Trey Anastasio Debuts Solo Acoustic ‘Corinna’ Cover In Charleston

Trey Anastasio brought his solo acoustic tour to Charleston, South Carolina on Sunday for a concert at Gaillard Auditorium. The Phish guitarist fit his first acoustic cover of Taj Mahal’s “Corinna” into the 25-song setlist.

Anastasio had been focusing solely on originals since covering Sonny & Cher's “I Got You Babe” on opening night of the tour in Springfield, Massachusetts, until last night. The gorgeous unplugged “Corinna” was played in the eighth slot on Sunday. “I heard you last night,” Trey noted after he performed the Taj Mahal classic, which apparently came in response to a request from a fan on Saturday night in Savannah, Georgia.

Legendary blues musician Taj Mahal originally released “Corinna” on his 1968 album Natch’l Blues. Phish rolled out their cover of the song on February 21, 1987 and have performed “Corinna” 30 additional times since.

After acknowledging the “Corinna” request, fans began shouting out other song titles at Trey. One was for “Run Like An Antelope,” which led Anastasio to address the audience member. “When I play ‘Run Like An Antelope,’ I like playing it with my best friend [Phish drummer] Jon Fishman standing next to me,” Anastasio said. “So when we come back, soon I hope, I will honor your request when we get back to South Carolina.

“I like all three of my best friends standing next to me. But I’m gonna say, I really like playing that one with the little guy in the dress standing next to me,” Trey added. “You should try it. It’s really fun.”

Anastasio loaded the setlist with Phish staples in Charleston, including “Backwards Down The Number Line,” “Chalk Dust Torture,” “Tube,” “NICU” and “Lifeboy.” Trey invited keyboardist Jeff Tanski to join him for the set-closing run of “Divided Sky,” “Secret Smile,” “It’s Ice,” “Dirt,” “Rift,” “Billy Breathes” and “You Enjoy Myself.”

The guitarist returned to the stage to start the encore with “A Little More Time” from his 2022 solo acoustic album Mercy and Gamehendge favorite “Wilson.” Tanski came back to accompany Anastasio on the “Fluffhead” finale.

Stream an audience recording of Trey Anastasio’s solo acoustic show in Charleston taped by Chris Davis below:

Setlist (via Phish.net)

Set: Backwards Down the Number Line [1], Free[1], Brian and Robert[1], Lost in the Pack[1], Turtle in the Clouds[1], Chalk Dust Torture[1], Water in the Sky[1], Corinna [2], Tube[1], Snowflakes in the Sand[1], Waste[1], NICU[1], Cavern[1], Lifeboy[1], A Life Beyond The Dream[1], Divided Sky [3], Secret Smile[3], It’s Ice[3], Dirt[3], Rift[3], Billy Breathes[3], You Enjoy Myself[3]

Encore: A Little More Time[1], Wilson[1], Fluffhead[3]

• [1] Trey solo acoustic.
• [2] Trey solo acoustic; first acoustic Trey performance.
• [3] Trey acoustic and Jeff Tanski on piano.

This entire show was performed by Trey solo acoustic except for Divided Sky through You Enjoy Myself and Fluffhead (all of which featured Jeff Tanski on piano) and featured the first Trey acoustic performance of Corinna.