Trey Anastasio Band Honors Jerry Garcia With Heartfelt ‘Mission In The Rain’ Cover At Golden Gate Park

Trey Anastasio Band opened for Dead & Company on Sunday at the third and final Grateful Dead 60th anniversary celebration at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The Phish guitarist paid tribute to the late Jerry Garcia by leading TAB through a debut cover of “Mission In The Rain” during their 75-minute set.

The eight-piece featuring Anastasio and bandmates bassist Dezron Douglas, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, drummer Russ Lawton, percussionist Cyro Baptista, trumpeter/vocalist Jennifer Hartswick, trombonist/vocalist Natalie Cressman and saxophonist Kenneth Whalum played Golden Gate Park two days after performing their first concert together of 2025 on Friday night at The Bellwether in Los Angeles. TAB stuck to a similar script of mixing songs from Anastasio’s solo repertoire and Phish crossovers in San Francisco with the major exception of the “Mission In The Rain” cover.

A horn-driven “The Moma Dance” kicked off the set before “Mozambique” gave hometown hero Natalie Cressman her first solo of the afternoon. Next came an intense “Sand” and TAB’s arrangement of the Page McConnell-penned “Magilla.” Trey Anastasio addressed the massive crowd following a performance of “Alive Again.”

An emotional Anastasio stated:

“I’m so happy to be here. I was having this moment and I want to say this very quick thing about how grateful I am to be part of this birthday celebration. I saw my first Dead show in 1981 at the New Haven Coliseum and fell in love with all of it, but I want to right at this moment do a particular heartfelt shout out to Mr. Jerry Garcia.

“We’re all here to celebrate. I think to myself, I look at this crowd and this guy came along and here we all are all these years later. So, I want to sing this song now and try to express my love for him. Please sing along because I’ll do the best I can. I really don’t believe that anybody can sing this song except for him. So help me out, please, and help all of us out.

“Wherever you are, standing up on your moon or whatever Jerry, thank you for all you gave us. It’s incomprehensible the amount of joy, and we’re all here. We’re all here.”

TAB then began “Mission In The Rain,” a song Garcia wrote with lyricist Robert Hunter. “Mission In The Rain,” which Garcia recorded for his 1976 studio album, Reflections, was a staple of the Jerry Garcia Band live repertoire between 1975 and 1995. The Grateful Dead only performed the song five times, with each version played in June of 1976.

Anastasio capably sang “Mission In The Rain” with Hartswick, Cressman and Whalum providing beautiful backing vocals. Trey delivered two stellar solos before the band ended the song.

Watch fan-shot video of the Trey Anastasio Band performing “Mission In The Rain” below:

After honoring Garcia, TAB rolled through “What’s Going Through Your Mind.” From there, the eight-piece offered the reggae-tinged “Love Is What We Are” and their horn-heavy arrangements of Phish classics “Camel Walk” and “Wolfman’s Brother.” Next up was “Shine,” the title track from Anastasio’s 2005 solo album.

Trey and his bandmates punctuated the set with “Everything’s Right” and “Ghost.” Later, Anastasio would return to the stage to help Dead & Co. kick off their final set of the weekend with the pairing of “Scarlet Begonias” and “Fire On The Mountain.”

On-demand livestream replays of TAB’s performance, all three Dead & Company shows and the other opening sets from Golden Gate Park are available via nugs.

Setlist (via Phish.net)

Set: The Moma Dance, Mozambique, Sand, Magilla, Alive Again, Mission in the Rain [1], What’s Going Through Your Mind, Love Is What We Are, Camel Walk, Wolfman’s Brother, Shine, Everything’s Right, Ghost

[1] TAB debut.

This show featured the TAB debut of Mission in the Rain. TAB was the opening act for Dead & Company.