Celisse Joins Trey Anastasio Band At Peach Music Festival

Guitarist/vocalist Celisse sat in with the Trey Anastasio Band for the final three songs of their main set at The Peach Music Festival in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Saturday night. Celisse Henderson, who was on hand for a set of her own at the event, traded licks with the Phish guitarist and displayed her phenomenal vocal skills as part of the guest appearance at Montage Mountain.

Trey Anastasio introduced Henderson as the band’s “dear friend” and “family member.” Celisse first performed with Trey at Phish’s Halloween concert in Las Vegas on October 31, 2016, when Henderson teamed with Jo Lampert and TAB’s Jennifer Hartswick to provide backing vocals for the quartet’s “musical costume” of David Bowie’s The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars album. Anastasio then recruited Celisse to join Ghosts Of The Forest for the project’s lone tour in Spring 2019 and reprise as part of “The Beacon Jams” on November 6, 2020. Celisse also performed with Trey at the next “The Beacon Jams” livestream concert on November 13, 2020.

The most recent Celisse/Anastasio collaboration before Saturday took place at last year’s The Peach Music Festival. Celisse welcomed Trey Anastasio for three songs during her set at the event in Scranton, Pennsylvania just under one year to the day prior on July 3, 2021.

Celisse emerged towards the end of TAB’s set and played guitar and sang on the ensemble’s funky rendition of the Phish staple “The Moma Dance.” Henderson took part on the first “Moma” featuring most of TAB at “The Beacon Jams” on November 13, 2020. This time Celisse had her axe with her and engaged in call-and-response with Trey early in the song. Henderson then belted out the chorus with Hartswick, James Casey and Natalie Cressman. Celisse went on to deliver a powerful solo to close the song. Next, Celisse joined Casey, Hartswick and Cressman in providing backing vocals for Trey on Ghosts Of The Forest ballad “A Life Beyond The Dream.”

The guest spot and TAB set came to a close with “Rise/Come Together.” Celisse had her guitar in hand once again as she shared lead vocal duties with Trey on a song first performed by TAB that has also joined the Phish repertoire. Anastasio and Henderson engaged in a guitar duel while Jennifer, James and Natalie first played horns and then sang harmonies.

Celisse’s appearance came after the Trey Anastasio Band had played for over 90 minutes. Anastasio, Hartswick, Casey, Cressman, percussionist Cyro Baptista, drummer Russ Lawton, bassist Dezron Douglas and keyboardist Ray Paczkowski opened with a horn-driven “Blaze On,” intense “Sand” and the Cressman showcase “Mozambique.”

TAB’s set continued with a “Set Your Soul Free” featuring a percussion breakdown featuring Lawton and Baptista. Next up was the instrumental “Olivia” and a nicely extended “Everything’s Right” including fretboard fireworks galore from Trey. Anastasio then led the full troupe on “…And Flew Away” off his 2020 quarantine album Lonely Trip for just the fourth time before a straight-forward take on staple “Gotta Jibboo.” Cyro provided a wild intro to the ensuing “Ghost” as the swampy version was kept short and gave way to the recently debuted “Roll Like A River” from Trey’s 2022 debut acoustic solo album, Mercy. Celisse came out after “Simple Twist Up Dave” and the group returned sans Henderson for a “Carini” encore.

Watch pro-shot video featuring TAB’s Peach Music Festival performance via LivePhish.com and see fan-shot video of “The Moma Dance” below:

Setlist (via Phish.net)

Set: Blaze On, Sand, Mozambique, Set Your Soul Free, Olivia, Everything’s Right, …And Flew Away, Gotta Jibboo, Ghost, Roll Like a River, Simple Twist Up Dave, The Moma Dance [1], A Life Beyond The Dream [2], Rise/Come Together[1]

Encore: Carini

• [1] With Celisse Henderson on guitar and vocals.
• [2] With Celisse Henderson on vocals.