Trey Anastasio Welcomes Page McConnell, Grace Potter, Mike Gordon & Dave Grippo In Burlington
By Scott Bernstein Sep 18, 2017 • 6:22 am PDT
The 2017 installment of Grand Point North came to a close with Sunday headliners the Trey Anastasio Band at Waterfront Park in Burlington, Vermont. While curator and host Grace Potter usually headlines the action on both nights of her festival, she asked the Phish frontman to close out this year’s Grand Point North with his TAB ensemble. Anastasio ended the event with a series of guest appearances.
Sunday’s TAB setlist was heavy on staples including “Money Love & Change,” “Sand,” “Burlap Sack & Pumps” and “Cayman Review” from the project’s early days, a version of Phish’s “Magilla,” mid ’00 standards “Dark & Down” and “Shine,” the more recent original “Everything’s Right” and others. The performance headed towards its end with a cover of Gorillaz’s “Clint Eastwood” that featured band intros. “First Tube” served as the set closer and Trey brought out old friend and 30+ year Phish band mate Page McConnell to sit-in. Page shared Ray Paczkowski’s keyboard rig as the pair both went to town on the song, which is in heavy rotation with both TAB and Phish. McConnell last performed at a Trey Anastasio Band show way back on November 8, 2005 at Roseland in New York City.
The encore started with Trey, Grace and Phish bassist Mike Gordon taking the stage. Anastasio, Potter and Gordon treated fans to a trio rendition of the Phish classic “Water In The Sky.” Mike hadn’t played at a TAB show since October 11, 2006 in Philadelphia, though the bassist did sit-in during a Trey solo set at the inaugural Rothbury Festival in 2008.
The guitarist had one more trick up his sleeve to end the evening. Anastasio welcomed a founding member of the TAB horn section and local legend (not to mention part of Phish’s famed Giant Country Horns section from the quartet’s lone horns tour in 1991), Dave “The Truth” Grippo for “Push On ‘Til The Day.” Grippo first joined TAB for Winter 2001 Tour as part of a horn section that also included current Trey Band trumpeter/vocalist Jennifer Hartswick and trombonist Andy Moroz. “The Truth” remained in the band through Austin City Limits ’04 after which Anastasio formed the horn-less 70 Volt Parade. Grippo returned to the fold for a New Year’s Run in 2006 and for a pair of March 2007 performances in Florida, the last time he shared the stage with Trey.
Next up for the Trey Anastasio Band is a fall tour that begins late next month in Las Vegas and also includes stops in Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Oakland.
A full report and photo gallery from Grand Point North will follow. In the meantime, check out photos from Trey’s sets as well as a handful of clips.
Trey Anastasio Band @ Grand Point North Photos by Bryan Lasky
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”628″ gal_title=”20170917 Trey Grand Point North Lasky”]Loading tour dates
