Trey Anastasio Premieres ‘Roll Like A River’ In Boston

Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio led the Trey Anastasio Band through the live debut of Mercy cut “Roll Like A River” in Boston last night. The premiere came during the final set of TAB’s two-night stand at new venue Roadrunner. In other Trey Anastasio news, the guitarist added a solo acoustic concert at Kresge Auditorium in Interlochen, Michigan on June 21. Buy pre-sale tickets for Trey in Interlochen now before tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday, May 13 at 9 a.m. ET.

The Trey Anastasio Band treated fans to a well-jammed “Blaze On” to kick off the action in Boston on Sunday. Spanning over 18 minutes, “Blaze On” featured impressive interplay between Anastasio, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski and the horn section consisting of trumpeter Jennifer Hartswick, saxophonist James Casey and trombonist Natalie Cressman. Up next was the first public performance of “Mercy,” the title track from Anastasio's recently released debut solo acoustic album. Trey previously played “Mercy” with pianist Jeff Tanski and the Rescue Squad Strings during night six of “The Beacon Jams” livestream concert series in November 2020.

Last night’s first set continued with Casey shining on “Undermind” and percussionist Cyro Baptista teaming with drummer Russ Lawton for a powerful duet towards the end of “Curlew’s Call.” Anastasio then offered fretboard fireworks galore during “Tube” and threw back to “The Beacon Jams” by shouting “Science!” The guitarist also noted Baptista would “try playing toilet paper” on the ensuing “The Silver Light,” which Trey sang sans guitar, before TAB capped the set with “Money, Love And Change.”

“No Men In No Man’s Land” got the call to start Sunday’s second set. TAB then paired oldies “Cayman Review” and “Simple Twist Up Dave” before looking to Anastasio’s 2020 LP Lonely Trip for “I Never Needed You Like This Before.” From there, “Spin” came complete with its usual blues jam and “46 Days” saw Trey utilize a trippy auto-wah effect during his solo.

“Well that did a number on the old guitar,” Anastasio said after “46 Days.” The guitarist then led the first live “Roll Like A River,” which came one night after fellow Mercy track “Hey Stranger” was premiered. Last night’s second set concluded with “Valentine” and “A Life Beyond The Dream.” TAB delivered a three-song encore of “Heavy Things,” “Shine” and “First Tube” to put an exclamation point on the run.

See fan-shot video footage from last night’s concert below:

Setlist (via Phish.net)

Set One: Blaze On, Mercy, Undermind, Curlew’s Call, Tube, The Silver Light, Money, Love and Change

Set Two: No Men In No Man’s Land, Cayman Review, Simple Twist Up Dave, I Never Needed You Like This Before, Spin, 46 Days, Roll Like a River [1], Valentine, A Life Beyond The Dream

Encore: Heavy Things, Shine, First Tube

[1] Debut.

This show featured the debut of Roll Like a River.