On Saturday, Wanee Festival at the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, saw Trey Anastasio play a performance with Trey Anastasio Band and the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir perform with his Campfire Band later in the evening. These two artists ended up coming together during Weir’s set, putting on a magical acoustic duet segment for awe-struck fans. Traditionally with his Campfire Band shows, Weir plays a solo acoustic segment before inviting the band to join him; at Wanee, it was no different with the Dead guitarist starting his set alone with “Two Djinn” and “Corrina.”
After these first two solo songs, Anastasio came out, much to the surprise of the crowd, eliciting thunderous applause for the Phish guitarist. For their first three numbers, the two stuck to songs extensively present in the Grateful Dead’s catalog, choosing “Deep Elem Blues,” “Friend of the Devil,” and “Bird Song” to start the set. The paired down set had fans singing along along with the couple, as Trey and Bob expertly moved through the songs, switch off leading vocals, coming together for choruses, and in general, showing off their guitar picking skills.
After the three gorgeous Dead covers, Anastasio and Weir then paid tribute to Phish, moving straight into “Miss You,” a Phish ballad led vocally by Trey that was debuted last summer at Wrigley Field off Big Boat, after the end of their powerful rendition of “Bird Song.” To end things off, Bob and Trey took a quick pause, huddling together on stage and with Trey visibly grinning before the duo launched into their last song, a cover of Lady Gaga’s “A Million Reasons,” a debut for both guitarists, who swapped verses throughout. Following the nontraditional cover, Anastasio left the stage, with Weir pointing to him as he left and instructing the crowd to “say ‘thank you, Trey,'” an order that no one at the performance had an issue obliging. From there, the Campfire Band came out for the first time during Weir’s performance at Wanee, and together the full band worked through songs off of Weir’s new album, Blue Mountain, as well as a healthy dose of classic Grateful Dead tunes to help Bobby wrap up his appearance.
You can check out the full setlist from Trey Anastasio’s sit-in with Bob Weir, courtesy of Suwannee HD Streams, as well as a full setlist from Bob Weir’s performance, courtesy of setlist.fm, below.
[Cover photo courtesy of Kendall Deflin]
Deep Elem Blues
Friend of the Devil
Bird Song > Miss You
Million Reasons