Words and Images: S. Balaji Mani

Just across the street from Fenway Park, where Trey and Phish kicked off a long-anticipated summer tour last year, Trey and Classic TAB got down to business at Boston’s House of Blues. Coming on a little after 8:30 PM, Trey and company kicked off with the newly-arranged Shine. The brass intro foreshadowed what would be the defining element of the night, TAB’s featured three-piece horn section. The lighting went perfectly with the lyrics, with blazing yellows and whites flooding the room as Trey and the audience echoed the chorus. A bouncy and funky Cayman Review followed, with Trey bouncing up and jumping around, pointing to various fans in the audience.

A calm, dark What’s Done brought the mood down to let people catch their breath – it was also a first for this tour so far. The Birdwatcher showed up in the set as an Elvis-tinged old school rock-and-roll number, a distinct departure from its barbershop arrangement on Party Time.

Trey didn’t hesitate to introduce the newest member of the TAB family, trombonist Natalie Cressman (the first “second generation member of the band,” as her father used to play in TAB). She was beaming the whole night, and also joined Jennifer Hartswick on background vocals for most of the tunes. She really stepped out to shine on Mozambique, delivering a beautifully accented and original solo. While the first set had its moments, including another tour debut with Plasma (which was also supplemented with beautiful lighting work), the true standouts came thereafter.

Drifting led the second half of the evening, with colorful flute work from original Giant Country Horn member Russell Remington. Russell switched fluidly between percussion instruments, flute and saxophones throughout the night. The requisite TAB staple, Sand, sent everyone into a dancing frenzy.

READ ON for more of Balaji’s photos and thoughts on Classic TAB…

As the horn section left the stage to let Trey, Ray Paczkowski, Tony Markellis, and Russ Lawton stretch out the number, the band began to lay down simple grooves. Trey’s soloing meshed with Ray’s work on the electric clavichord, and it was often difficult to distinguish which notes were coming from which instrument. The sound textures blended into a soft wash over the audience and then Trey stepped out to lead the jam into the peak. As the horn section stepped back in to close the song, it was clear that the new incarnation of TAB was benefiting from a sleek, trimmed down brass team.

Goodbye Head, a longer composed piece fared well, with rich horns providing musical context for the transition from one section to the next. The piece sounded more triumphant than its studio counterpart, which is padded with strings. The ever clever band leader, Trey decided to take Money, Love, and Change on a key-changing musical journey. Signaling to his bandmates when to modulate up or down (and into what new key), Trey conducted each change smoothly and tastefully, causing the crowd to roar as the band shifted its sound. Russell began soloing, and Natalie and Jen stepped in to join in the game – no band member knew what Trey would call next, having only a few second to register a given hand signal and change.

As the crowd celebrated a successful and groove-laden two sets, the band came out for the much-expected encore. While the setlists had been relatively similar the past few nights, Trey decided to bust out a special surprise, “saving it up for Friday night.” He strummed out the opening chords to Sultans of Swing, and the horn section developed the well-known harmonies on top of his playing. Not only was the song a remarkably tasty and well-played surprise, but the brass trio really kicked it up a notch on this one: while Trey took care of the first guitar solo halfway through the song (ornamenting it in his own, but still tipping the hat to Mark Knopfler), the horn section took care of all the memorable guitar licks that intersperse the verses. They even nailed the classic guitar solo at the end, note for note!

As if the night hadn’t been special enough, Trey introduced the last piece of the night, First Tube, as the first song that he Tony and Russ wrote together during the birth of TAB. Trey, who had been jumping up and down all night, was all over the place, smiling at Ray and playing off of his organ work, and connecting with as many people in the audience as he could. While most of the songs played are likely to be repeated throughout the tour, it’s still unclear if “Sultans” will show up again. Keep following the TAB tour on Hidden Track to see what other gems Big Red unleashes this February.

Trey Anastasio and Classic TAB
February 12, 2010
House of Blues
Boston, MA

Set 1: Shine, Cayman Review, Push On Til The Day, What’s Done, The Birdwatcher, Mozambique, Night Speaks to a Woman, Alaska, Let Me Lie, Plasma, Tuesday

Set 2: Drifting, All That Almost Was, Sand, Goodbye Head > Gotta Jibboo, Small Axe, Valentine, Money Love and Change, Show of Life, Dragonfly

Encore: Sultans of Swing, First Tube

[via @YEMblog]

HT Staff

Hidden Track was started in October of 2006 and features a team of dedicated contributors from across the country. This article was written by one of the newest members of our team or was a collaboration by more than one contributor. Want to contribute to Hidden Track? Send us a pitch to scott at glidemagazine dot com.

Website - More Posts