Trey Anastasio Fits Acoustic Rarities & Live Debut Of 12-Year-Old Song With Stories In Pittsburgh

Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio continued his solo acoustic tour at Byham Theatre in Pittsburgh on Monday night. The show featured an acoustic debut, a few songs that hadn’t been played unplugged in a long time and the first live rendition of a 12-year-old composition as well as staples and stories.

Anastasio opened with the tour debut of “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan” and followed with the second “Sample In A Jar” in as many shows. Trey then told a story about getting into a scrum with a security guard in Pittsburgh while roller-blading in a parking garage during Phish’s 1992 Winter Tour. A run of “Fee,” “Everything’s Right,” “Water In The Sky,” “The Inlaw Josie Wales” and “Limb By Limb” came after the story.

The guitarist’s second story of the night was about Alison Krauss and how she came to contribute to Phish’s 1994 album, Hoist. Anastasio went on to offer the solo acoustic debut of “If I Could,” the song on which Krauss sung for the ’94 LP, in honor of Alison. “Heavy Things” came next ahead of a memorable run of “Ghost,” “Harry Hood” and “Piper.” Trey hadn’t performed an unplugged “Hood” since 2011 and “Piper” had last been given the solo acoustic treatment in 2005, though the version in Pittsburgh was perhaps only only minute long. Monday’s show rolled on with “Chalk Dust Torture,” “Dirt” and the story of the summer Trey and Phish drummer Jon Fishman spent in Europe writing songs such as “Hood” and “YEM.”

Anastasio closed out his main set with the tour debut of “Wingsuit” and the solo acoustic staple “More.” Monday’s encore started with one of the biggest surprises of the tour, the first live rendition of “Empty House,” a song Trey recorded for his 2006 album Bar 17. The guitarist then performed the instrumental “Till We Meet Again” that he wrote as his friend Chris “CCott” Cottrell was on his deathbed. “Wilson” broke the somber mood of “Till We Meet Again” and gave the capacity crowd a chance to participate by singing along.

Click on the link below to listen to full show audio of Monday’s show:

Videos (Captured by Billa)

Setlist (via Phish.net)

SET 1: Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Sample in a Jar, Fee, Everything’s Right, Water in the Sky, The Inlaw Josie Wales, Strange Design, Limb By Limb, If I Could[1], Heavy Things, Ghost, Harry Hood, Piper > Chalk Dust Torture, Dirt, Wingsuit, More

ENCORE: Empty House[2], Till We Meet Again, Wilson

• [1] Trey solo acoustic debut.
• [2] Debut.