this was still only '95 and 4-song sets weren't common yet.

Set I was alright, but nothing special. Mule at points seemed like a train ready to derail but was still enjoyable. Ha Ha Ha > Divided Sky is an interesting choice. After It's Ice (which sounds like it features a vacuum solo), Strange Design is a great way to let off steam, and a raging Maze turns it right back up to 11. Cavern and Sweet Adeline were played and sung great, as always. A great first set and a solid 8/10, but there's nothing that really stands out.

Set II is obviously the main attraction here. Theme from the Bottom is solid as well, and evolves into a small interesting little jam until Trey takes us into Tweezer. Let's break down this 40 minute behemoth.

The opening composed segment of Tweezer almost seems like it's going to fall off and derail at any point as well. Fishman can never seem to be right on target, and (in my copy at least), there are way too many annoying push/pulls in the rhythm. Around 5 minutes in, Trey screams for "NEEZA! EBENEEZA!" Page side is most definitely rage side until Trey breaks into some heavy Zeppelin-esque riffs around 12 minutes in. This escalates into a solid type II jam for a little while until...

It starts getting a little weird with a bluegrass-y jam on the Who's My Generation around the 20 minute mark. Trey sings as Page just hammers the keyboard until it begs for mercy. Immediately after they finish jamming My Generation, they slow the tempo down a lot and go into more type II jamming. Fishman has some great echo-y hi-hat rolls as Trey and Mike lead this part of the jam. Around 29 minutes, they go into some scary, dark, effects-laden jamming accompanied by screaming from what sounds like Mike and Fishman. Trey and Page go crazy with effects - sounds like air horns and raid sirens going off. Fishman just hammers the ride cymbal and toms and at one point, someone begins to play the vacuum.

Around 35 minutes, Trey and Page begin to form actual notes and melodies again. Page and Mike lead a small jam here, with Fishman accompanying them with tasteful work on the hi-hat and wood block. Around 38 minutes, Trey comes back in and lightly jams with Page. The finale of this epic Tweezer finishes with Fish playing a weird rhythm and gradually slowing into...

Tweezer Reprise to roaring applause. Fishman is bouncing off the walls and begins playing even before Page and Mike come in. He exits and waits for Mike's bass bombs, and comes right back in. Right before the final "step into the freezer"s, Fishman plays some great triplet snare rolls.

This encore is the only thing to me that holds this concert back from being one of the all time greats of 95. After the massive Tweezer and energy of Tweeprise, where do they go from here? Unfortunately, they blow it with Acoustic Army, and it's met with screaming and lots of shushing from the crowd. At one point, they begin clapping along and I even think I heard a firecracker? While My Guitar Gently Weeps comes afterwards, and while another good song, what were they thinking? They killed all the energy from set II!

Final thoughts: Set I was solid but doesn't really stand out. Set II features the incredible 40-minute Tweezer into a screaming Tweezer Reprise. Everyone should seek out set II, but the encore ruins any energy that was still left over. 8/10.

My first show and a weird show taboot.

Of course the reason for giving this show a listen is the second set Tweezer (FLeezer). A bit spaced out a times but good fun.

That being said the first set has a great feel to it. It is almost as if while listening to the first set it becomes obvious that the second set is going to be strange. A classic ScentOAM and a great It's Ice.

If you listen to the recording at a couple times you can hear people yelling to "play another song!" during the second set. Kinda funny.

If I recall correctly it was a beautiful evening in Canandaingua. The line of traffic for this show stretched far from the venue all the way of the main street in town. Kinda shut the town down for the evening.

After this show, the rumor goes anyway, Canandaigua said that Phish would never be allowed back. And this was the last time they played at this venue until 2010. Oddly enough almost 15 years to the day (they returned on 6/29/2010).

Absolutely worth a listen.

This was my first Phish show and I loved it. I still do and it holds a special place in my heart. After obtaining a few shows on tape, I knew to expect the unexpected. Before that show I thought the vacuum was a joke. My next 3 shows I wondered why fish didn't play the vacuum again. There was so much activity onstage and in the air that I never thought to count the number of songs. I didn't even realize that tweezer was so long because I thought it was multiple songs strung together. I was 17 years old and stone sober too. I was also impressed that these guys rocked While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Even the Beatles had to recruit Clapton to record that song. I remember the excitement of submitting cassettes and waiting months for a copy of this show (it was 95 and the Internet was in its infancy). I spent the last 21 years bragging to fellow phans that I was indoctrinated with Fleezer. This week I will relisten to this show for the countless time. All I can say is that phish were playing to the audience and I loved it. Disclaimer, this critic loves the long type II jams. Enjoy in context.

If it were up to me there wouldn't any of this "-> Jam ->" nonsense between Theme From the Bottom and Tweezer. Those five minutes are without question a post-jam out of Theme. My second set setlist for this show would read "Theme From the Bottom -> Tweezer -> Tweezer Reprise" making this, to my knowledge, the shortest (in song count) full length (in time) Phish set out there.

Is the hour of music contained within the second set a successful outing for the Phish from Vermont? I can't really say. On one hand: HOLY SHIT! 20 minute Theme?!? 45 minute Tweezer -> Tweezer Reprise?! On the other hand: What?... With the benefit of hindsight, this is a really interesting set to listen to. It shows a band that had reached a point where they could comfortably do pretty much whatever they wanted on stage and get away with it. Including, but not limited to, only playing three songs and jamming two of them out for way longer than normal.

I'd call Theme From the Bottom proper mediocre at best, but the post jam and segue into Tweezer (Fishman mistakes notwithstanding) are really nice. This monster Tweezer, just like the Mud Island version, has lots to love, and lots to... feel otherwise about. Personally, I didn't *hate* any of it, but it wasn't a full 40 minutes of mind = blown. My favorite portion is right after the My Generation jam and the subsequent build into the vacuum jam/chaos. (I don't like the My Generation jam at all, though. It's just awkward.) Had they segued into Rift when Fish then Mike fell into that groove, I'd have been a happy camper. It's not even that I dislike the jamming after Rift fails to catch, I just didn't need any more at that point and Fish and Mike really had it grooving.

However, all of that said, had I witnessed this in person, I don't think I would have responded particularly well. Nobody goes to Phish shows to see four guys go on stage and wank for an hour. Because, if these long excursions are anything, they're self-indulgent. I think their ability and rate of success when it comes to these XXXL jams increased tremendously with time (Cypress Rock and Roll, IT Ghost, and IT 46 Days immediately come to mind), but at this point, they just weren't something I'd necessarily want to witness. Of course, as I said earlier, it is fun to listen back from our current vantage point and be able to hear these anomalies within Phish-lore.

But what are my words worth? Now that this set has been released as filler on the Blossom '95 archival release, you no longer have an excuse for having not heard it. Take a listen and decide for yourself! At the very least it will be a pretty wild ride!

I took a buddy of mine to this show after hyping Phish to him for over a year. It was his first show and it was brutal. The 1st set was average at best and the second set was a huge WTF!?!?!?! I don't know what their deal was but this was not a typical show for Phish during this period. There were some cool moments but over all I walked out seriously confused compared to what I had seen them do the previous two years. My buddy didn't give up and eventually became a fan but this show did not help. I was not a fan (of this show) but I know some people that think this show is one of the greatest ever. Just goes to show....... to each his/her own.

This show contains the best Sample in a Jar I've yet heard. I was forcibly impressed by how the Sample openers nowadays go in a different sort of direction entirely. It's still the same song, but... I'm musing here on the magnificence of Phish's ability to infuse such life into their music. I noticed that the crowd is quiet on the audience recording during the beginning of Scent of a Mule, which features a stunning "Duel." The other highlights of the first set for me were It's Ice and Maze (and I'm always ready for a Strange Design.) Set II contains what's become known as the FLeezer ("Finger Lakes Tweezer") as well as a jam out of Theme From the Bottom, which is played admirably. This Tweezer is almost an hour long, or as near as makes no difference, and I can easily imagine that the crowd might've been swept away by it. I don't want to spoil it for you. Acoustic Army has some audience participation, I guess? And While My Guitar Gently Weeps closes the show on what I have to assume is an imploring note: part invitation to continue on the tour, and part meanderminded personal externalization. The practice regimen seems to have been a bit stricter at this point? Or maybe they were just honed from playing shows more often. Whatever "It" is about this show, I'd welcome it any time I might see Phish.

The Grateful Dead over on the Hudson, playing Albany during Jerry's final run through the northeast while Phish plays 200 miles to the west on the Finger Lakes. The Dead made a passable final appearance in the region, while Phish absolutely shreds the fabric apart. What more could someone ask for? How would one have known where to go? Such dilemmas represent an embarrassment of riches. We'll never see the likes of it again.

BTW, has anyone else ever played a two song second set? This, alone, is an accomplishment of mind f**k, and I applaud Phish their efforts. This is a psychedelic melt-down fest, and I would never complain about it.

Thanks, guys.

I was persuaded to go to this show by some friends. I hadn't even heard a Phish song prior to this show and didn't have much interest in the band up until this point. Once I heard Trey's guitar gently weep through the entire show, I quickly realized that this was an amazing band and my addiction has been downhill ever since. So...this is the show that popped my cherry. Thank you PHISH!!!

having been to a handful of shows with song "lite" second sets and 30+ min jams over the years, it's easy to follow the progression from individual and/or group wankery to full-on serious, musically ground-breaking, GROUP-mind improvisation (and, yes, there is a HUUUUGE difference between the two)...though, sometimes, these earlier long excursions (ie: the 11/26 & 12/29/94 Bowie, many Tweezers from the fall of '94 thru summer '95, etc...) hit the bulls-eye....i will say that, NO MATTER WHAT, any epic jam aPhishianado will find SOMETHING to like in each and every one

Broome: Sorry to hear daguia caused you to get off the bus. You've missed a hell of a lot of getting down and dirty, but you can always hop back on. We won't judge you; unless you want us to.

This was an epic show. The music transported us to places my boys and I had never gone before. The Ebeneezer was mind blowing. The took it so far out that when they brought it back we were floored. While my guitar gently weeps and acoustic army kicked ass also. It goes without saying that ya had to be there....lol

Pretty weird show. This second set is notable as being the set with the least amount of songs in it in Phishtory (Barely three..if you count Tweezer and Reprise as separate songs). The Theme From the Bottom is not actually that great in light of other versions of the song. The 5 minute jam bridging it and Tweezer is pretty cool. The Tweezer itself is a MONSTER, with some very engaging parts and some bullshit parts. The funky rock and roll jam through the weird My Generation jam is all pretty fantastic music, but the spacey chaotic jam after that is pretty boring to me. It just doesn't sound like music. Fortunately, the Page and Mike led jam back into the Reprise is pretty beautiful.

On June 22nd, 1995 I rounded out a three-show run of Grateful Dead concerts south of the border with my second-ever Phish concert, which took place at a lovely little amphitheatre in the Finger Lakes region of New York state with the very obvious and quite pleasant name: Finger Lakes Performing Arts Centre. It’s now called Constellation Brands – Marvin Sands Performing Arts Centre which is clearly a much catchier name. It’s staggering to think of how much thought went into the new name.

Did I say “thought”? I meant “money”.

Anyway, as I said I had just finished a very eventful and dare I say life-changing little run following the Grateful Dead from Vermont to New Jersey with my good friend Jason, and we pulled into the Finger Lakes lot to find our good friend Corey lackadaisically selling Molson XXX beers (the high-octane beer from the pre-IPA lot era) aside his flashy red sportscar sporting Ontario plates. We gave him hugs and handshakes and he gave us frosty beers in return and we three whiled away the preshow drinking away all of his profits.

We had lawn tickets for the show which was a-okay with me. With very few exceptions I tend to prefer standing on the grass at outdoor venues to standing on the concrete-floored seating area in front of a folding chair – I don’t sit down very much at concerts* (especially back then), and this outdoor venue in particular was rather small anyway. It’s a good thing that we were on the lawn too, because I fell myself down a couple of times…on purpose.

Y’see, back then there was a secret language that Phish was trying to create with their audience and having seen the band a year before and done some listening since I was “in” enough to know about the inside joke but still very “newb” enough to totally screw it up. Basically, Trey would make a slippery-slidey sound on his guitar alerting everyone to get ready for the coming message and then he would play one of several set riffs that called for a collective audience response. Like, he could play a snippet from the theme to The Simpsons and we were all to scream “D’oh!” at the same time. Or he would play a riff from The Byrds song Turn Turn Turn and everyone was supposed to turn around en masse and face the back of the venue. The idea was that only the serious core Phish-heads would know to do these things and these seemingly random collective actions would both intrigue and freak out the newcomers.

I mention this because I twice heard Trey give the signal and follow up with descending slurs that told me (and many others, or so I thought) to fall down onto the ground and play dead. Only he hadn’t made the signals – I had obviously been a little too excited about being in on the game and was listening a little too hard for the signals – so I was the only person in the crowd who just randomly fell down out of the blue.

And I can tell you, it’s a lot less cool when you perform a mass simultaneous action along with exactly nobody else.

Musically, I can (and should) report most particularly on the second set of this concert, notable that it is. The first set was fine, fun, and quite standard (though what did I know about “standard” Phish sets back then?) but the second set contained a mere three songs – two and-a-half, really – including a deep delve into exploratory space-jamming over under and through their one-riff masterpiece Tweezer, a single song that stretched to a full forty minutes and only wrapped up by morphing into a reprise of the same song, obviously titled Tweezer Reprise. (For those keeping score, the other song was Theme From the Bottom, which opened the set.)

Wow, a forty-minute song. Funny that I walked out of there thinking this was pretty normal for the band (again, I had only seen them once before, whereas I have seen them well over a hundred times by now). Also funny that I would eventually find myself in attendance for one of the band’s most famous and notorious jams, the very famous Lake Tahoe Tweezer, which clocked in at a relatively brief thirty-seven minutes.

After the show Jason hopped a ride with Corey leaving me to drive back to Ottawa solo. It was (and remains) very, very out of character for me to drive with even a hint of alcohol in my system, but despite pounding back a bunch of powerful beers before the show I still got behind the wheel and drove after the concert. Now, I knew that I would be meeting a border guard along the way so I wasn’t drunk or anything, but let’s just say I became quite concerned when a patrolman lighted me up about an hour after I started the ride home. He was pulling me over for my broken tail-light, I knew that from recent experience, having gone through an altercation with the New Jersey police over the same issue the night before. I also knew that I needed a distraction, quick.

So, to direct the officer away from any thought of checking my sobriety I quickly led the conversation straight to my broken tail-light (and headlight, I’m now remembering) and showed him the summons I had already received for the infraction in Jersey, further assuring him that I would soon be in my own land where I would then be the concern of the Canadian law enforcers, and where I would be getting the lights fixed in short order anyway.

He acknowledged my Jedi mind trick with a smile and an obedient wave and sent me on my way. No droids for him on this night!

*Yeah (turning around with an annoyed look), I’m that guy, and no, I don’t care if you “paid for these seats”; if you aren’t a patch-wearing outlaw I’ll continue to stand throughout the concert thank-you very much. If you’d like to complain there is an usher right over there. If he tells me to sit down I will consider it, but until then all I can say is enjoy the show, buddy (turns back to the music and raises fists in the air).

http://www.toddmanout.com

let me start by saying that i was not in attendance, so this will seem biased.

i have listened to this 2nd set many, many times and i actually do enjoy it. sure i may zone out during the 29-35min marks during the 'noise' section of the Tweezer, but overall i do enjoy listening to this set. knowing my affection for this set NOW, i can say it would have been cool to see it live.

i CANNOT justly say that i would have enjoyed being present hearing it live and for the first time. especially if this would have been the only show i saw during the tour.

just my thoughts....

Does anybody who went to this show know a dude named Scooby-Doo (or at least he had a Scooby-Doo shirt on that night)?

PHISH, THURSDAY 06/22/1995
FINGER LAKES PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Canandaigua, NY
Soundcheck: Funky Bitch, Ginseng Sullivan, Dog Log, Shaggy Dog > Jam, Acoustic Army

SET 1:

Sample in a Jar: Standard

Scent of a Mule: Standard

Ha Ha Ha: Standard >

Divided Sky: Sloppy

Guelah Papyrus: Standard

It's Ice: Sloppy

Strange Design: Standard

Maze: Pretty meh version

Cavern: Standard

Sweet Adeline: Standard

SET 2:

Theme From the Bottom: Definitely not standard. They keep going and going and there are hints of what is to come, would recommend. ->

Jam: Effects driven, psychedelic freak out. Fun! Would recommend. ->

Tweezer[1] The first part of this jam is slow and funky – very nice! The My Generation thing falls pretty flat IMHO. Things pretty much go off the rails from there into a land of utter chaos and noise. Uncomfortable to listen to at home. Would have been a lot to have been there on a head full. I do enjoy Page’s solo towards the tail end. Nice and chill. ->

Tweezer Reprise: Standard.

Summary: Below average first set and a super wild second. The Tweezer doesn’t do it for me but the Theme and subsequent jam does. 3.5/5.

Replay Value: Theme From the Bottom -> Jam

ENCORE: Acoustic Army, While My Guitar Gently Weeps

[1] Fish on vacuum.

Maze included a brief Lazy tease. This 40-minute Tweezer, which is known as “The Fleezer,” contained a My Generation jam, Rift teases from Mike, and, at one point, a Fish vacuum accompaniment. In the soundcheck, Funky Bitch was performed as the blues version and Dog Log ended with the AC/DC Bag intro.
JAM CHART VERSIONS
Theme From the Bottom, Jam, Tweezer, Tweezer Reprise
TEASES
My Generation and Rift jams in Tweezer, Lazy tease in Maze

First set is odd. Not bad--just odd. Wasn't expecting to go straight into Mule right after the Sample opener; nor did I expect that to be followed up with Ha Ha Ha. They really just went straight from radio commercial to two of the weirder selections of the repertoire. Well, I guess there's more of that shock and awe to come...in any event, the Divided Sky, It's Ice, are nice, and Maze fucking shreds.

Set 2 is just as crazy on paper as it is on tape. As if on a mission (and who's to say they weren't), these four dudes stretched three songs into an hour of music. The outro out of Theme is tense, and you can feel the beast coming over the water. Though I think I still prefer other iterations like Bozeman, Mud Island, and Bangor a little better, the Fleezer is to be respected. There's some really creative morphing, a few musically beautiful passages (especially those last few minutes), and an awesomely opportunistic segue right back to Tweeprise. I think I understand why some people enjoy this one less than some other notable versions from the era; it's admittedly not as thoroughly compelling from end-to-end, I don't think--especially in the pretty extended period of chaos from ~25:00-35:00. Nevertheless it's more than worth listening to: it's required listening, if only for its boldness.

This show was one of my favorites. I took my friend Jeff. It was his first Phish show. He rocked out and played air guitar the whole second set, screaming yes! over and over. I felt the same. Afterwards he said it was in his top 5 concert experiences ever. Experiences which included Watkins Glen Summer Jam, Hendrix at the War Mermorial and the Dead with Jefferson Airplane joining in at the U of R 1970.
This show was a truly psychedelic journey and it was frikkin awesome!!!

Sorry but I was not happy about attending this show and was very confused that night. I actually concluded that possibly the band was getting tired of the larger/more out of tune audiences and were trying to stifle their growing popularity (which I would have liked at the time as I "grew up" on smaller theater Phish shows).
I will always be a greater phan on the shorter jams that have one long dynamic build. This show seemed more like attending one of their practice sessions.

I'd have to echo what was said above: about the 1st Set being "average at best" and the 2nd Set being a huge "WTF?" My feelings exactly.
I have not heard this show since I was there.
But I hope we're allowed to be critical, in a peaceful and constructive manner, about the band we all obviously LOVE on this site. I'm not trying to be a drag, offensive or a bummer but.....
After 14 shows, this one left me actually hurt. I mean, my feelings were so hurt after this show that I have not seen Phish since. (Now, that may change Summer '13! I'll admit right here: the boys are back ) But, back to '95......
Personally, I felt the band was giving us the finger, musically, in the 2nd Set. They had an hour + to give us the Phish I had grown to LOVE....instead, they gave us nonsense. I only remember it being tedious, sheer chaos. I am not, again, trying to offend those of you who are fans of this show. To each their own, you know?
Did the band do some serious *partying* backstage? That's what it seemed like. I had never, EVER heard Fishman's tempo waver, but at the start of Tweezer, he was pullin and pushing so much...I had no idea if it was intentional, for some reason, or if the guys just had "one too many" of....something.
And that's just it...was this intentional musical experimentation that went awry? Or....was it a band just too inebriated to even play? Honestly, I don't know. Maybe no one does, but thank goodness, these days are gone and I've had 18 years to lick my wounds, and fall back in love with the band.
Let's hope for a killer '13