Tweezer Reprise

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Originally Performed By	Phish
Appears On
Music/Lyrics	Anastasio/Fishman/Gordon/McConnell
Vocals	Phish
Phish Debut	1991-02-01
Last Played	2024-10-25
Current Gap	2
Recommended Versions	1994-10-27, 1995-10-21
Historian	Charlie Dirksen, Saul Wertheimer

History

A "reprise" is a sort of musical afterthought – basically a reintroduction of and variation on the main theme of a piece of music. Thus, “Tweezer Reprise” is a slight variation – a condensation of sorts – of “Tweezer.” As it does on the album A Picture of Nectar, the “Reprise” often follows “Tweezer” in concert, most frequently as an encore song. It is also common as a second set closer following an earlier “Tweezer.” A few times, the “Reprise” has even been spewed out of some long, monster “Tweezer,” serving as the thrilling exclamation point at the end of a raging, set-long sentence (e.g. 5/7/94, 6/22/95).

On occasion, “Tweezer Reprise” has shown up as a surprise in a show where there has been no performance of “Tweezer” proper. Although usually this occurs because the “Reprise” will be referring back to a non-reprised “Tweezer” at the previous night’s show (e.g. 12/30/96’s “Tweezer” was reprised on 12/31/96), the song has been known to appear, albeit rarely, completely free from its Granddaddy counterpart, like on 9/29/99. The most interesting example of this, and perhaps the most unusual “Tweezer Reprise” ever performed, was on 12/8/99, which featured an a cappella version that came out of a “YEM” vocal jam to close the second set. The band later finished off the show with a traditional “Tweezer Reprise” to end the encore. Other interesting versions include 10/27/94 and 10/21/95.

During the 2010 Summer tour, "Tweezer Reprise" was performed twice in each of two consecutive shows: 6/18/10 Hartford and 6/19/10 SPAC.  At Hartford, both versions of "Reprise" were performed back-to-back in the encore slot, and the second "Reprise" was performed "for Hershey Park," because the band had recently played "Tweezer" at Hershey (6/13/10), but did not finish that show with the "Reprise."  At SPAC on 6/19, the band opened with "Tweezer Reprise," which meant that the "Reprise" was performed three consecutive times over the course of two consecutive shows.  This "Reprise" three-peat is the only known instance of Phish performing the same song three consecutive times either in one show or over two consecutive shows (excluding soundchecks).  But check out 7/11/00 Deer Creek, where the band performed "Moby Dick" off-and-on repeatedly throughout the show.

"Tweezer Reprise," "Tweezer Reprise"– 6/18/10, Hartford, CT

As Trey begins the opening riff, some fans may mistake “Tweezer Reprise” for “Tweezer” itself. How to tell the difference? Well, aside from the tempo (Trey’s riff in the “Reprise” is often faster and more momentous than its laid-back, funky progenitor), fans with keenly trained ears might pick out a difference: “Tweezer” is in A, while “Tweezer Reprise” is in D.

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