Photos by Tim Dwenger
The Scene: A sold-out crowd poured into The Fillmore last Friday night to catch a glimpse of jam royalty as Phish guitarist and king of the jamband scene, Trey Anastasio, brought his seven piece band to town. 2015 has been a busy year for Trey; whether it was helping to deliver Phish’s best summer tour of the last two decades or filling in for Jerry Garcia with The Grateful Dead for their 50th anniversary shows, the jam icon has had perhaps his most prolific year of his distinguished career. No matter how busy the guitarist finds himself, he always seems to find time to hit the road with his self-titled project, Trey Anastasio Band. TAB has been a fixture on the scene since the late 90’s and gives Anastasio a chance to explore territory that, for the most part, wouldn’t fit with Phish. Judging by the excitement and energy of those waiting in line, it was obvious that we were in for a something special.
Trey Anastasio Band: The first set kicked things off with a flurry of TAB classics. Starting with “Drifting,” a silky smooth track from Trey’s 2002 self-titled album, it was obvious that the seven piece band was locked and loaded after several weeks on the road. “First Tube” ramped up the energy and the horn arrangements brought some extra flavor to this Phish fan favorite. “First Tube” along with songs like “Sand,” “Gotta Jibboo,” and “Heavy Things” were debuted and heavily shaped with TAB back in the late 90’s and you can really hear bassist Tony Markellis’s fingerprints on those tunes. Markellis, along with drummer Russ Lawton, have been with the band since its inception and the tightness those two have is at the core of what drives TAB. After another TAB favorite, the funky “Cayman Review,” and the well placed Bob Marley cover “Soul Rebel” came “In Rounds,” a dirty little number with an insanely catchy chorus that had even TAB first timers singing along with the band.
Keeping with the high energy theme, “Acting The Devil” showcased the horn section’s ability to swing and brought an almost Ska vibe to the sold-out room. Even though it’s barely three minutes long, “Acting” was near the top of the list of songs I wanted to hear that night and was a treat. From there things opened up a bit with “Money, Love, and Change.” This was the first real heavy jam of the night and showcased how the band functions. Trey is obviously the engine that makes things go but he does not fall into the trap of just wailing away while the rest of the band plays the chords. Trey facilitates the jams almost the way a point guard for a basketball team runs an offense. While he remains at the center of the action and everything runs through him, he distributes the ball masterfully and seems to know exactly when to call on one of his bandmates to take a solo or start trading licks. It is amazing to watch such a talented musician at the helm of such a large band with such a full sound. It is obvious that Trey loves playing with this band and the youthful exuberance he plays with was emphasized by the ear-to-ear grin plastered on his faced for most of the night. After “Money, Love, and Change” the band broke out some newer tunes from their latest album with the lovely “Flying Machines” and the surprisingly hard hitting “Sometime After Sunset” before closing out the set with “Last Tube,” another horn driven monster from TAB’s first album.
The second set kicked off with the title track from the new album Paper Wheels then really picked up with the TAB classic “Alive Again.” “Alive Again” is a quintessential TAB song with its driving horn melody and its Afrobeat rhythms. Songs like this are a prime example of how fun this band can be and are a big reason why I know a lot of people that don’t really enjoy Phish love TAB. These songs feature great horn melodies that allow trumpeter and singer Jen Hartswick, trombonist Natalie “Chainsaw” Cressman, and new comer James Casey to shine. After the adorably cheesy “The Song” things took a dark turn as “Plasma” brought things to a slimier, more evil place before bringing things back to the light with “Liquid Time.” “Liquid Time” is probably my favorite song off of Paper Wheels and has an almost Dire Straits vibe to it.
“Frost,” a beautiful ballad from the 2012 album Traveler served as a nice cool down and gave the crowd a chance to catch its collective breath before the band brought the house down at the end of the night. The aforementioned “Gotta Jibbo” had the entire place throwing down and grooving. One of my favorite things about seeing TAB is hearing the horns on songs like “Jiboo.” Over the years Trey has written some bad ass arrangements for these songs and always seems to have something fresh for his fans. The horns really bring another level of flavor to these tunes that people like myself have heard oh so many times. While the jams might not get as out there and explorative as they do with Phish, Trey is in constant control and the way he played off the horns and keyboardist Ray Paczkowski really brought this “Jibboo” to a fever pitch before returning back to the song’s familiar melody. While this easily could have marked the end of the evening, the septet was nowhere near finished. “Goodbye Head” kept things going before the disco classic “MacArthur Park” set the room on fire. Trey has always been great at finding new and fun covers to throw in the mix and “MacArthur Park” is an ideal song for TAB to tackle. Aside from its rollocking disco groove and iconic melody, the song is the perfect platform for Jen Hartswick to show why she is one of the premier female vocalists around. Hartswick made the most of this opportunity and as the disco ball above the stage sprayed light around the room it was impossible not to dance and smile at the spectacle happening on stage.
At this point in the evening I was sure they were done but to my delight the thumping baseline of “Sand” proved me wrong. “Sand” is one of my favorite Phish tunes and has been a TAB staple for as long as I can remember. With Phish the song is a bit of a chameleon ranging from a Funk monster to Rock opus, and sometimes heading into very dark territory. While it may not quite get to those heights with TAB, it is still one of the best songs in their repertoire and was the perfect way to close out what had turned into a pretty epic set. Another Phish tune, “Ocelot” started the encore as Trey joked that he never has any clue what they are going to play in those moments and told saxophonist James Casey that it didn’t matter that he had never played to tune. They were going to play it anyway, joked Trey. Once again the horns seemed to steal the show and I can’t express how much they added to a song that can often be flat when performed with a four piece like Phish. Closing out the night with a big cover is a hallmark of most TAB shows and this night was no different. Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused” filled that roll and while it’s not my favorite Zeppelin tune, it gave Hartswick one more time to shine and gave us all one last heavy dose of Rock and Roll before the night came to an end.
Its very easy to gush about your favorite musician and happily lap-up whatever he puts out but this show was a prime example of how, when it comes to Trey Anastasio Band, unjustified fluffing is never needed. The band seems to get better as they go along and it’s crazy to think they have been around, in one form or another, doing their thing since the late 90s. While I may be a sucker for “cheesy Trey pop” as my friends and I like to call it, even those songs were undeniably catchy and when mixed with all the heavy hitters in their catalog one this is certainly true, TAB is not a band you want to miss when they roll through town.
Energy: A
Musicianship: A
Sound: B+
Stage Presence: A-
Set/Light Show: B+
Overall: A-
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