The Triumphant Return of Trey at ROTHBURY, plus 3/4 Phish Reunion!

Photo by Katy Batdorff/
The Grand Rapids Press
(more pics)

Despite a few sit-ins over the last year and a half (see Trey with Phil & Friends and Trey with Robert Randolph for example) we haven't seen much from Trey Anastasio since his auspicious arrest in December of 2006.

But all of that was behind him on Sunday as Trey returned to the stage for a solo acoustic set on July 6th at the inaugural ROTHBURY Festival in Rothbury, Michigan.

Trey's ROTHBURY setlist included about a dozen Phish tunes, a Trey tune, and a GRAB tune. And as an added (though expected) bonus, Mike Gordon sat in for a few songs including two new ones — Backwards Down the Number Line and Alaska — though no official word on whether or not these are intended to be “Phish songs.” According to Trey he taught Mike both these of these songs to five minutes before the show.

You can download the entire Trey ROTHBURY set in lossless flac format on etree (Chris Davis and Col. George's Peluso cemc6/ck4 source | Nakguy's Milab VM-44 Link source) or you can download a lossy mp3 version of Trey's ROTHBURY set from mediafire. And stay tuned to this space for more concert videos from Trey's appearance at ROTHBURY.

UPDATE (July 6, 2008): After Trey's set, Mike had a set just a short distance away, and Trey returned the favor by joining Mike on stage (with a Stratocaster) for a jam and Meat. Then, just when you thought it couldn't get any better, there was a ¾ Phish reunion as Fishman joined Mike and Trey on stage for a cover of the Beatles song She Said, She Said!

Update (August 2nd, 2008): See our post about Trey's solo acoustic show at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.

Update (August 7th, 2008): See our post about Trey & Classic TAB at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.

Update (August 10, 2008): See our post about Trey & Classic TAB at the All Points West Festival in New Jersey.

Trey Anastasio ROTHBURY Setlist (July 6, 2008)

Get Back on the Train >
Brian and Robert
Water in the Sky
Driver
Inlaw Josie Whales
Farmhouse
Let Me Lie
Sample in a Jar
Banter (joke about being arrested) #
Mountains in the Mist
Sleep Again
Wading in the Velvet Sea
Waste
Backwards Down the Number Line * % (New Song)
Alaska* (New Song)
Chalkdust Torture *

* With Mike Gordon on bass
# In reference to a town near Rothbury, MI that shares a name with the town where Trey was arrested in New York, Trey said... “I’m happy to be back in Michigan. I woke up in the car on my way here and the sign read Whitehall and it was a very scary moment. I had no idea I was going to wake up 18 months later back in Whitehall, but I’m happy to be here. Most of you probably don’t know what that means, but this song is for the people of Whitehall…”
% Upon bringing Mike on stage for the new Trey / Tom songs, Trey said... “if only we could find a drummer and keyboard player. But it’s got to start with the songs, so you can be our test audience.”
NOTE: Thanks to Greenhaus Effect for transcribing the banter.