For the third show of Trey Anastasio Band’s inaugural Winter Tour, the band arrived in New York City for a show at Roseland Ballroom, on Friday, February 23, 2001. And being back in Manhattan would also allow Anastasio and Co. the opportunity to appear on Late Night TV, being just a seven minute walk to Rockefeller Center.
The show would bring a great deal of new tunes to fans who were clamoring for something now that Phish was on a hiatus of indeterminate time, and TAB would draw the biggest crowds of any Phish side project during this time period, or since. Thus, Trey had a a captive crowd for which to debut new music, experiment and find his groove as the leader of a different band, with his comfort level rising this evening over the course of two sets, reminiscing with new friends, and an old friend showing up late in the show.
With plenty of familiar and unfamiliar songs throughout the night, fans got an early dose of the tunes that would frame TAB tour for the next 25 years. The small yet familiar setting of Roseland Ballroom packed the show early, with fans treated to “Mozambique,” “The Way I Feel,” and the early pairing of “Push On ‘Til the Day > Tube Top Flop” to start the show. “It Makes No Difference” elicited loud cheers from fans, some of whom saw the setlists from the previous two nights and hoped to catch this gem from The Band. “Burlap Sack and Pumps” was well received early on, while a jammed out “Gotta Jibboo” with horns went especially deep, thanks to the baritone sax of Dave “The Truth” Grippo. A chill “At the Gazebo” led into a Trey solo acoustic version of “Back on the Train” to close the first set.
Set two opened with Chuck Berry’s “Wee Wee Hours,” new to some fans, while the “Mellow Mood” that followed was a-welcome-as ever cover that had only shown up for the first time on Phish tour that past September in Albany. A scorching 22 minute version of “Sand” with a “Burlap Sack and Pumps” horn section worked in, caught a groove early and would become a staple of TAB shows immediately.
A calming “Ether Sunday” followed, with Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” as thrilling for the crowd as it was the night before in Syracuse. When dipping into Five Stairsteps “Ooh Child,” Trey took a moment to find a groove, then locked in for one of the highlights of the show. “Happiness in My Pants,” an acoustic instrumental, would become “Birthday Boys” later that year with Oysterhead; that trio would return to Roseland Ballroom and Anastasio, Les Claypool and Stewart Copeland dropping this revised song in the encore slot. But it was during “Happiness in My Pants” that Trey began to banter and share some love and happiness about bassist Tony Markellis and drummer Russ Lawton. It was Tony whom Trey would see in Burlington back in 1983 and become a huge fan of, leading to connecting with Russ (who played with Tony in other projects) and between the three would form the core of Anastasio’s side project, beginning in 1998 as 8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes and finally coming to fruition in 2001 as Trey Anastasio Band.
Anastasio ended his banter this evening saying “I want to thank all of you for coming, I want you to know that I’ll never forget where this energy comes from. I just can’t thank you enough for your continued support of these projects. As long as you keep coming out, I will do my best to make sure it never ends,” and 25 years later, he has held up that assurance. Amid the excitement and Trey’s emotional release, he invited out Page McConnell to join in on the set closing “First Tube.”
The encore of “Sidewalks of San Francisco” – a funky horn driven original that has been lost to time (last played in 2003) – kept the unfamiliar paired with the familiar, followed by Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round in Circles?” with Page sticking around for the final tunes of the night.
Roseland Ballroom would host its final show in 2013, with Lady Gaga the final artist to perform.
Listen to the show via multiple sources here.
Trey Anastasio Band – Roseland Ballroom, Manhattan – Friday, February 23, 2001
Set 1: Mozambique, The Way I Feel, Push On ‘Til the Day > Tube Top Flop, It Makes No Difference, Burlap Sack and Pumps, Gotta Jibboo, At the Gazebo [1], Back on the Train [2]
Set 2: In the Wee Wee Hours, Mellow Mood, Sand, Ether Sunday, Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, O-o-h Child, Happiness in My Pants [3], First Tube [4]
Encore: Sidewalks of San Francisco[4], Will It Go Round in Circles[4]
[1] Trey on acoustic.
[2] Trey solo acoustic.
[3] Trey and Tony acoustic with Russ.
[4] Page on second keyboard.
Just before Trey Anastasio Band played at Roseland Ballroom, they made a stop over to Rockefeller Center and Studio 6A and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, performing “Push on ‘Til the Day” (and a snippet of “Tube Top Flop” as they went to commercial). Watch below.
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