On Friday night, Trey Anastasio‘s new project, Ghosts of the Forest, played their second-ever show at the recently renovated Metropolitan Opera House Philadelphia in Philadelphia, PA. The performance came the day after the new band made its debut in Portland, ME on Thursday.
The new outfit is comprised of Anastasio, his Phish bandmate Jon Fishman (drums), his Trey Anastasio Band cohorts Tony Markellis (bass), Ray Paczkowski (keys), and Jennifer Hartswick (vocals), and relative newcomer Celisse Henderson (vocals), who joined Phish, Hartswick, and more for their 2016 Ziggy Stardust Halloween set.
Friday’s setlist largely mirrored the set played at the band’s debut show, aside from the absence of “Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 3 (Blue)”, which closed their set on Thursday. In addition to a number of additional new tracks debuted on Thursday, Friday’s performance included all 9 songs set to be included on Ghosts of the Forest’s debut album, which arrives on April 12th. You can listen to the self-titled lead single from the album here.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Trey had explained the meaning of the new album: “It was just personal songs I was writing”, before going on to describe the heartbreak he experienced last year with the death of his childhood friend, Chris Cottrell.
He explained his emotional state, and his experience with death, when thinking up the new material:
I sat for days with him with my acoustic guitar. He sat on the couch and he kind of drifted in and out of consciousness. It was powerful and scary, and also kind of beautiful. It sort of became [about], “Well, we’re all going there, we’re all here together in death and in dreaming, and we’re free of time.” I was thinking about my sister who also died of cancer, and my grandmother. We carry these people around with us.
You can check out some videos from Ghosts of the Forest’s second-ever performance in Philadelphia below:
Ghosts of the Forest – 4/5/19
[Video: Gregory Marcus]
Ghosts of the Forest – “Beneath a Sea of Stars”
[Video: Gregory Marcus]
Ghosts of the Forest – “Brief Time”
[Video: Richard Stoler, Jr]
Ghosts of the Forest – 4/5/19
[Video: Richard Stoler, Jr]
Ghosts of the Forest’s inaugural tour continues tonight, Saturday, April 6th, at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. For a list of Ghosts of the Forest’s upcoming tour dates, see below. For more information, head here.
Setlist: Ghosts of the Forest | Metropolitan Opera House | Philadelphia, PA | 4/5/19
Set: Intro, Ghosts of the Forest, Drift While You’re Sleeping, Friend, Sightless Escape, Halfway Home, If Again, In Long Lines, There’s a Path Above, About to Run, The Green Truth, Beneath a Sea of Stars (parts 1 & 2), Mint Siren Dream, Stumble Into Flight, Ruby Waves, Shadows Thrown By Fire, Wider, A Light Beyond The Dream, In This Bubble
Encore: Brief Time, Pieces in the Machine
A full soundboard recording of the show is available to download now via LivePhish.