(Published in the second edition of The Phish Companion...)

There's nothing like your first Phish show. And there's nothing like a Phish show in your hometown. I was lucky enough to have both happen to me back in Summer `94. I was thirteen at the time, and some older friends of mine had insisted I see a bunch of shows around this time, it being Jazz Fest time as well. I saw some great music of those two weeks, and even remember catching a glimpse of Fish a couple rows ahead of us at the Elvin Jones/McCoy Tyner show. Phish hasn't been back to Montreal since. A terrible shame that I can only hope will be remedied sometime soon.
Theatre St. Denis is not a big place. I'd say there were at most 1200 people there, and it was basically full. To give you an idea of how intimate the show was: tons of people had taken off their shoes, myself included, and put them in a pile behind the speakers on Page's side. The band took advantage of this to do a few a cappella numbers without mics in both the first set and in the encore. And indeed, this show is as full of typical `94 playfulness as any other. Listen for the banter before the killer "Bowie"� (w/ Munsters theme!) about doing "a song about a really good friend of ours "... someone we consider a brother"� or something like that.
But I also consider Set II to be one of the great overlooked "Tweezer"�fests of `94. And unlike some of its aimless counterparts, this "Tweezer"�, and the feats that follow, are all well constructed and focused fun. Trey leads a full-on "2001"� jam in the "Tweezer"�.
Yeah, by the time the soaring "Hood"� hit (the "Hood"�s were goood in `94) I was pretty much hooked. If I hadn't been a clueless thirteen-year-old, I may have had the sense and means to get myself down to Great Woods to catch a Gamehendge two days later "....

How did I not mention the Reba when I wrote that review years ago? This might be my favourite Reba ever.

This is a great, great show with many highlights. A top 5 Reba of all time, the best Tweezer of Summer 1994, a solid David Bowie, and a tremendous Hood. If you like Reba or Hood, definitely check these versions out. If you like goofiness and seguefests, check out the second set, where songs like CDT and sample in a jar get a BBFCFM twist. The 4 song encore is icing on the cake. This is one of the best shows of Summer 1994. The AUD from the spreadsheet sounds great, as well.

A ripping Llama to start, this 1st set crushes particularly for my favorite Reba ever. These shows in Canada from Summer 94 are in my rotation of go to Phish shows. The Reba jam goes into some dark territory leaving the Eb-F progression for what sounds like a jam in Cm (eb's relative minor). It definitely sounds to me alot like something you could hear in an extended 2001 or Gin from 97-98. It comes back to the main theme after some time and peaks wonderfully. The Tweezer is one of the better ones from 94 and the whackiness of CDT->BBFCM->Sample->BBFCM is vintage early 90's bizarre Phish.

Find this show and the previous nights from the Congress if you don't have them already.

best tweez of 94 summer? u need to listen to 5/7/94

This is a really good show. This is also a really odd show. Who ever heard of a Chalkdust -> BBFCFM -> Sample -> BBFCFM segment smack dab in the middle of set II? What about a Julius in slot three? Setlist wise this show just doesn't seem to make all the much sense to me, but it totally works. Every song that is jammed gets a really nice work out. Everybody should be familiar with this wonderful type II Reba, great Tweezer, and peaking Hood. Also, Bowie! The Landlady even gets a nice unique jam. Trey holds a single note for a long time and Fish takes over bringing lots of energy to the jam. This is Grade A Pasteurized Phish!

Get it, get it, get it!