From: Charlie Dirksen
12/30/94 Madison Square Garden, NYC, NY (Rvwd 1/95) Well, this was one hell of a version of Tweezer, I have decided,
after many listens. The opening lyrics segment is entirely straightfoward, with absolutely nothing of any interest at all whatsoever.
The first few minutes of the jam segment, though, really wail. Everyone is contributing, and contributing *well*, to the jamming.
It is not nearly as laid back as it usually is. Really pounded out. Page gets into a funky organ groove around the 7 min mark or
so, and jams along with everyone else. After another min or two, the jam takes a psychedelic turn, with Fish and Page breaking
out a little here and there through the phog. Very laid back and spacey at this (10 min or so) point. I honestly am not a big fan of
the spacey portions of Tweezers (which is why I knew it wouldn't be fair if I RATED Bangor's Tweezer). ANYWAY, this is
definitely a tolerable space, because, unlike Bangor's, IT ENDS. Fish begins doing some quiet rolls on the snare. After a min or
so, the spacey jam kinda sputters -- starts and stops quickly -- as it has often done o'er the past year. Very chaotic. It sounds
as if they severely tease BBFCFM at the 11-12 min point. Eventually, the jam starts fucking soaring. Everyone really wails for a
min or two, then the jam slows -- but PAGE IS STILL ACTIVE. The jam in general severely mellows at this point, and returns
to spaciness, but Page soon breaks into a tremendously simple but beautiful piano "solo" (I put solo in quotes because Mike
tools around a bit behind Page, but Trey and Fish are absent). Page soars on the keys for A FEW MINS, it seems, and
eventually, everyone comes back bit by bit. This build-up of the jam (after Page has jammed ferociously) is intense, exciting,
and genuinely engaging. Trey eventually teases the Tweezer theme a little, and Fish starts POUNDING away.. just an incredible
Tweezer moment at this point, really (after Page's hand dancing.. this may be the most severe Page-work I've heard in any
Tweezer). Page is still wailing at this point, along with Fish, but Mike and Trey are just creeeping in in the background. This
crescendo is just fantastic, and makes for an excellent version of this tune. This is easily the best Tweezer that I've heard from
the fall 94 [NOTE: Bozeman 11/28/94 and Mesa 12/9/94 are arguably better.], and it is certainly one of the best of the year.
The segue into the theme jam out of the aforementioned crescendo is, dare I say, MAGNIFICENT. The ending is the typical
dying out of the theme Tweezer ending, but what an otherwise unusually fantastic version. 7.0 rating easy, thanks to Page (B+).
This was assuredly his Tweezer, and thank God for it. It really made that show for me (well, the YEM jam was good, too, and I
didn't mind the Stash and 'Bag in the first set). This version was 22 mins or so (... a typical tweezerep at this show, fwiw). two
cents charlie