Trey Solo 2025

Back when Phish reformed in 2009, they imposed a bunch of rules on themselves, in an effort to keep the endeavor sustainable indefinitely. One rule was a limit of 50 shows per year, which dismayed a lot of fans, but for fans of Trey Anastasio’s non-Phish side, it has worked out nicely. He’s gone on tour either solo or with his “solo” band every year the reunited Phish has toured, although the current solo acoustic format was novel for him back in 2019.

When that tour stopped in Milwaukee (https://milwaukeerecord.com/music/trey-anastasio-refuses-to-play-it-safe-at-rewarding-riverside-theater-show/), it brought out a fairly rowdy crowd whose chatter occasionally overwhelmed the performance. That was the beforetimes, though, and fans didn’t quite know what to expect. They didn’t realize Anastasio was going to pull a Keller Williams and jam with himself at these shows. They thought it was gonna be just like when THEY bust out an acoustic guitar at a party and sing Phish songs.

This time around, fans knew better. The Saturday night crowd at the Riverside was exuberant and plenty willing to interact, but not rude, allowing Trey to go off on whatever tangents he felt like without interrupting or getting too restless. Interestingly, he didn’t take as many liberties with looping and improvising at first, but he did treat the crowd to some true rarities, like the third-ever performance of “Valdese” (which appears on Phish’s most recent album, EVOLVE, but has never been played by Phish), plus “Lost In The Pack”, one of Tom Marshall’s most effortlessly charming lyrics in recent years, and “Sunset Days”, a once-or-twice-a-year Anastasio-penned love letter.

However another mystifying post-pandemic trend also persisted: for the most part, he just played the same songs Phish always play. Despite dozens of very worthy Anastasio tunes that he’s always kept separate from Phish, spanning a dozen solo albums and beyond, everything he played in Milwaukee aside from the three songs mentioned above, was Phish material. Granted, a lot of that solo stuff works best with horns. A lot of it probably reminds Trey of bandmates who have passed, or perhaps even times in his life he’d sooner not dwell on as he approaches two decades of sobriety. And he still trots a lot of those songs out with his solo band.

Here in a solo-acoustic setting, however, Anastasio is looking to actually HEAR the crowd singing along. He could get some folks going with “Alive Again” or “Night Speaks To A Woman” or whatever, but not as many as with…say, almost any Phish song. Singing is a naturally therapeutic activity, making “Theme From The Bottom” + “Sample In A Jar” + “Wolfman’s Brother” one of the more affordable healthcare initiatives available in the U.S.A. It’s the Midwest; we haven’t had any wintertime Phish since 2003 and we need to sing too!

There’s an added bonus, though, if you’re going to Trey shows this year: pianist Jeff Tanski. Jeff is a Broadway guy who first crossed paths with Trey during the HANDS ON A HARD BODY era (feel free to google that) and whom I feel I can personally blame for the song “Petrichor”. I harbor no bitterness any more, since Phish have apparently hung the godawful song up, and now I feel I’ve taken one for the team by purchasing tickets for this tour and enduring “Petrichor” in a more appropriate setting so that Phishheads generally won’t have to.

All “kidding” aside, Tanski’s emergence at the Riverside signaled the show getting way more interesting. Stepping into the shoes of Page McConnell???!?!? you gasp with exactly that punctuation. Yes, but…no. Tanski’s more of a classical player, though clearly no stiff when it comes to improv, but in a limited sense. While there was no four decades of mutual intuition between them, Tanski either knows the Phish catalog inside and out or can sight-read with the best, making for gorgeous takes on “Pebbles And Marbles” and “Billy Breathes”. Then following “Petrichor”, an actual jam in “Reba”! (Which featured Tanski playing Page’s AND Mike’s parts simultaneously during the composed section!) But how will they know when to end it without Jon Fishman to give the signal??

Trey repeatedly found ways to take familiar songs onto unfamiliar paths, though these were more like parlor tricks than attempts to blow anyone’s mind. He’s not one of those guitar heroes whose prowess on the electric translates to magical acoustic fingerpicking. Even before ever going solo, there was the occasional Anastasio acoustic piece on Phish albums; why doesn’t he ever play “Eliza” on these tours? These were glorified compositional exercises, though, not displays of virtuosity. It might seem counterintuitive, but Trey’s not really a showoff by nature. These shows…kind of are little friend gatherings above all. We’re not there to experience nirvana or even dance our cares away, we’re there to cheer on a buddy.

Still, we managed to carve out a little space to dance during the “Split Open And Melt” jam in the encore, which was sick. And in a cool twist, when they were wrapping up “The Squirming Coil” to end the show, it was the pianist who left the stage while the guitarist played on alone.

It was an immensely enjoyable show despite “Petrichor”; I wouldn’t normally have been looking to repeat the experience, but a friend happened to have a Chicago work trip this week soooooo. Phish’s usual no-repeats rules don’t apply, but there were only four songs common to both shows, even though the gig at the Symphony Center boasted even fewer rarities. Also, in Chicago he told a Fishman story I don’t think I’d ever heard before—admittedly, I don’t often listen to Trey shows after the fact. When people follow your career this exhaustively, it’s hard to give them something they haven’t already heard; I’m guessing he told ALL these Fishman stories already on the 2019 tour and he might have to work up some new material if he keeps doing these.

Trey didn’t have Tanski along in ‘19, though, a variable that actually makes going to multiple shows worthwhile. Whereas the Riverside had more interesting jams, the Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall was more suited for fresh two-person arrangements of trickier compositions like “Divided Sky” and “Harry Hood”, and a real treat as they ended the show with “You Enjoy Myself”. These sit-down shows are almost unavoidably stuffier than what Trey’s used to; he’s still trying to convince his audiences to participate more. He wants us, for instance, to sing Mike’s part during the chorus of “NICU”; who even knows those words?? In Chicago, he enjoyed our howls so much as he went into “Wolfman’s Brother” that he sang “The Howling” for half a minute, but we didn’t fare as well on the multi-part outro portion, and some of us have to remember to sing Page’s part during “Bouncing Around The Room” or it’s never gonna sound right. However, bravo to all of us on “Possum”. I’m pretty sure that was the first time I ever heard Trey sing those verses!

“You Enjoy Myself” is also gonna take some time, though. This isn’t one you’d ever guess you’d hear at a solo acoustic show; Tanski changes the rules. Normally, the song ends with all the members of Phish doing wacky vocal improvisations; the one in Chicago ended in a soothing harmonious drone, and I found myself humming along, which I THINK is the idea, only Trey’s hoping it’ll arise without his having to instruct us. All of this suggests that he intends to continue doing tours like this in between Phish and whatever else; his solo band seemed to be making strides last year in terms of gelling as a jammy rock band, but truth be told, these acoustic outings were still more engaging. It’s fun getting a glimpse of truly off-the-cuff Anastasio, seeing him test out his latest goofy tricks. Maybe it’s not the end of the world if those old TAB songs are mostly relegated to their own time and space. We had our fun with ‘em. Whereas Phish songs are still living and breathing, which in the end is more crucial than how good they are. And we can always hold out hope that maybe if he plays enough versions of “Back On The Train” and “46 Days” on this tour, Phish won’t play QUITE as many this summer…?