Happy 50th Birthday Trey Anastasio | Big Red On Fire II

We’d like to wish a very happy birthday to Phish guitarist and vocalist Trey Anastasio, who turns 50 today. Anastasio has had another prolific year in which Phish released Fuego, he recently premiered his “Petrichor” composition for orchestras and is expected to soon unveil a new solo album.

Last year we celebrated Trey’s birthday by compiling five fantastic clips displaying Big Red On Fire and we’ve done the same with five different audio/video clips this time around.

Prince Caspian – 07/31/99: Put aside any notions you have about “Prince Caspian” as a song and where it fits into the Phish live repertoire and enjoy Anastasio’s fretboard fireworks in this top-shelf version of the tune the Vermonters performed at the Fuji Rock Festival in 1999. Trey’s solo starts at the 3:45 mark and he strings together one jaw-dropping run of notes after another. Big Red also makes great use of his rig to give the effect of riffs coming out in every direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHiyKiPxvCU

Simple – 08/29/14: Trey’s rhythm work has always been underrated as he’s best known for his abilities to lead a jam. This summer Anastasio focused more on rhythm during jams than perhaps any other period in the band’s 30+ year history. The result was more “Team Phish” jams that featured equal contributions from each member, but there were certainly exceptions. For the “Simple” that Phish laid down at their recent Dick’s run over Labor Day Weekend, the guitarist started in his typical-for-the-tour focus on rhythm form. Around the 11-minute mark it’s as if Trey had been let out of his cage and he takes the lead with some of his strongest playing of the summer for about four minutes before Phish returned to more democratic form for the end of the jam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxuNYdirdHk

Weekapaug Groove – 3/20/92: Trey’s “Weekapaug Groove” solo starts at the 1:41:30 mark in the audio embed below and winds up at the 1:48 mark. Over the course of six minutes Anastasio breaks out the “machine gun” for some of the quickest and most melodic series of riffs we’ve heard out of Big Red. This “Weekapaug” solo also displays just how tight Phish was at that point in their career as Mike, Fish and Page lay down the perfect base for Trey’s theatrics.

Down With Disease Jam – 12/31/93: Months before Phish would debut the epic “Down With Disease” as both a live staple and first single off Hoist, the Vermonters previewed the song’s solo out of “Auld Lang Syne” on New Year’s Eve ’93/’94 at The Centrum in Worcester, MA. While the song would soon serve as an improvisational springboard, Trey’s “Disease” solo at what was their biggest gig to date was a showcase for machine gunning.

Soulshine -10/02/2002: At the 2002 Jammys Awards Anastasio held his own as part of a triumvirate of now legendary guitarists that also included Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks. Gov’t Mule served as the backing band, while Gregg Allman also sat in on Warren’s signature song “Soulshine.”