Trey Anastasio Trio Delivers 9 Tour Debuts At 2nd Night In Chicago

A scheduled two night run at The Chicago Theatre meant that the Trey Anastasio Trio got a chance to stay in one place on back-to-back nights and get a little more comfortable. The threesome of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Tony Markellis and drummer Russ Lawton used the opportunity to dig a bit deeper to impress the sold-out Windy City faithful on Saturday night as they offered up nine tour debuts over the course of their two-set show.

The night got underway with “46 Days,” which prior to this tour hadn’t seen action by TAB since 2006. Old-school Phish nugget “Camel Walk” and “Heavy Things,” a tune that the trio debuted together on their inaugural outing followed. Trey Anastasio & Co. then delivered a string of tour debuts. First up was “Cayman Review.” The longtime setlist staple was debuted back in 2001 at a small club show at Higher Ground along with a slew of other songs that would eventually appear on Anastasio’s 2002 self-titled album. The trio then delivered their first “Last Tube.” The instrumental dates back to 1998 when Anastasio played it during his lone show under the moniker of 8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes. “Anything But Me” finished off the trifecta of mid-set tour debuts, it also marked the first time the Round Room ballad had been played electrically by TAB. Anastasio, Markellis and Lawtown closed out the set with one more debut as they looked to “Simple Twist Up Dave” marking the first time the funky horn-laden tune had been played by the trio.

“Ghost,” “Corona” and “Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan” got Trey Anastasio Trio’s second set rolling before they once again looked to material that hadn’t been played yet on this tour. Trey reached for a pair of Phish tunes first as “Prince Caspian” got its first electric rendering. The Billy Breathes track outside of a one-off with Phil Lesh & Phriends in 1999 had exclusively been played solo acoustic. Next up, came “Shade,” which had only been played by Anastasio once outside of Phish during his brief solo tour last spring. Last night marked its official Trey Anasastio Band debut. The final of the band’s main show debuts came in the form of the much-beloved “Windora Bug.” The tune, which Markellis sings the opening to, has become a bit of a rarity and was trotted out for just the 14th time since 2003.

Anastasio returned to the stage solo to start off the encore. Prior to playing “Waste,” Big Red shared a story about when Phish played Farm Aid in Tinley Park, a suburb about thirty miles south of Chicago back in 1998. Anastasio talked about hanging out with Willie Nelson on his tour bus and that he came out “all red-eyed.” He also went on to talk about Neil Young’s now famous sit-in with the band during that same Farm Aid appearance. Anastasio talked about going on Young’s bus prior to their set and that he had suggested that he play “Powderfinger” with Phish. Young would go on to play the tune from Rust Never Sleeps during his own set, leaving Phish disappointed. He would then go on to talk about Young’s sit-in saying that as the band was jamming he heard what he thought was his guitar, but when he turned around saw it was Young who had picked up a spare guitar and plugged in.

The guitarist then played two more songs solo acoustic delivering tour debuts of “Bathtub Gin” and “Chalk Dust Torture.” Markellis and Lawton then returned to the stage as the trio brought their night to an end with “First Tube.”

Watch fan-shot video and check out the full setlist below:

Setlist (via Phish.net)

Set I: 46 Days, Camel Walk, Heavy Things, Cayman Review, Last Tube, Anything But Me, Dark and Down, Drifting, Alaska, Simple Twist Up Dave

Set II: Ghost, Corona, Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan, Prince Caspian, Shade, Mr. Completely, Windora Bug, Steam, Farmhouse, Bounce

Encore: Waste[1], Bathtub Gin[1], Chalk Dust Torture[1], First Tube

[1] Trey solo acoustic.