Trey Anastasio Sits In With Furthur At Lockn’

The inaugural Lockn’ Festival (Day One coverage, Day Two coverage) made no qualms about its target audience -jam fans. With a lineup reminiscent of the first Bonnaroo, the Arrington, VA festival brought together many of the jam community’s top-drawing acts and two offshoots of the scene’s biggest bands –Furthur (Grateful Dead) and Trey Anastasio (Phish). Tonight those two acts finally collaborated when Trey sat in with Furthur at Lockn’, marking his first appearance with the post-Jerry band, which features Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and bassist Phil Lesh.

Anastasio was on hand for a set from his solo band, who were a replacement for Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Young and his band had to cancel their appearance at Lockn’ due to guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro’s hand injury. Furthur kicked off tonight’s set by performing all of the Grateful Dead’s landmark 1970 album Workingman’s Dead. Trey emerged for the last song off that album, “Casey Jones.” The guitarist stuck around for and sang lead on a rollicking “Bertha,” which gave way to “Truckin’.”  “Truckin'” found Trey trading intense licks with both Lesh and guitarist John Kadlecik as the jam developed. Once the ensemble moved beyond “Truckin’s” structure, Kadlecik led them through an impressive transition into “The Other One.” Keyboardist Jeff Chimenti shined during the “Other One,” thanks to his funky synth work on the psychedelic workout. The long Trey/Furthur summit continued with “Viola Lee Blues,” the first song the guitarist performed with Lesh as a member of the Phil and Phriends band at The Warfield in April of ’99. Anastasio showed off his ability to play well with others in the short-but-sweet “Viola” and by the time a scorching “Scarlet Begonias” > “Fire In The Mountain” started was sporting a massive grin from ear to ear. All in all Trey Anastasio sat in on seven songs for his Furthur debut before “Fire” brought the evening to a close.

Trey last performed with Weir exactly one year ago tonight during a HeadCount benefit at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY on September 7, 2012. It’s been much longer since the Phish front man jammed with Lesh in Glens Falls, NY on October 20, 2007. A Furthur/Trey connection is also found in the drummer seat as Joe Russo was in the short-lived GRAB (Gordon, Russo, Anastasio and Benevento) with Anastasio in 2006.

We’ll have a full report on the entire day’s activities coming soon.

 Here’s the setlist from the Trey Anastasio Band set from this afternoon:

Set 1: Cayman Review, Ocelot, Valentine, Dark and Down, Pigtail, Gotta Jibboo, Frost, Magilla, Sand, Wherever You Find It, Clint Eastwood, First Tube, Simple Twist Up Dave, Architect, Push On ‘Til the Day

Encore: Black Dog

[via Phish.net]

Check out the setlist from tonight’s Furthur set:

Set: Uncle John’s Band, High Time, Dire Wolf, New Speedway Boogie, Cumberland Blues, Black Peter, Easy Wind, Casey Jones*, Bertha*, Truckin’* > The Other One*,  Viola Lee Blues*, Scarlet Begonias* > Fire On The Mountain*

Uncle John’s > Casey Jones = Complete performance of Workingman’s Dead
 * -w/ Trey Anastasio

Watch fan-shot footage of “Casey Jones”:

Stream Z-Man’s recording of Trey Anastasio sitting in on “Truckin'” > “The Other One,” “Viola Lee Blues” and “Scarlet” > “Fire” from last night: