Trey Anastasio ‘The Beacon Jams’ Night 6: Setlist & Recap

Guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish resumed his The Beacon Jams livestream series on Friday. The sixth of eight weekly livestream concerts originating from The Beacon Theatre in New York City saw Trey return to the format of Phish and solo originals after a Ghosts Of The Forest performance last week. Anastasio continues to dig deep into his repertoire, as he has yet to repeat a song.

Anastasio kicked off the concert with a performance of Phish classic “You Enjoy Myself.” At first, the guitarist was backed by pianist Jeff Tanski and the Rescue Squad Strings (Anja Wood on cello, Rachel Golub on viola and Katie Kresek and Maxim Moston on violin) for the instrumental section. The core ensemble of keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, drummer Russ Lawton, bassist Tony Markellis, percussionist Cyro Baptista and vocalists Jennifer Hartswick, Celisse and Jo Lampert joined in from the “Boy, Man, God, Shit” portion of “YEM” through its conclusion.

Jennifer, Celisse and Jo were charged with singing the lyrics and fittingly sang “Woman” instead of “Man” in the first go around. The vocalists then sang “Firenze” followed by “Boy, Man, God” and “Wash uffizi, drive me to Firenze” while Trey delivered a stunning solo. “You Enjoy Myself” came to a close with Anastasio, Hartswick, Celisse and Lampert teaming up for a vocal jam as the strings played beautiful melodies underneath. Celisse showed off her beat boxing skills and scatted throughout the vocal jam of the must-hear “You Enjoy Myself.”

The strings then vacated the stage as Trey, Russ, Tony, Cyro, Ray and the vocalists, who Anastasio referred to as “Angels 3,” offered the live debut of “The Silver Light.” Anastasio recorded “The Silver Light” for his recently released quarantine album, Lonely Trip. Next up was a new drum-less arrangement of “Winterqueen” in which Trey played acoustic and Angels 3 sang both lyrics and gorgeous harmonies.

Anastasio read a comment from a Twitch viewer requesting a “The Moma Dance” with the vocalists and delivered in a big way. Trey sang the part Jon Fishman typically sings during Phish versions while Angels 3 crushed the backing vocals. The guitarist responded to a question from your recapper and explained Carmel Dean put together the amazing arrangements Angels 3 sang throughout the night, including on the “Kill Devil Falls” that followed. Raab Stevenson also created some of the vocal arrangements performed on Friday. Both “The Moma Dance” and “Kill Devil Falls” were TAB debuts as was the powerful rendition of “Twenty Years Later” which came next and was dedicated to Phish lyricist Tom Marshall. “Twenty Years Later” featured some of Trey’s best soloing of the evening.

The Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski returned to join the full band for the world premiere of ballad “Mercy,” a song Trey wrote two weeks ago. Jeff departed after receiving some love from a Twitch viewer and Trey, leaving the core band and strings to perform “Light,” a song TAB hadn’t played since October 17, 2008 — which predates its Phish debut. While “Light” didn’t go full “Type II,” it did feature a strong organ solo from Paczkowski.

Anastasio next took a seat and grabbed his acoustic for a rendition of “Summer Of ’89” in which he was accompanied solely by the strings. “Summer Of ’89” was penned by Trey as a tribute to his wife, Sue. The full band, including the vocalists, came back to augment Anastasio and the Rescue Squad Strings on “Joy,” the title track from Phish’s 2009 studio album. Next up was “A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing,” which like “Joy” had never been played by Trey with a band besides Phish. The strings weren’t on hand for “ASIHTOS.”

Trey, Russ, Ray, Tony, Cyro, Jennifer, Celisse and Jo continued on with a stellar take on “Farmhouse” highlighted by Anastasio’s euphoric solo and the beautiful arrangement sang by Angels 3. Anastasio and company picked the energy up with yet another TAB debut, “Tube.” The guitarist let Paczkowski do most of the soloing during the “Tube” jam as he sang, “knocked on it some more” and the vocalists belted out “let it burn” and “science.” Anastasio picked up on the “science” lyric and quoted Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me With Science” before the band expertly pulled off the transition into the final portions of the song.

An emotional high point of the evening came in the form of “Billy Breathes.” Carmel Dean’s vocal arrangement of the title track from Phish’ 1996 studio album was magnificent and sung beautifully by Hartswick, Henderson and Lampert. Meanwhile, Trey passionately delivered the song’s signature guitar solo. Though Anastasio felt he screwed up the solo. Next, Anastasio asked Hartswick if they could play an “oldie” and warned the audience they hadn’t rehearsed the song, which turned out to be “Every Story Ends In Stone.” Jennifer simulated her trumpet line with her voice on the first version of “ESEIS” played by Trey since 2018 and the first to feature Hartswick since June 8, 2003.

Trey went on to dedicate a percussion-heavy “Bouncing Around The Room,” yet another TAB debut, to Tom Marshall. Cyro put many of the instruments in his rig to good use during “Bouncing” include a whistle. Angels 3 then starred on the first ever non-Phish full band “Wading In The Velvet Sea.” A live debut followed with Lonely Trip’s “Are You There Colleen” before the octet closed out the night with “Rise/Come Together.”

The Beacon Jams returns next Friday, November 20. Proceeds from the run go towards the Divided Sky Fund. Over $100,000 was raised from this week’s livestream.

Setlist (via Phish.net)

Set: You Enjoy Myself [1], The Silver Light, Winterqueen [2], The Moma Dance [3], Kill Devil Falls[3], Twenty Years Later[3], Mercy [4], Light [5], Summer of ’89 [6], Joy [7], A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing[3], Farmhouse, Tube[3], Billy Breathes[3], Every Story Ends in Stone, Bouncing Around the Room[3], Wading in the Velvet Sea[3], Are You There Colleen? [8], Rise/Come Together

• [1] Full TAB debut. Began with just Trey with The Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski on piano with the rest of the band and Jennifer Hartswick, Celisse Henderson, Jo Lampert joining in on vocals later. Lyrics changed to “boy, woman, god, shit.”
• [2] Trey on acoustic guitar with the full band and singers.
• [3] Full TAB debut.
• [4] Debut; with The Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski on piano.
• [5] With The Rescue Squad Strings.
• [6] With just Trey on acoustic guitar and The Rescue Squad Strings.
• [7] Full TAB debut; with The Rescue Squad Strings.
• [8] Debut.

This performance was part of The Beacon Jams series and featured the debuts of Mercy and Are You There Colleen? and the full TAB debuts of You Enjoy Myself, Moma Dance, Kill Devil Falls, Twenty Years Later, Joy, A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing, Tube, Billy Breathes, Bouncing Around the Room, and Wading in the Velvet Sea. You Enjoy Myself began with just Trey with The Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski on piano with the rest of the band and Jennifer Hartswick, Celisse Henderson, Jo Lampert joining in on vocals later. the lyrics in You Enjoy Myself were changed to “boy, woman, god, shit.” Winterqueen featured Trey on acoustic guitar with the full band and singers. Trey teased No Men In No Man’s Land in Moma Dance. Mercy through Joy featured The Rescue Squad Strings. Mercy also featured Jeff Tanski on piano. Summer of ’89 featured just Trey on acoustic guitar with the Strings. Trey quoted On the Road Again after Summer of ’89. Trey quoted She Blinded Me with Science in Tube.

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Source: JamBase.com