Trey Anastasio Appears At The New Yorker Festival

Last night Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio participated in an event at Acura at SIR Stage37 in New York City as part of The New Yorker Festival. Billed as “Trey Anastasio Talks With Alec Wilkinson,” Anastasio discussed his career with the writer amid playing a short solo acoustic set.

The first The New York Festival event to sell out, Anastasio’s appearance began with Trey playing the new Phish song “Blaze On” complete with whistling embellishment. The guitarist then sat down for a discussion with The New Yorker writer that touched on many aspects of Anastasio’s lengthy career and was interspersed with more acoustic performances.

In between songs, Trey touched on collaborating with longtime friends and co-writers Tom Marshall and Steve “The Dude Of Life” Pollak. He spoke about his influences including Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Gabriel, Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, and Frank Zappa, sharing a tale of going to see Zappa with Phish drummer Jon Fishman (whom he called “the greatest drummer on the planet earth”) and holding up an original Phish t-shirt for the legendary guitarist to see. At different points in the evening, Trey mentioned the influence of fatherhood and raising his two daughters on his life and acknowledged his mom in the audience.

Wilkinson stated he spoke with Bob Weir about the Fare Thee Well shows Trey participated in, telling the audience the Grateful Dead guitarist told him Anastasio was the “glue” that held the group together and that Trey was the “M.V.P.” The five shows from the summer came up often, with Trey divulging he enlisted other musicians to help prepare for the Fare Thee Well concerts, including drummer Joe Russo, while learning over 100 songs in advance. Trey also detailed pep talks basketball legend and renowned Deadhead Bill Walton gave him in advance of the Fare Thee Well concerts, and the debate between Weir and Phil Lesh over whether “Althea” should be played slow or fast.

Dedicating its first ever live performance to The Dude Of Life, Trey also debuted “Cartwheels,” which was recorded for his upcoming solo album Paper Wheels. Several songs from Trey’s set were captured by YouTube user Edward Byrne, watch “The Line”:

Watch “Joy”:

Watch “Backwards Down The Number Line” & “Sample In A Jar”:

Audio of Trey’s appearance can be streamed here via Mixlr thanks to fockinpauly and video captured on Periscope by TheVic is available via this link.

Setlist

Set: Blaze On, The Line, Joy, Cartwheels, Farmhouse, Backwards Down The Number Line, Sample In A Jar