Tag: trey

Trey Anastasio Band closes out Winter Tour at The Palace, January 26, 2013
Trey Anastasio loves Albany – for evidence, take a look at his opening words to the sold out house at The Palace Theater in Albany on a frigid January 26, 2013. “Thank you guys, this is the … I just want to say how much it means to me whenever I come here … I have so many friends here tonight from this part of the country … Thank you so much. This is also the last show our tour, so lets celebrate … Thank you for sharing it with us.”

And with that, Trey led his band into the song that the original trio of Trey, drummer Russ Lawton and Saratoga Springs resident Tony Markellis wrote back in 1998, “First Tube”. A Grammy nominated rock instrumental that usually closes down these TAB shows, “First Tube” got the crowd moving early on. “Cayman Review” followed, now a classic first set staple for many years now that features Ray Paczkowski on clavinet to drive the funk into the song. With the crowd settling in, they were treated to “Alaska”, one of the handful of crossover songs that Phish and Trey Band both play.

Rather than drop this tune in the middle of set two, per usual on Phish tour, Trey brought it out early and let the song shine in its proper venue – with TAB and with horns. The placement wasn’t just great – the version of the song was impressive as well, with some extra licks from Trey while Jennifer Hartswick, Natalie Cressman and James Casey (Lettuce) continued to pepper the tune with just the right dose of horn. “Tube Top Flop” (ne, Wobble), surprisingly showed up net, as this is one of the earliest songs from TAB, debuting in 2001 on his first big band tour. Although it fell out of rotation, its appearance tonight elicited great cheers from the older TAB fans who followed the bob and rhythm of the horn-driven piece.

“Pigtail”, possibly the most poppy Trey song to date, and written by longtime writing partner and friend Tom Marshall, has become a staple of Trey shows in the past two years, its flirty lyrics and confusion-inducing refrain, “I’m conscious again, unconscious again, I’m conscious again, unconscious again”, is the kind of tune that sticks in your head, pleasantly, and accented by Trey’s guitar bursts at the end of each refrain. What was once a 20-minute song in 2001, “Last Tube” is now half that but compressed into an equally stellar song. This high energy, spastic tune with a dash of Caribbean Island music gets the band firing on all cylinders at once, blowing up the song before crashing it down with a big band finish that peters out. “Last Tube”, welcome back to TAB! The Bob Marley classic “Small Axe” followed, as did two new songs, “Dark and Down” and “Scabbard”, off the new album Traveler.

“Dark and Down” was more somber than anything else up until this point of the show, while “Scabbard”, a Zappa-esque single, captures the best of Trey’s songwriting skills and multi-instrumentalism of this band. “Greyhound Rising” provided the other piece of somber bread for this relatively new music sandwich. “Shine”, Trey’s breakout single from 2005 has proven to grow as a crowd favorite and continues to take shape in the regular rotation. Set closer “Money, Love and Change” was another oldie and goodie that can still find the nasty notes to cap off a set.

During setbreak, it was easy to observe that the crowd for a Trey Anastasio Band show is different that a Phish crowd. At SPAC in the summer, the crowd is typically 80/20 guys/gals, but at TAB it is closer 60/40, plus some older fans who come out in larger numbers to the Palace. The band attracts more couples to shows, either as a segue to seeing Phish, or replacement value for Phish shows not seen/enjoyed as a couple. The ornate building’s interior continually looks sparkling and new (The Palace is nearly twice as big as the past week’s show at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse) and the broad interior walls gave the light show room to make an incredible visual spectacle throughout the show as the lights danced all over.

Set two began with the Afrobeaty “Curlews Call”, building the band’s sound up, particularly with the percussion supplied by returning TAB member Cyro Baptista, whose inventive percussion instruments (gong and flippers, anyone?) make him not just a band member to watch, but one to listen for on show recordings. “Gotta Jibboo” is never a disappointment and having horns once again adds an extra layer to the upbeat tune. A standard “Alive Again” came next, then a trio of songs from Traveler: “Land of Nod” is incredibly horn driven, especially Natalie Cressman’s trombone, while “Valentine” was played much like the album version, although that’s hardly a bad thing. The reworking of “Valentine” for Traveler includes more vocals from Cressman and Hartswick, and although when performed live, the song could have been stretched out a bit by Big Red, the true highlight in this song is the visual interpretation that one can gather from the lyrics:

“Jagged beams of light, explode and dance in the darkness around me. And I can reach out and touch the beams and the light turns sold and wraps around my wrist. One makes a loop, a thousand more follow, a thousand more follow till my arms are surrounded by a conical web of light. My arms in the eyes of a web of light, a tornado of light beams and I feel the pull and start to rise, and every beam is there to guide.”

In a recent interview with NPR, Trey mentioned how this song reflected his time getting sober period while living in Saratoga Springs, a Valentine letter to God. Listen around the 7:40 mark of the interview to hear Trey talk about the genesis of the song.

Speaking of great lyrics, “Architect”, while a bit mellower, still carried the themes from “Valentine” that are marks of Trey’s life from 2006-2008. Fan favorite, “Sand”, recently destroyed by Phish the past few years at 18 minute clips, is a staple from the original trio. But with horns, again, it’s just sublime. Although Phish fans are getting spoiled with these extended versions on Phish tour, the reserved Sand on TAB tour not only suffices, it gives a new spin to a classic. The strong anthem of “Tuesday” stepped in, where the vocals of Hartswick and Cressman continued to dominate, but not overpower the song. Then there’s “Clint Eastwood”, the Gorillaz original that debuted as a cover last year at The Palace. Jennifer Hartswick’s powerful vocals are not to be missed – you’ll still be amazed that she did the lyrics for the album version in just one take.

With the show winding down, “Traveler” appeared, and while it started out slow, grew into one of the more impressive tunes of the night, generating swaying motions from the crowd amid the lyrics “Maybe if you stand still, you are traveling too, making it easy for someone to choose you”. Trey took a moment to introduce the band as the song’s chorus was repeated, then delved into “Push on Til the Day”, one of the most popular and well known TAB tunes, where it is always fun to watch Trey spin around with his guitar leading up to the triumphant big band ending. An encore of The Five Steps’ “O-o-h Child” was very apropos for the evening for this reviewer and capped off a whirlwind tour for Trey Anastasio Band.

Even though he didn’t play some tunes that have been staples of his shows – “Drifting”, “Sultans of Swing”, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, “At the Gazebo”, “The Way I Feel”, or “Burlap Sack and Pumps”, – it became clearer during this short tour that Trey’s catalog for TAB has grown so much that you can start to expect the unexpected and never get the same show twice. Trey has grown as a band leader with TAB and expanded his catalog with both bands. It is impressive enough to see him with Phish, but with TAB, it’s a completely different experience, and one that is continually changing and improving.

Out into the cold night we went…

Setlist

Set 1: First Tube, Cayman Review, Alaska, Tube Top Flop, Pigtail, Last Tube, Small Axe, Dark And Down, Scabbard, Greyhound Rising, Shine, Money Love And Change
Set 2: Curlew’s Call, Gotta Jibboo, Alive Again, Land Of Nod, Valentine, Architect, Sand, Tuesday, Clint Eastwood, Traveler, Push On Til The Day
Encore: Ooh Child

Download bvaz’s recording of the show

Download andyjah’s recording of the show
February 1, 2013
Phish at Madison Square Garden, December 31, 2012

Of the 220 different songs Phish played in 2012, #218 was Ricky Nelson’s “Garden Party”, played on New Years Eve at the World’s Most Famous Arena, perhaps had the most defining chorus to all their phans. The bands opening tune on December 31, 2012 included these first lyrics:

“I went to a garden party, reminisced with my old friends
A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
When I got to the garden party they all knew my name
But no one recognized me I didn’t look the same.”

Barring a flux capacitor, no one could have predicted the complete change of direction 3.0 phish took in 2012, let alone from last year’s “Steam” stunt to this year’s golf-themed funked-out classic New Years Eve throwdown into 2013. That juxtaposition from last year’s New Year’s Eve low energy affair that garnered much criticism from the band’s outspoken fanbase to this entire 2012’s stellar record of epic shows appeared to be the impetus behind the band choosing “Garden Party” as their opening number at MSG. Upon entering MSG, phans (some of whom paid as much as $1500+ for a scalped ticket) were greeted with lush green astroturf/grass on the stage and GA floor and perhaps the first time in the band’s 30 year history, people enjoyed lawn seats at an indoor venue. Complete with sunbathers, croquet, badminton and picnickers, the stage was literally set for a Garden Party. Little did we know however, that an obscure phish-geek-stat-guy- type of song would prove to be the tee box for a golf-themed third set party that ensued in the wee-hours of 2013.

Artist James Flames created this poster for the three-night run

Once lyrics were clearly delivered by bassist Mike Gordon, it became obvious why the band chose to start their 3-set throwdown at the Garden with such an poignant, anticlimactic song. However, no one in attendance could have predicted the actual Garden Party that ensued hours later. Phish has always walked the line of music-geekery and headier-than-thou status among jam fans with their setlists. Perpetuating that pervasive purgatory, Phish delivered a masterful setlist for all, satisfying both the jam-centric lovers of “Ghost”, “Piper”, “Sand” and also for phans who love Phish for well-documented New Years’ antics.

Following “Garden Party”, the band moved into one of their 1.0 staples, “Possum”, which appeared to be specifically chosen for that slot after Garden Party, in response to perhaps, previous phans criticism of the band overplaying the old fave too many times during Summer Tour. Can you imagine? The disgust and outrage! However, this 10+ min Possum was delivered flawlessly and was a great energetic springboard for easily, the band’s most energetic set of the three on New Years Eve. From “Possum”, they went feverishly through Ween’s “Roses are Free”, “Rift” and a thoughtful “Sample in a Jar” that prompted many noteworthy compliments around my section 102 at the Garden. From there, they played “Alaska” and a great “Mike’s Song”, but rather segue into the traditional “Hydrogen>Weekapaug Groove”, the band dropped a rousing “Walk Away” cover before going into a frenetic, high-paced “Weekapaug” (Perhaps the best MSG version since 1995) that saw Trey Anastasio jumping, spinning his red locks and keeping his vertical head bobbing with his signature “Trey Face” that just continued to whip the Garden crowd into a frenzy. Finally the band wrapped up the 70 min set with an upbeat “Character Zero” that just wet the pallets of everyone in attendance for a dark, funky second set filled with historic jam vehicles from the Vermont quartet.

The second set began swiftly with crowd favorite “Birds of a Feather”. A rather rudimentary rendition, the band simply spring-boarded that energy into the start of “Ghost”, which would be the last time the band would stop between songs during the second set. During the next 65 minutes, Phish simply segued between songs playing puppet-master of crescendos with “Ghost>Piper>Light>2001>The Horse->Silent in the Morning>You Enjoy Myself.” The highlights of the set, hands down, were the quickly revved up Piper with early dashes of the epic Vegas 2003 version, and a 2001 that while short (like nearly all 3.0 ‘Sprach’s) had brief, deep concentrations of syncopation. Phish then appropriately slowed it down with a dash of perfectly placed Horse/Silent and gently placed the cherry atop the set with the always anticipated “YEM”, so much so during these 4-night runs that it’s previously prompting the lot acronym “YEMSG.” While typically not always a fan of the concluding YEM ‘Vocal Jam’, this year’s version was eerie and possibly intentionally weird, only foreshadowing the “Bizarro-Golf-Garden Party” that was about to ensue after the 30 min setbreak. During setbreak, the music notably included some gag hints, including Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” with phans energy soaring and crowds singing along.

Around 11:45 pm, Phish returned for their final notes of 2012 and their first of 2013. It was a perfect 15-minute entertaining reprieve from the sweaty Garden crowd dancing their asses of. It was quite entertaining w/ Trey, Page Mike and a caddie-adorned Jon Fishman hitting tee shots into the crowd.Kicking things off w/ a fun “Party Time” before moving a 27-yr old obscure Phish chant “Kung.” Starting dark and creepy w/ odd lyrics including the lines “Can we stand?…Can we stare? We can stage a run away golf cart marathon!” (Unbeknownst initially to even this old 17 year jaded vet) Basing this song as this year’s NYE theme (2010 was “Meatstick” and 2011 was “Steam”) Kung allowed the band to unleash a feverish on-stage Garden Party including midgets, dancers, the band hitting foam golf balls into the crow and an aforementioned “golf cart marathon” rapidly moving across the stage and through the backstage MSG tunnels at a frenetic pace. Following the entire dimpled display, the foursome continued into classic upbeat “Chalkdust Torture” where the band brought us into 2013 with everyone in the garden hugging it out over “Auld Lang Syne.” Following Auld Lang Syne, Phish capped off the 28th’s “Tweezer” with “Tweezer Reprise”, a great selection to commemorate 2012m considering NBC famously used ‘TweePrise’ as its audio accompaniment for its much heralded Gold-Medal video montage of Michael Phelps. I encourage readers to check out Youtube videos of this gag which includes a powerful “Tweezer Reprise”, complete with female backup vocals, featuring Syracuse’s own Carrie Manolakos.

Following the ‘Reprise’ is just one more reason to either love Phish for their quirkiness or hate them for breeding setlist thirsty stat geeks. Follow me here: along with the golf-themed “Garden Party” third set, the band also made a point to play golf-themed songs from their catalog and bust-out covers with “Sand”, “The Wedge” a masterfully played debut cover of Steve Miller’s “Fly Like An Eagle”, a rocking “Wilson” (with a Wilson-logo golf ball appearing on the MSG jumbotron) and a doo-wop version of “Lawn Boy”, before closing out the occasion with the encore of “Driver” (first attempt botched by band has led to online speculation they initially flubbed “Driver” as to try again ala ‘using their mulligan’) and a classic rock-n-roll bustout cover (and first time played the extended rock ballad version) of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” (Many phans also debated whether the song “Par Tee-Time” aka Party Time was also intentional by the band). When the lights came around 1 am in 2013, the Phish crew had even orchestrated Kenny Loggins’ “I’m Alright” (from Caddyshack) as the departing chorus. Oblivious to many saggy-eyed faithful, it was just one more observation on how this band is still putting the inside-joke on us.

While the night before was musically my personal favorite show of the four-night run, with 12/28 and 12/29 paling in comparison to the run’s latter shows. But Phish knows it not about how you start, but how you finish. That was evident with the entire 12/31 show including this monster version of “Iron Man” which proved to be historic. In return, the entire sweaty Garden crowd appeared thankful Phish chose such a powerful, energetic, classic song to close out what has been heralded by phans and myself as thee best year in Phish 3.0. The 220^th different song of the year, “Iron Man” that Phish played, in some way, symbolized a band that had just wrapped up their 27^th show at Madison Square Garden and triumphantly began their 30^th year as one of most successful touring acts today: definitely an ‘Iron Man’ feat this day and age.

January 10, 2013
Phish at Madison Square Garden, December 29, 2012

The opening night of Phish’s New Year’s run left little to be desired. The band came out and eased through a first set, before dropping the defining ‘Wolfman’s Brother’ of the so-called 3.0 era. The second set, well you’ve heard about the second set. There is little to say about it other than it was one of the best sets of Phish I’ve seen in a long time. Understandably, the proverbial bar was set incredibly high for the second of the four shows. With mid-town Manhattan lit up with cheer, lights and lagers, it was an easy stroll into Madison Square Garden, a place that has become a second home of sorts to Phish. The crowd ready, aside from the stragglers staggering in, the quartet opened with a standard ‘Crowd Control’, an uninspired ‘Mound’ and a standard ‘AC/DC Bag’. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but it felt like Phish was getting the opening jitters out. Then came ‘Rock and Roll’, a Velvet Underground tune that Phish has slayed countless times in the band’s career. After the standard part of the song, guitarist Trey Anastasio jumps into the lead, laying down relentless licks over a true rock and roll backing. The ending “It was alright” chants were inspired, and it seemed as if Phish was starting to take this show to a new level.

Then, BOOM. Sorry for the personal touch, but I love ‘Sugar Shack’. It seemed like it was slightly re-worked, with Anastasio playing a slightly more rhythmic riff under bassist Mike Gordon’s boppy bass line. Anytime Phish plays ‘Sugar Shack’, I go nuts, therefore I suggest you listen to the song instead of me. It’s one of the best songs Gordon has penned. ‘Reba’, a short ‘Halley’s Comet’, ‘Limb by Limb’ and a somewhat extended ‘Wading in the Velvet Sea’ add a softer touch to set. An inspired ‘Bathtub Gin’, with a slow ascension complete with a ‘Suzie Q’ segment, followed by some exploration with Anastasio again taking charge with ferocious licks, closed out a well-played set.

‘Golden Age’, a song that debuted in 2009 (A TV On the Radio cover), opened the second set. I am still not sold on this tune, aside from the Superball version (which I believe is a Top-10 3.0 jam) because it just doesn’t do it for me. The jam that came out of it had the fans around me raging, dancing and high-fiving, and was engaging, but I was still high from the ending of Wolfman’s, so maybe I wasn’t listening closely enough.

‘Waves’ then bled into ‘Prince Caspian’ before the pace picked up with a tight, fast ‘Boogie On Reggae Woman’. Gordon tears the ending into a meatball-bass free-for-all. ‘Suzy Greenberg’, ‘Bug’ and ‘Cavern’ fill the next few slots before the arena-rocker ’46 Days’ makes an appearance. Again, Anastasio takes the lead and builds up several tension and release riffs. It’s becoming apparent that while Phish isn’t taking many risks on this night, Anastasio has decided he’s going to put that Languedoc to the test by bending and building notes until the place explodes. ‘The Squirming Coil’ started a three-song encore, followed by ‘Grind’ and a rollicking ‘First Tube’.

This show was pure fun. Tightly played music with some exploration and certainly some guitar lessons from Anastasio. It definitely was different from the first night, but no doubt this show deserves a listen or two or ten. In fact, the energy comes through in the LivePhish recording. Go on a long run and you won’t stop until this show ends. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPT5SkEXhRU?&w=560&h=315]

January 8, 2013