Trey Anastasio Pays Homage To Robbie Robertson With Passionate ‘Unfaithful Servant’ Performance At The Forum

Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio shined last night at Life Is A Carnival: A Musical Celebration Of Robbie Robertson concert, a star-studded tribute held in honor of the late The Band co-founder at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Not only did Anastasio team with Mavis Staples and Bobby Weir on “The Weight,” he also belted out fellow The Band favorites “The Unfaithful Servant” and “Look Out Cleveland.”

Trey Anastasio was the penultimate featured performer at the four-hour concert. While “It Makes No Difference” is The Band song Anastasio has covered most in the past, Jim James performed the song with the Life Is A Carnival house band earlier in the evening’s third of three lengthy sets. Instead, the Phish frontman picked a pair of underrated Band classics for his showcase.

Anastasio may be best known for his instrumental wizardry, but it was his vocals that were on display during “The Unfaithful Servant.” The 60-year-old musician sang the song from The Band’s self-titled 1969 sophomore studio album, a.k.a. The Brown Album, with heartfelt emotion as he held the microphone in his hands. Trey put the mic back in the stand after finishing the last lyrics and ripped a powerful solo on his Languedoc to bring “The Unfaithful Servant” to a close.

Though “Unfaithful Servant” was a debut performance for Anastasio, he had performed the subsequent “Look Out Cleveland” previously. Phish delivered what still stands as their lone cover of another song featured on The Brown Album back on June 12, 2010 at Blossom Music Center just outside Cleveland.

Mavis Staples and Bobby Weir emerged to join Anastasio for “The Weight” before the rest of the evening’s performers came out to wrap the night with “I Shall Be Released.” Trey Anastasio was backed by the Life Is A Carnival house band — Ryan Bingham, Jamey Johnson, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Don Was, John Medeski, Dave Malone, Terence Higgins, Cyril Neville, Mark Mullins and The Levee Horns — throughout his appearance.

Watch Trey Anastasio’s performances of “The Unfaithful Servant” and “Look Out Cleveland” at Life Is A Carnival via audience-captured footage below:

Life Is A Carnival was captured by director Martin Scorsese’s cameras for future release as a concert film. Other performers besides Anastasio to take the stage at the Robbie Robertson tribute concert included Jim James, Ryan Bingham, Jamey Johnson, Bobby Weir, Mavis Staples, Eric Clapton, Nathaniel Rateliff, Taj Mahal, Margo Price, Van Morrison, Lucinda Williams, Daniel Lanois, Bruce Hornsby, Robert Randolph, Warren Haynes, Allison Russell and Eric Church.

Trey Anastasio and Phish return to the stage next Friday, October 25 to kick off a three-night run of Divided Sky Foundation benefit concerts at the MVP Arena in Albany. The quartet will then ring in 2025 with their annual New Year’s Eve run at New York City’s Madiso Square Garden.

Setlist (via Phish.net)

Set One: Up on Cripple Creek (Eric Church), Ophelia (Ryan Bingham), The Best of Everything, Evangeline (Margo Price), Acadian Driftwood (Allison Russell), Straight Down the Line (Robert Randolph), Who Do You Love? (Taj Mahal), Down South in New Orleans (Dave Malone), Go Back to Your Woods (Bruce Hornsby), King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (Bruce Hornsby), The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Jamey Johnson)

Set Two: Broken Arrow (Daniel Lanois), Life is a Carnival (Warren Haynes & Taj Mahal), Whispering Pines (Lucinda Williams), Twilight (Nathaniel Rateliff), Across the Great Divide (Nathaniel Rateliff), Rag Mama Rag (Jamey Johnson), Don’t Do It (Nathaniel Rateliff & Margo Price), Tupelo Honey (Van Morrison), Days Like This (Van Morrison), Wonderful Remark (Van Morrison)

Set Three: The Shape I’m In (Eric Clapton), Out of the Blue (Eric Clapton), Forbidden Fruit (Eric Clapton), Chest Fever (Eric Clapton), Further on Up the Road (Eric Clapton), Forever Young (Ryan Bingham), It Makes No Difference (Jim James), Stage Fright (Warren Haynes), Caravan (Warren Haynes), When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Weir), The Unfaithful Servant (Trey Anastasio), Look Out Cleveland (Trey Anastasio), The Weight (Trey Anastasio, Bob Weir & Mavis Staples), I Shall Be Released (All)