I have come to understand that Phish is the best live band out there right now (yes, it's an understanding, not an opinion). It took me a while unfortunately - I'd like to think that if they were still touring when my personal concert agenda was heating up between 2004-2008 that I would have caught on sooner - but nevertheless it's been a fun ride to get up to speed with this group. 3 years and 13 shows later, I know and love the majority of their insanely expansive catologue...but the one thing I've yet to catch up on is the member's solo/side projects.
The most successful of these, for obvious reasons, is Trey's band TAB (Trey Anastasio Band). I don't know much of their music, aside from the songs that make it into Phish setlists - Gotta Jibboo, Backwards Down The Number Line, First Tube, and my favorite, Sand. With that said, I'll be seeing TAB at Terminal 5 on Tuesday 2/22 and I'm really looking forward to it. I've been listening to a few songs but have actually been trying to avoid a lot of the material as it's always a cool and different experience to hear a whole "new" batch of songs out of someone that you follow pretty intensely. Although maybe it's somewhat noobish, the two songs that have struck me from TAB are Keep On Till The Day and Mr. Completely. The upbeat tempo and ripping guitar in both lend a lot of similarities to the energy that is constant and in your face with Phish. So I'll have a few songs under my belt heading into Tuesday, and with the split half acoustic half electric format, I'm sure a number of Phish songs will be played anyway.
So back to TAB. A recent interview was published where Trey talks about the infamous show in Utica, NY in 2002. On October 25th that year, Trey played the Stanley Theater and tore the place apart - literally.
"I remember the Stanley Theater! The long Mr. Completely and everyone was dancing crazy hard and pieces of the balcony started falling on people’s heads! That was an unbelievable night. The manager of the building ran onstage and stopped us. No kidding. People were dancing so hard that the building was falling apart. Unreal. Just a great night, all around." - Trey Anastasio
Right off the bat I understood this event completely (no pun intended). This song is exactly what Phish phans love in terms of energy, peak moments, and soaring guitar playing. I know what it's like to feel building move from the heat of the crowd - the bounce at MSG and the shaky balcony at the Beacon are two prime examples. But for a building to actually start crumbling from such an enthused crowd sounds incredible. I would give anything to have seen this spectacle and share in the experience with the other music fanatics that were in attendance.
I'll leave you with one final review from the show that doesn't need any explanation or comment. And we'll see what Trey can do at T5 on Tuesday.
The show is a solid one all around, with a strong opener in Javier Cinakowski (Have YOU ever seen a cow ski?), the first and only performance of ‘Perhaps‘ and a rare-mid set @ the BBQ. The Mr. Completely though, that’s the big one here. Clocking in around 20 minutes, the jam just gets dirty and the crowd just kept dancing. These old Depression-era theaters were not meant for this level of funk. Personally, I blame Cyro Baptista, but it was a collective effort. To bring the house down.
During Mr. Completely, as I personally witnessed from 5th row Ray-side, the balcony was literally bouncing up and down which was followed by hallucinations of Steve McCroskey-esque (Airplane!) as he sees the airplane in the tower saying “It’s coming right at us!”. We needed no glue to see that the balcony was seriously shaking up and down with each collective jump of the crowd. A quick run to the bathroom and I saw what many others discuss as mere rumor nowadays - the fucking ceiling was seriously falling apart underneath the balcony – especially in the back area way behind the soundboard. One girl was covered in dried plaster and some blood, a few others in just plaster, but yeah, it was real. Pretty scary when you’re three sheets mid-second set.
Trey was then told by Brad Sands to play ONLY acoustic, non-amplified songs for the rest of the night, without striking too much fear into the place. Few knew what happened, but the rest of the show: Ray Dawn, @ the Gazebo, and an hysterical story time before Pebbles and Marbles led to a memorable show for the music as well as the venue.
Trey Anastasio Band - Stanley Theater, Utica, NY - 10/25/02
Set I: Javier Cinakowski, Night Speaks To A Woman, Acting the Devil, The Way I Feel, Mozambique, Perhaps, Last Tube
Set II: Curlew’s Call, Windora Bug, At the Barbeque, Mr. Completely [1] [2],
Ray Dawn Balloon [3], At the Gazebo [4]
Encore: Pebbles and Marbles [5]
1 “sickening”
2 Brad Sands came out to tell Trey something at the conclusion of Mr. Completely
3 At the end of Radon, Trey explains that the venue management was concerned about the stability of the balcony after the amount of shaking that went on during Mr. Completely and that the remainder of the songs would be acoustic
4 With the horns at the front of the stage unmiced
5 Trey solo acoustic; Trey tells two stories prior to Pebbles and Marbles
"On October 25th that year, Trey played the Stanley Theater and tore the place apart - literally.:
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