Trey Anastasio ‘The Beacon Jams’ Night 4: Setlist & Recap

Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio reached the halfway point of his The Beacon Jams weekly livestream series on Friday night at The Beacon Theatre in New York City. Once again, Anastasio was joined by a core band consisting of longtime collaborators keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, drummer Russ Lawton, bassist Tony Markellis and percussionist Cyro Baptista for most of the two-and-a-half hour concert. Trey continues to dig deep into his repertoire as he has yet to repeat a song.

Video of Trey performing “Waste” with Phish keyboardist Page McConnell at The Barn in Vermont premiered before the live performance started. Anastasio was on acoustic as McConnell played a Wurlitzer electric piano for the version of “Waste,” a ballad from Phish’s Billy Breathes album. A skit in which Anastasio emerged from the riser he got stuck on during Phish’s New Year’s Eve concert at Madison Square Garden months later to find the venue vacant and the world living through a pandemic followed “Waste.” Trey was dressed in the same outfit he wore on New Year’s Eve, sporting long hair as he walked barefoot to the Beacon and watched himself play.

The fourth The Beacon Jams concert officially began with Anastasio, Paczkowski, Lawton, Markellis and Baptista performing a jam based on John Murphy’s “In The House – In A Heartbeat” from the film 28 Days Later that led into “Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.” off Kasvot Växt’s í rokk, Phish’s musical costume on Halloween 2018. Anastasio’s first banter found him joking about wanting a Chicken sandwich from the Momofuku stand at MSG’s Section 119. A huge bust out came next as Trey led the ensemble through his first “Quantegy” since May 3, 2005. The guitarist originally released “Quantegy” on his debut solo album, 1998’s One Man’s Trash, and performed the song with various solo bands nine times between 2001 and 2005. “That’s one of my all-time favorites,” Anastasio said following the song.

Anastasio took a seat with acoustic in hand for a solo take on “Snowflakes In The Sand,” a song premiered by Trey in 1999 that was shelved from May 17, 1999 – December 14, 2018. He then gave thanks to those who donated to the Divided Sky Fund and stuck with the solo acoustic format for “Mountains In The Mist.” It was back to the full-band layout for “Heavy Things” and “Breath And Burning.” The latter marked its first performance with Markellis, Baptista, Paczkowski and Lawton. Anastasio changed the lyrics to, “rage on the Beacon stage” instead of the original “rage with Page.”

Next up was a swampy version of the Phish classic “Gumbo,” another “TAB” debut, which Trey dedicated to Phish drummer Jon Fishman, who penned the song’s lyrics. Ray ended the reworked take on “Gumbo” with a solo ala McConnell, though he was accompanied by Cyro on percussion. The quintet then offered the live debut of “Lonely Trip,” the title track from Anastasio’s recently released quarantine album, followed by “Pigtail.” The show continued with “My Problem Right There,” a song the guitarist wrote with Amanda Green for the musical Hands On A Hard Body.

Trey followed “My Problem Right There” by taking a seat, picking up an acoustic guitar from the 1930s and performing a rendition of the haunting “Till We Meet Again” backed by the Rescue Squad Strings (Anja Wood on cello, Rachel Golub on viola and Katie Kresek and Maxim Moston on violin). Pianist Jeff Tanski then accompanied Anastasio and the strings on “My Friend, My Friend” and “Guyute.” The songs were performed separately unlike the arrangement Trey initially came up with when he wrote them during a trip to Ireland in which they were combined. Anastasio recited the narration from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” towards the end of “Guyute.”

The Rescue Squad Strings stuck around for “More.” Anastasio then swapped his acoustic for his Blonde No. 2 Languedoc guitar and the band returned for a string-filled “Frost.” Trey said farewell and gave his thanks to the strings before he led the core band through a languid “Alaska.” Next, the five-piece romped through “Bounce,” and delivered the tender “Bug” before ending the evening with “Architect.” The Beacon Jams returns next Friday, November 6 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

Setlist (via Phish.net)

Set: In the House – In a Heartbeat [1] -> Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S., Quantegy, Snowflakes in the Sand [2], Mountains in the Mist[2], Heavy Things > Breath and Burning [3], Gumbo [4] > Lonely Trip [5], Pigtail, My Problem Right There, Till We Meet Again [6], My Friend, My Friend [7], Guyute [8], More[6], Frost [9], Alaska, Bounce > Bug > Architect

• [1] TAB debut.
• [2] Trey solo acoustic.
• [3] Full TAB debut. Lyrics changed to “rage on the Beacon stage.”
• [4] Full TAB debut.
• [5] Debut.
• [6] Just Trey on acoustic guitar and the Rescue Squad Strings.
• [7] Just Trey on acoustic guitar and the Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski on piano. No “MYFE” ending.
• [8] Just Trey on acoustic guitar and the Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski on piano. Trey quoted some of Vincent Price’s lines from Thriller.
• [9] With The Rescue Squad Strings.

This performance was part of The Beacon Jams series and began with a video of Trey finally escaping from his riser from Phish’s December 31, 2019 concert at Madison Square Garden and making it to the Beacon Theater to watch the himself and his band playing the TAB debut of In the House – In a Heartbeat before they segued into Say It To Me SA.N.T.O.S. This show marked the full TAB debuts of Breath and Burning and Gumbo and the debut of Lonely Trip. Ray teased Happy Birthday after wishing his mother a happy birthday. Quantegy was performed for the first time since May 3, 2005. Trey performed Snowflakes in the Sand and Mountains in the Mist solo acoustic. The lyrics of Breath and Burning were changed to “rage on the Beacon stage.” Trey quoted If I Had A Hammer (The Hammer Song) after Pigtail. Til We Meet Again through Frost were performed with The Rescue Squad Strings (Katie Kresek and Maxim Moston on violin, Rachel Golub on viola, and Anja Wood on cello) and with Til We Meet Again and More featuring just Trey on acoustic guitar and My Friend My Friend and Guyute just Trey on acoustic guitar and Jeff Tanski on piano. My Friend My Friend did not contain the “MYFE” ending. Guyute included Trey quoting some of Vincent Price’s lines from Thriller.

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Source: JamBase.com