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Show Review
Like most good indoor shows, the venue was a dump. The auditorium was more like a junior high school cafetorium than a stadium where you'd see a rock concert. It had pushed back bleachers and basket ball hoops retracted. The air conditioning amounted to opening the high windows surrounding a small wrap around balcony, their white curtains fluttering a ghost like dance in the occasional breeze. When we arrived early I expected old women in blue uniforms and comfortable shoes to push out long cream colored tables and serve square pizza and tater tots (while we ate in silence, no talking at the lunch table!) though the actual cafeteria downstairs ultimately served as the beer garden. The opening song "Money, Love and Change" was a strong choice, more Rock than Jazz, and served to fire up the engine, start things thumping and create momentum. It worked; generating so much energy the crowd had a hard time quieting down for the opening (quiet) beginning to the next song, a new one called "Cincinnati." Being new, and as a jaded fan, I was happily looking forward to hating it. My plan started out well. I didn't like the beginning much. It felt like the background music for a silent movie. Good to listen to at home, while enjoying some hard cheese, but not something to groove on. Then I fell into a dream I never new, and the next part, and the rave up at the end, it was great, not just good, great. It was so good I recognized it again the next night when it repeated and was even happy to have heard it twice. I even started to sing along."Magilla" followed. Page McConnell was walking around the venue, and Trey credited him as the author before the song started. It was pretty flawlessly executed, although I could sense a little nervousness from the band. They made it work well, just not great. The next two songs "Curlew's Call" and "The Way I Feel" kept the groove rolling along alright, but neither stood out as particularly great. Then the highlight of the set began, "Push On ‘Til The Day." This was always my favorite song from the Trey Anastasio studio album. It's crackling with energy and perfect to dance to. The lyrics are just right, half cryptical references that barely make sense unless it's past midnight. For me though it was the dance that made it great. For those that haven't seen it, Trey and Jen Hartswick do a dance together choreographed to the song at the end. It's difficult to explain, New Kids on acid, 98 degrees with real music in the background, but where those pop "bands" are all serious, this dance is pure goofy fun.Set two. I often ask myself how anyone, especially anyone older than me can keep up the energy Trey seems to have at these shows. It can't be the drugs, unless it's some sort of steroid. The guy was just dancing and laughing the whole time. He even had more energy than at a Phish concert. It's infectious. Highlights of the second set include a powerful "Last Tube" and the delicious "Drifting," which actually stopped the rain and dispersed the storm clouds that covered the lakeside city through Saturday. Magic? You be the judge. "Night Speaks to a Woman" closed with its usual punch, assisted by Hartswick, possibly the most improved member of the band. When I first saw her years ago, she could really wail on that horn, but now she adds so much more. She's a force of nature. When she throws it down I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Actually, I can feel it right now just thinking about it. It's almost dangerous, just when you think she can't get any more powerful she sneaks out a grin as if to say isn't this the coolest thing. A little giggle to let you in on the joke, so when Trey finished his solo acoustic "Inlaw Josie Wales" encore, he turned her lose on "Dazed and Confused." I didn't think the building was going to come down, but I'm sure it lost a few bricks.Sunday night was more cerebral in a way than the first night. The songs were more complex, and required more effort to pull off. I was lucky to sit with some kids from Canada. Although they were fans of the music they'd never seen TAB or even Phish, so it was a big night for them. They were young, free from a lot of the jaded cynical feelings that people like me seem to cling to. It made me think about the joy that this music can bring. It's like an oasis in a dessert. It made me remember even the nastiest jam band is infinitely better than your average Britney Spears conglomerate crap machine. Of course this was no average jam band. The final night of the tour featured a warm up act, Trey's wedding band, Big Joe and the Unknown Blues band, which is also home to Russ Lawton and Tony Markellis. One wonders exactly how big you have to be to get the nickname "Big" in the same band with Tony Markellis, but Big Joe is an authentic blues man. He's big in the sense of soul.I suppose it's hard to have the blues in a perfect city like Burlington, but you couldn't tell from listening to Big Joe. Everyone was having a great time including Big Joe, who walked in using a cane, but didn't seem to need it while singing or playing the sax. It felt authentic, and that feeling is harder and harder to come by now a days when it comes to the blues. Finally it was time for TAB. "Simple Twist Up Dave" fired up the groove machine and "Mozambique" kept it pumping hard to open the second show of the pair. The next song "Undermind" was alright, but the set really got cranking with a hard core, heart pounding "Mr. Completely." I've never been a fan of this song, having been exposed to it too early listening to Oysterhead. I have to confess it gave me one oyster of a head ache, but the Canadian kids were just grooving and it forced me to give it a second fresh listen and I have to admit, it's not bad.It certainly helped that this version was the center piece of the set and the fuel of the jam machine. It made the groove cruise through a chilly "Every Story Ends in Stone" and directly into "First Tube." I almost thanked God for the end at that point. My knees can't take that much bouncing, but it wasn't the end. Jen stepped up to the mic and belted out a hard core "Black Dog" even more potent than "Dazed and Confused" the night before. Someone should call Christina Aguilera and tell her check out Jen so she can see what female empowerment is truly all about. She held the room in the palm of her hand as she belted out Zeppelin for the roaring crowd. It takes real guts to pull something like that off. Everybody knows that song, and I imagine if Trey isn't careful, pretty soon it'll be Jen's band.Set two. "Alive Again" got me feeling alive again, and recharged after the break. "Burlap sack and Pumps" was a scorcher as usual, with plenty of soloing from the horns to keep everyone happy and the groove machine thumping. "Flock of Words" came next, and was a nice mellow groove to rest my aching legs. I loved the flute solo; it seemed to cascade out like water in a falling mountain stream. Next came the repeat "Cincinnati," which was just as good as the previous night. That song has some legs. After the final rave up came the quiet "At the Gazebo." Truthfully, I'm not a fan of the song, and I'm never sure why Trey wants to play it. This version was typical, and eventually led into "Pebble and Marbles." The TAB song turned Phish tune returned home to its roots, but with the full band extended arrangement, rather than the solo acoustic tune of its infancy. The full band arrangement was very satisfying, full of energy and fun, and the crowd ate it up.The set closer was a fine repeat of "Last Tube," unfinished into Duke Ellington's "Caravan," a fitting end to Discover Jazz Festival in Burlington. When asked about Jazz most people think of Miles Davis, or John Coltrane, but when Jazz was America's most popular music Duke was the embodiment of Jazz. He was, like Trey, a prolific composer, constantly writing music. Then the encore. The Beastie Boy's "Root Down" can't be easy to sing. As Trey and Jen traded lines, he giggled out some of his, but Jen delivered hers like a natural MC. She was in complete command. It was a fitting end to a true musical journey. Jazz to Afropop, Rock to Hip Hop everything emptied out right there on stage.It was very satisfying, though it wasn't all good of course. The light rig was really stepped down, and without Kuroda handling the beams, some of the cues were a little sloppy. That was a minor flaw, hardly worth mentioning, especially since it won't come through on the disk. Maybe the Matrix has us, but if it does, it don't need me, Trey can keep their lights on for a while with his music. I'm headed for Zion. I think it's somewhere in Northern Maine. I hope it's not, but if this is the end of the present line up of the Trey band I'm going to miss it, more than the Dead when they were Grateful to be that way and Phish before we knew whether there would ever be a Phish again. TAB is more than a rock and roll band, even a really really good rock and roll band. It's more like listening to Duke Ellington or Dizzy Gillespie. You have the feeling that you're in the presence of a musical force. Something that might end up being historical, something they'll teach kids about in music school, the kind of thing that stands the test of time.Photo courtesy of Adam Foley.
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If the Matrix has us, Trey 
