Throwback Thursday | Trey Anastasio Guests With Furthur

Believe it or not, it’s been less than two weeks since Fare Thee Well -A Celebration Of 50 Years Of Grateful Dead was announced and the Chicago concerts are still a frequent topic of conversation among jam fans. The three shows will bring together Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Jeff Chimenti, Bruce Hornsby and Trey Anastasio at Chicago’s Soldier Field over the Fourth of July Weekend. The last time Anastasio performed with Weir & Lesh was at the inaugural Lockn’ Festival in 2013 and the best footage yet of the Phish front man’s sit in with Furthur has recently surfaced.

The inaugural Lockn’ Festival made no qualms about its target audience -jam fans. With a lineup reminiscent of the first Bonnaroo, the Arrington, Virginia 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). On September 7, 2013 those two acts finally collaborated when Trey sat in with Furthur at Lockn’, marking his first and only appearance with the post-Jerry band, which featured 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 their Saturday 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 including the “Fire” that brought the evening to a close.

As we mentioned, incredible footage of Anastasio’s entire Furthur guest spot has surfaced and gives us our clearest view yet of what went down. It also serves as a bit of a preview of what may go down in Chicago as four (Anastasio, Weir, Lesh & Chimenti) of the seven gents set to play Fare Thee Well perform together during this set.

Casey Jones, Bertha, Truckin’ > The Other One, Viola Lee Blues, Scarlet Begonias > Fire On The Mountain