Today marks Phish keyboardist Page McConnell’s 50th Birthday and we’ve been celebrating over at JamBase by presenting a list of our 15 Favorite Page-sung Phish One-Timers as well as by sharing the thoughts of jam scene keyboardists Marco Benevento, Matt McDonald, Jason Crosby and Joel Cummins about Page’s influence on their playing. I wanted to make sure HT got in on the act, so we’ll bend the rules on the “full show” part of our Full Show Friday column this week.

My favorite Page McConnell musical experience outside of Phish has to be the night both he and Trey Anastasio performed on three songs with the Allman Brothers Band as part of the group’s 40th Anniversary Run at the Beacon Theatre on March 12th, 2009. At the end of that evening’s first set Page and Trey emerged, along with guitar legend Buddy Guy, to perform Southbound with the Allmans. Then, to kickoff the second set, McConnell and Anastasio added their talents to otherworldly versions of I Know You Rider and In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed.

The entire run was webcast via Butch Trucks’ Moogis service and clips of all three songs have surfaced on YouTube for our viewing enjoyment. Besides the performances themselves, check out the beginning of the Rider to overhear a sweet chat between McConnell and Gregg Allman.

Here’s Southbound, followed by I Know You Rider and In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed…

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Phish front man Trey Anastasio’s first foray into Broadway may not have been a success at the box office, but he’s doing just fine on the Awards Season front. Not only is he up for Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards, today he scored a nomination for the big prize – A Tony Award.

Hands On A Hardbody, which features music penned by Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green, has been nominated in the Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre category. The shuttered musical also saw actress Keala Settle and actor Keith Carradine score Tony noms.

The Tony telecast will air on CBS June 9th at 8PM ET.

In other Phish news, JamBase.com has details of a new LivePhish release.

While Broadway musical Hands On A Hardbody didn’t last long on the Great White Way, the show has been holding its own in award season. Following a number of nominations for the Outer Circle Awards, Hands On A Hardbody has garned nine nods for the Drama Desk Awards. More specifically, Trey Anastasio – who penned the music for Hands On A Hardbody with Amanda Green – is up for the Outstanding Music Award as well as the Outstanding Orchestrations Award. Trey shares the nomination with Green for the former and with longtime collaborator Don Hart on the latter.

Hands On A Hardbody itself is up for the Outstanding Musical Award. Anastasio and Green face still competition in the Outstanding Music Award category including David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s Here Lies Love. The awards will be handed out at a ceremony in NYC on May 19th. We’ll see what happens tomorrow when noms for the Broadway Award Seasons biggest prize – The Tonys – are announced.

[via Variety.com]

Last night Trey Anastasio’s four-show West Coast swing with TAB came to a close at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California. While we wait for a setlist to surface (we can confirm that the band didn’t repeat any songs from Friday’s sets on Saturday night), we wanted to share a batch of amazing videos from the two shows that were shot by our friend nowiknowyouryder.

[Photo by Ezra Landes]

• Previously on HT: Photos, Setlist and Video From First TAB @ Fox Show

Let’s start with the Tuesday encore from the first night at the Fox…

Now, take a peek at Architect from Friday’s show…

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Trey Anastasio @ Fox Theater, April 19

The Trey Anastasio Band’s brief, four-show West Coast swing reached the Bay Area last night, where the Phish front man and his solo band played their first of two performances at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California. TAB focused on material from Anastasio’s self-titled debut and most recent album, Traveler, but also delivered scattered classics from throughout Trey’s solo career as well as a cover of O-o-h Child by The Five Stairsteps and a horn-driven version of Page McConnell’s Magilla.

[All Photos by Lee Fenyves]

Towards the end of the first set, Anastasio brought out trombonist Jeff Cressman, who was a member of Trey’s Undectet in the mid ’00s, to jam along with his daughter and current TAB member Natalie her signature song – Mozambique.

Here’s a look at last night’s setlist…

Set One: Drifting, Cayman Review, Alive Again, O-o-h Child, Magilla, Money Love and Change, Greyhound Rising, Scabbard, Mozambique*, Dark and Down, Push On Till The Day

Set Two: Sand, Valentine, Goodbye Head, Night Speaks To A Woman, Architect, Gone, Pigtail, Alaska, Traveler

Encore: Tuesday

* – w/ Jeff Cressman

[via Phantasy Tour]

Check out more of Lee Fenyves’ stunning photos and a video…

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Phish front man Trey Anastasio and his Trey Anastasio Band ensemble opened a brief four-show swing last night at the Moore Theatre in Seattle. Over the course of two lengthy sets, TAB delivered a mix of songs from each stage of Anastasio’s solo career as well as an acoustic romp through Wilson.

Before starting Wilson, Anastasio told the crowd it was a thrill to be in Seattle and mentioned that it’s a dream of his for fans to chant “Wilson” when Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson steps on the field. Trey said “use social media and tell your friends,” imploring fans to make it happen.

Check out the setlist from last night’s show…

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While Hands On A Hardbody’s Broadway run came a close last night, that won’t be the last we hear from the musical. According to Broadway World, the Original Broadway Cast will enter the studio next month to record the Hands On A Hardbody soundtrack. Phish front man Trey Anastasio will produce the album with Amanda Green set to co-produce.

Green and Anastasio co-wrote the music for Hands On A Hardbody, which was based on a 1997 documentary of the same name. The musical ran for a total of 56 performances, with 28 during the preview period and 28 regular performances. The album is currently set for a June 2013 release.

[via Broadway World / Hat Tip - Jeremy D. Goodwin]

Record Store Day 2013 takes place on April 20th, exactly one week from today. Among the exclusive Record Store Day releases you’ll be able to find, if you’re lucky (there’s only 1,200 copies up for sale), at your local independent record store will be a 7″ from Phish front man Trey Anastasio dubbed “Blue Ash And Other Suburbs.” Ever since we helped break the news on this release, there’s been little known about the four songs included within. Let’s run down what we know.

Blue Ash And Other Suburbs, a limited edition picture disc vinyl, contains outtakes from the Traveler sessions in Fall, 2011. All in all there are four songs on Blue Ash And Other Suburbs, each of which were co-produced by Anastasio and Peter Katis. Only one of the tunes has been played by the Trey Anastasio Band and that’s Gone which was also performed by Phish and included on the quartet’s Party Time LP. Here’s the lyrics for Gone as well as a video from a live performance…

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Of all the songs from Trey Anastasio’s latest release, Traveler, the one that translated best in the live setting, in our opinion, was Architect. Co-written with Steve “Dude of Life” Pollak, the song was a showcase for the light designer Marc Janowitz and thrived from the additions of Trey’s band.

Trey has just posted a video of Architect from his Jan. 23rd show at The Capitol Theatre to his official YouTube channel.The clip was directed by Eli Tishberg and mixed by Jon Altschiller. Take a look…

After years of hard work and many re-writes and rejiggering, Hands On A Hardbody finally debuted on Broadway last month. Sadly, it’s run won’t last too long as the producers of the musical, which features music written by Phish front man Trey Anastasio and Broadway veteran Amanda Green, have announced that HoaHB will close following this Saturday’s performance according to a report from the New York Times.

It’s too bad because it was an entertaining musical, but we can see how the story of Texans fighting for the right to take home a truck didn’t translate to the Great White Way. As for Big Red, regardless of the show’s short run, he accomplished his dream of writing music for a Broadway musical and no one can take that away from him. It also received a rave review from the New York Times, something that can’t be said of many musicals.

Reports surfaced last week that the musical was in trouble as New York Post theater scribe Michael Riedel warned HoaHB was losing nearly a quarter million dollars a week in an article posted in late March. According to the Times, the musical only took in 22% of the maximum possible amount it could garner over last week’s eight performances. In all, Hands On A Hardbody will have run for a total of 56 performances – 28 previews and 28 regular showings. Want to see HoaHB before it closes? “Rush” tickets are available at the box office for $32 the day of the show at the Brooks Atkinson Theater.

[Hat Tip - Parker Harrington]

Months after the Harlem Shake phenomenon took hold, Phish front man Trey Anastasio and the cast and crew of Hands On A Hardbody offer their interpretation of the meme…

Sadly, it seems the cast and crew might not have much more time left together according to New York Post On Broadway columnist Michael Riedel, who claims Hands On A Hardbody is currently losing a quarter of a million dollars a week. Tickets are available through the musical’s website.

[Video Hat Tip - @gr8fulgolfer]

The new Broadway musical Hands On A Hard Body officially opens tonight after weeks of previews. To promote the premiere, HoaHB’s creative team of Trey Anastasio, Amanda Green and Doug Wright visited MSNBC’s Morning Joe. While most of the discussion focused on the musical, John Heilemann asked a question that many Phish fans have pondered – when will Phish start recording a new album?

[Photo via @gidplot]

Anastasio’s off-the-cuff response was “tomorrow.” In many interviews about the musical Trey has talked about how much work he put into Hands On A Hard Body throughout the multiple year process that led to tonight’s opening. Even as the musical was in previews, both Anastasio and Green have worked hard getting the song order down and have even added a tune in recent weeks. Now that the musical is set, it appears Anastasio is ready to turn his focus back on to Phish.

For you Phish fans: @treyanastasio tells @JoeNBC & @jheil on @morning_joe that @phish is starting an album "tomorrow." #morningjoe

Thursday, March 21, 2013 8:53 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@Morning_Joe

Morning Joe

Whether he was being flip in saying “tomorrow” isn’t known, but it does appear the quartet will enter the studio shortly. We’re hopeful that Phish will have plenty of new material by the time they kick off their summer tour on July 3rd. Watch the entire interview…

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This past Sunday CBS Sunday Morning aired a profile on Phish front man Trey Anastasio that focused on his participation in Hands On A Hard Body. The program just posted a web extra that features Anastasio talking to correspondent Anthony Mason about Phish and Phish fans.

Anastasio discusses the “S Show,” his “persnickety fans” and how much fun he’s having…

CBS also posted another interesting “web extra” where Anastasio discusses Phish’s 2004 breakup…

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Phish front man Trey Anastasio was the focus of an Anthony Mason profile on today’s episode of CBS Sunday Morning. The piece focused on Big Red’s role as songwriter on the new Broadway musical Hands On A Hard Body as well as Phish’s ups and downs over the past 30 years.

[Photo by @AnthonyMasonCBS]

Here’s official video of the profile…

You can read a transcript/article about the feature at CBS’s website.

As we first reported, Phish front man Trey Anastasio will be the subject of a profile on this Sunday’s episode of CBS Sunday Morning. Contributor Anthony Mason hosts the profile. You can watch a brief preview of the piece that’s set to air on Sunday below…