TREY ANASTASIO 10/20/06 Cincinnati, OH

I've been a huge Phish fan since 1991. This review of a Trey Anastaio performance was written during the band's second hiatus, at a time when no one knew if Phish would ever play together again. Of course they did reunite in 2009 and have been working together steadily ever since. Indisputably the most obsessively documented live band in history (recordings circulate from almost every show they have played since the late '80s), even the individual band member's solo outings are recorded by fans in attendance. Nowadays of course the band streams every show online, making webcasts, streaming audio, YouTube clips and downloads available for every Phish show and most if not all of their side projects as well. That said, no recordings of this performance from 2006 have ever surfaced. It is the Holy Grail of my days following the band. It is also the best solo Trey show I have ever witnessed. He dispensed with 99% of the happy hippy bullshit on this night. Opting instead to delve fearlessly into the darkness, stirring jams that were ugly and scary. I loved it but there definitely was a feeling on the night of the show that some people were put off by it, even asking if something might be "wrong" with Trey. In my search for a recording over the years I have spoken to more than person who believes the taper community has buried recordings from this era to protect Trey from being judged too harshly at what they consider a low point for him musically and personally. It's well-documented that he was living on the edge at the time, his drug and alcohol intake a cause for concern for those around him and, some say, possibly even threatening the stability of his marriage. I don't know about all that. I just know he created some dark, nasty jams that night. Something he rarely does for any extended period of time. I was happy as a pig in shit. Maybe someday a recording will surface. ~rh * THE TREY ANASTASIO BAND

Friday October 20, 2006 Cincinnati, OH

Cintas Center at Xavier University

Opening Friday night’s show with “Push On ‘Til The Day”, Trey Anastasio and his band immediately set the standard for the evening with an extended roller coaster jam. Putting a new gypsy spin on “First Tube”, they stirred up dirty funk and took the tune to new heights. “First Tube” fell into disrepair in Phish’s hands, turning into a tired, same-y instrumental in their later years. But tonight it soared to heights that quartet never imagined. And this was just the second tune. I was pretty impressed.

But here we go... Trey always insists on playing at least one or two ballads, and they’re generally sleepy fare. The less said about them the better, and, mercifully, he only makes us suffer through one tonight (“Drifting”).

“Night Speaks To A Woman” puts Anastasio back where he belongs: in the middle of an erratic funky charge, wailing on his guitar. The song stretches beyond several minutes and goes through numerous transitions under a fantastic light show. (That’s prob’ly long-time Phish light man Chris Kuroda behind the board. Seriously, I guess I recognize his work. It’s good.) “Night Speaks” is the evening’s first epic jam and it’s a righteous one. The high point comes when Trey and bass player Tony Hall lock into a funky, face-to-face guitar and bass breakdown. The enthusiastic crowd spontaneously claps out the rhythm, inserting themselves into the jam. By the end of the extended funky duet the crowd was clapping on the first three beats and all shouting “WOO!” on the fourth. It was a totally unplanned, unscripted moment that elicited broad smiles from everyone onstage.

“Shine” is the title cut from Trey’s last CD, a transparent, inexcusable, over-produced piece of crap. (I’m sorry. I only say that ‘cuz I truly LOVE the guy.) To these ears, it’s a generic pop song with a sophomoric chorus and a meandering medium tempo guitar solo at the end. But it brings the college kids to their feet, almost distracting them from their cell phones for a full minute.

Maybe it’s knowing what Trey’s capable of is what makes this shit totally unbearable to me. An artist has an obligation to grow. And Trey’s stuff has evolved over the years, but I fail to hear where it’s grown. GRANTED - there ARE exceptions. He reflexively expounds in several lengthy jams every night, so we know he’s still got it in him. If he wants to throw in a few ballads, he’s earned the right. But it’s boring, vapid stuff and even the most dedicated noodle dancers soon tire of it.

Trey seems to know what we came for and he closes out the first set with a rollicking, fuck-it-all ROMP through “Mud City” (which sounds to this writer like an ode to Bonnaroo). “Mud City”is full-bore, half-drunk, slop-rock like few other tunes in Trey’s catalog, and tonight he pushes its insane jamming beyond the brink.

Before showtime, I saw a number of Norwood cops busting kids left and right in the Cintas Center parking lot. Though I wonder how many open container and public drinking tickets would have been dispensed if this event were held in brought daylight and the kids were all wearing Bengals t-shirts. To be fair - and knowing the crowd Trey draws - some of the citations were probably written for minor drug violations. But during setbreak, when everyone was set loose into the parking lot without venue security bothering to stamp hands beforehand or check tickets upon our return, it was a free for all. After hoisting my cell phone flask in the parking lot, I asked the kids standing ‘round the car next to mine, “Does anybody want a shot of Beam?” Phishy flashbacks ensued and new friends were made, as the flask and several joints were passed around. It is the kind of impromptu camaraderie one can always expect to stumble on in the parking lot outside a Trey show. Careful eyes scanned the parking lot for cops, but, perhaps having had enough fun for the night, there were none to be found.

Back inside for the 2nd set.

Dusting off another latter-day Phish tune, Trey opens the second half of the show with “Heavy Things”. Another relatively uninteresting pop ditty, it nonetheless evokes a roar of recognition from a crowd still stumbling back into the venue to find their seats. A seamless segue into “Mr. Completely” ushers in the clear highlight of the evening. Always a platform for extended jamming, tonight Trey draws out the jam for well over 30 minutes. To some readers that may seem ridiculously long, but this epic performance was incredibly gratifying to witness. Leading his band through a series of spontaneous solos, Trey repeatedly turned to face bassist Tony Hall and the 2 of them would lock into a funky groove, providing solid support for a free-form jam that at times listed about like a ship on dangerously rough seas. Trey pushed the jam and his bandmates through half an hour of innumerable rhythmic variations and unexpected turns. At one point the jam disintegrated into a pounding drone that made the Velvet Underground sound like a pretty little wind-up jewelry box. This segment alone lasted several minutes, and as laughter bubbled up from his chest Trey yelled into the mike “Why don’t they play music like this on the radio?!” The jam then dissolved into total dissonance as Trey took off his guitar, waved it around over his head, pounded it on the stage, scraped it against his mic-stand, plopped it down on his stage monitor and back-handed it while strobe lights flashed and the rest of the band joined in the antics. My sides hurting with laughter, I had to ask myself, “What the fuck is he DOING?” Slinging his ax back over his shoulder, Trey’s persistent guitar wizardry continually pushed the song to greater and greater heights. It was a hilariously rewarding and funkin’ amazing thing to behold, and - as a musician myself, and a hyper-critical fan of Phish - one of the moments I live for.

The rest of the second set continued with sparkling, irreverent versions of “Goodbye Head” and “Tuesday”. The latter featuring one of the most challenging instrumental segments that Anastasio’s penned in years, the kinda stuff that put him on the map back in the day with Phish.

Special mention must be made of Trey’s current band. Drummer Jeff Sipe is an old friend of Trey’s who used to play with Colonel Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit. Keyboardist Ray Paczkowski has been with Trey for a few years now, and his organ and clavinet work are stellar. Bass player Tony Hall mugged it up for the people in the first few rows and his rabid playing kept even the longest jams from ever falling into repetition or the slightest redundancy. In addition to the core group, Trey’s band also features vocalists Jennifer Hartswick and Christina Durfee. Hartswick, who has also been with Trey off and on for several years, adds spirited harmony vocals to almost every tune and her invaluable trumpet contributions supply an edgy sheen to the band’s sound. By night’s end even Durfee got in on the jamming, conjuring a swirling cloud of noise out of a tiny keyboard during the marathon show closer “Come As Melody”. It is the exemplary playing of this ensemble that boosts Trey high into the stratosphere, at times even into territory uncharted by his more famous “old” band.

Late in the 2nd set, Trey finally nails it. Ironically, the Muse is captured during “Ether Sunday”, a lazy, lilting melody that is equal parts Steely Dan and Bob Marley, and not an extended jam at all. The crowd grants their hero a few minutes of hushed silence as the tune grooves along barely above a whisper. Hartswick takes a trumpet solo that is sparse but emotional, economically doling out bare, bittersweet notes until unexpectedly building to an exhilarating climax. The song’s final chorus was almost buried under the crowd’s rousing response to what would be the last of the evening’s excellent trumpet solos from Hartswick.

The evening ends on a high note, when Trey and the band return to the stage to open one last can of whoop ass, encoring with “Dragonfly”.

With Phish, it could be theorized, Trey Anastasio found himself in the unlikely position of wishing for less success. That band’s following, infamy, and reputation grew to such huge proportions that it began to negatively affect the quality of their performances. At the peak of their success, if not necessarily the top of their game, they disbanded and walked away from it all (twice). On a night like this, playing in a half-full college basketball arena to an audience containing a large number of inattentive, self-absorbed college kids who seemed more interested in taking pictures of themselves in the front rows than they were in his performance, one wonders if Trey ever has second thoughts.

The recording studio was never the setting for his best work, and album sales rarely registered a blip on the marketplace. Without the marquee appeal of “Phish” to sell tickets, Trey Anastasio chooses to carve out a new trail into the unknown. And as a result must be coming to terms with his fate of playing in smaller venues to smaller crowds. I myself hadn’t seen Trey in a venue this small for many years. And from my standpoint that alone made it worth the price of admission to see a true guitar master at work, up close and personal. When he lets go and wails, it’s apparent that there are few guitarists as good as he. A lost art most would agree, expansive improvisational guitar playing is his forte and no one comes anywhere near him in this field. There’s some neo-prog bands out there with some incredible guitarists, for sure. Great pickers of every stripe permeate the jam band scene. But even with his shortcomings as a songwriter, Trey Anastasio is still challenging himself, pushing himself and his band to at-times-hilarious extremes, and whipping up - night after night - thee most consistently rewarding, continually surprising, and just plain sickest guitar jams around. His crown is secure.

These two short video clips are the only known recordings from the 10/20/06 Trey show:

Here is Trey's mug shot from a DUI less than 2 months after the Cincinnati performance: