On Saturday night, Trey Anastasio‘s new project, Ghosts of the Forest, played their third-ever show at The Anthem in Washington, D.C.
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.
Saturday’s setlist almost identically mirrored the band’s set on Friday in Philadelphia, aside from the debut of a beautiful new solo show-opening intro, commanded by Paczkowski on the keys. In addition to a number of additional new tracks debuted on Thursday at the tour opener, Saturdays’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 third-ever performance in Washington, D.C. below:
Ghosts of the Forest – “Drift While You’re Sleeping”
[Video: Gregory Marcus]
Ghosts of the Forest – “If Again”
[Video: Gregory Marcus]
Ghosts of the Forest’s inaugural tour continues on Tuesday, April 9th, at Albany, NY’s Palace Theatre. For a list of Ghosts of the Forest’s upcoming tour dates, see below. For more information, head here.
Setlist: Ghosts of the Forest | The Anthem | Washington, D.C. | 4/6/2019
Set: Intro [1], 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 Life Beyond The Dream, In This Bubble > Beneath a Sea of Stars Part 3 (blue)
Encore: Brief Time, Pieces in the Machine
[1] Debut.
A full soundboard recording of the show is available to download now via LivePhish.