The Palace Tweezer—Twenty Years Later
My Actual Ticket Stub—12.6.97
Twenty years later and I can still remember everything about that night—where I was, who I was with, what I was wearing. They say that live music can change your life, and that is exactly what happened to me on the sixth of December in 1997. On this night, something momentous happened. A piece of music harnessed from the outer realms of the universe came down through the instruments of a band from Vermont and transformed The Palace of Auburn Hills into a place of worship. On this night, we received “The Palace Tweezer.”
This jam is hands down, far and away, my favorite piece of music ever created by mankind. And it’s not even close. The Palace Tweezer has it all—the grimiest, subliminally connected funk grooves, a passage of ascension into spiritual realms of sound and soul, and an indescribable section of musical wizardry that I suspect was the soundtrack of the universe’s creation. The entire piece unfolds like poetry without a moment of hesitation, as if the music already existed—perfectly composed—and the band just allowed it to come through them. It seems impossible that a piece of improvised music so immaculate, so powerful, and so utterly dynamic could be generated by human beings on the fly.
I cannot begin to guess how many times I have listened to this jam over the past twenty years, but it sounds every bit as good today as it did when I got the analog copy sometime after tour. It has not lost a drop of freshness or power. The Palace Tweezer is a part of the fabric of my existence. Though I know the piece by heart, the feelings it produces on each and every listen are no less stirring than on the day I heard it.
Though Phish crafted so many sections of “funk” that fall, none approach the nuanced, four-minded mastery on display in this jam. The band members finish each other’s musical sentences, speaking as one entity rather than individual musicians. These grooves have a life of their own—locked in doesn’t begin to describe it.
The band gradually and ever so smoothly builds from these opening dance rhythms into a section of improvisation that opens a wormhole in space-time, allowing the music—and the Palace—to slip into an alternate dimension. This passage gives me chills every time I listen to it. Literally. Every time. Trey hits a lick in here that elevates the possibilities of the entire jam, and the band is right with him. From this point forward in the jam, words fail me. The music is beyond linguistic expression—a deeper magic from before the dawn of time.
I truly believe that the band communed with the divine while playing this jam. It is not far fetched, as we are all individual manifestations of the one divine energy of the universe. We are the universe awakening to itself and expressing itself as human beings for a short blip of time. Life is but a process of remembering not who we are, but what we are. Yet, because we are in human form, we are not in always in touch with this higher truth. But on that Saturday night in December, twenty years ago, Phish was not only in touch with it, they channelled this truth through music, through themselves and, subsequently, through everyone in the room.
It is this process that makes transcendent Phish jams such incomparably powerful experiences. This is the reason we keep going back—to remember and experience our truth. The Palace Tweezer is the greatest expression of my personal truth that I have ever heard. It is primordial music, an oracle of the infinite, telling a story of our past, present and future all at once.
Today—twenty years later—I will listen to the The Palace Tweezer again, and I will smile with awe and wonder, just as I did when the lights came on, oh so long ago.
Tags: 1997, Jams, The Moment
So we just rank stuff now?
(backs away slowly)
Tone is hard to convey on a message board, it’s true.
How does one convey “abject and pervasive boredom”?
amateurs
denver ghost
riverport gin
raleigh tweezer
cypress drowned>midnight
Boise Bag
Island Roses>Piper
Providence Bowie
Albany YEM
MSG Crosseyed
Lakewood Ghost
denver ghost
riverport gin
raleigh tweezer
cypress drowned>midnight
Boise Bag
Island Roses>Piper
Providence Bowie
Albany YEM
Fukuoka Twist
Lakewood Ghost
denver ghost
riverport gin
raleigh tweezer
cypress drowned>midnight
Boise Bag
Island Roses>Piper
Providence Bowie
Albany YEM
Fukuoka Twist
Vegas Wolfman’s
denver ghost
riverport gin
raleigh tweezer
cypress RnR
Boise Bag
Island Roses>Piper
Providence Bowie
Albany YEM
Fukuoka Twist
Vegas Wolfman’s
camden sand
Really the only thing that can cure me is an endless discussion of the greatest Ph jams of all time.
Danielle Nicole – I Sing The Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GubbquvcCso
St. Denis Reba
So TIL that Shapiro just bogarts all the soundboards at his fingertips.
Seriously. Occupy Shaps HD.
it must feel pretty powerful controlling the fate of all those soundboards
gotta drown my tax increase sorrows today. let’s start with some 12.08s gone by, shall we?
1989 do you like super hissy tapes from tiny New England colleges where most songs are still being worked out? well, you are in luck!!! but check the shreddy Timber yo
1990 the first review of this one on .net is hilarious and pretty spot on for the value to be found from this one. basically, phish was the background music for a shit show college party vibe. you can actually hear it somewhat on the tapes
1992 we’re getting closer to something worth listening to in toto. but I’d recommend going just for the highlights (Llama, Stash, and the short heavy metal Mike’s). no narration in Mockingbird which is something I suppose
1994 Spreckels! big proponent of the idea that a Maki->Maze opener is a good sign so you get that which is nice. then there’s that really fun Simple->Catapult->Simple->Lizards, one of those vehicle type Possums, and just your typical 19min Reba ho hum
1995 Look out for this Cleveland Tweezer->Kung->Tweezer! big time fall 95 psych jammery. pretty cool Lope closer too. oh and just the debut of Come Together as part of the all Beatles encore to commemorate the 15th anny of Lennon’s passing
1999 second night of this great Quad C pair gets good first set jams from Disease and Ya Mar followed by a six song second starting with a big Sand, flowing through a spacecamp Piper, and then finishing with a YEM that goes to an a cappella rendering of Reprise in the VJ. they play that Reprise in full in the encore
big proponent of the idea that a Maki->Maze opener is a good sign so you get that which is nice.
^always
OPT is pissing me off with their rankings. Jesus, can’t believe i followed them on twitter for anything intelligent.
So those Tweezeprises … they were just orphaned Tweezeprises?
sure were, Mr. Austin
also, my count of that being a six song set folds the Reprise into the YEM since it is a cappella from the VJ. ymmv
“penn state simple soundboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
^^^ word up! Lovin it.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/k4a555q8m58rkdd/Phish_-_Simple_%28December_9%2C_1997_-_Official_Audio%29.mp3
Thanks @sumo; much appreciated.
Thanks for the sbd sumo! Was that from a livebait?
nvm found it: https://www.jambase.com/article/exclusive-premiere-phish-plays-30-minute-simple-bryce-jordan-center-1997
Shapiro just doled it and only it out like he was throwing tuppence to the poors.