On Tuesday night, Trey Anastasio returned home to New York for the first of two shows at the iconic Carnegie Hall to close out his fall 2019 solo acoustic tour. The evening’s setlist featured the typical mix of Phish favorites, TAB tunes, and Ghosts of the Forest material we’ve come to expect at Trey’s acoustic shows. This performance, in particular, was highlighted by a universal appreciation (by both the crowd and the man on stage) for the history and significance of playing at Carnegie Hall.
As Anastasio noted after opening his three-song encore with “Driver”,
It is unbelievable as you walk down the hallway to come onstage back there. They have all these pictures of these orchestras and musicians going back to like … 1922. It’s kinda like… You know the end of The Shining when he ends up in the photo? It’s like that. It’s just like that. And it’s creepy walking on here because… I know, I’ve believed this my whole life and I believe it more with every passing year of playing music, that the purpose of being a musician is you’re supposed to be a channel, right? I like to think of it as you’re what I would call a “temporary steward” of the music. You’re a temporary guide, or something like that, between the listener and wherever it comes from.
What happens, though, at a place like this, it’s like the physical manifestation of that concept. You walk in this room that’s been around since 1891. Everyone who was around when it was built, of course, is long gone. And then you go down the hallway and there’s this incredibly wild…picture after picture of, like, the orchestra from 1930, and Duke Ellington, and all these people who have played here. And I was thinking as I was walking… Bach sat down and wrote this music, and at the top of every piece of music he ever wrote, he would write, “For the Glory of God”—in whatever language [laughs]… Very famously, he would write “For the Glory of God” and then he would write his music, his beautiful Bach music. But in his mind, he was like, “I’m just channeling this… I’m here to do a service.”
He then passed away, right? The music came out. These orchestras come up here in like the ’20s. They all have same chairs, the same tuxedoes—on this stage, right here. Here’s this beautiful room, and all of a sudden this music appears that was written all the way back then. And everybody hears it and they kind of back in this sound. And now, every single person on this stage that’s in those pictures has now passed away. They’re gone. Other people come, sit in chairs, and here comes this music again [crowd cheers]. You know what I’m saying?
I’ve always thought of music that way. That, as a musician, it’s your moment to have, you’re supposed to do this thing as long as you’re around and then you vanish and somebody else takes your place. But in a place like this, the concept is so abundantly clear. The same walls, the same seats. There’s pictures back there of the audiences, and they’re all gone [crowd cheers]. So you guys, you’re history! Just, you know, enjoy the moment, because you’re not gonna be here all that long. … You’re goners, you’re a bunch of goners. Temporary listeners [laughs].
You can watch Trey Anastasio wax poetic about the everlasting quality of music and the temporary nature of human life from the legendary Carnegie Hall stage below:
Trey Anastasio – Carnegie Hall Musicians History Banter – 10/29/19
[Video: Richard Vining]
Trey Anastasio – “Ghosts of the Forest” – 10/29/19
[Video: Gregory Marcus]
Below, you can watch a selection of fan-shot video clips from the performance:
Trey Anastasio will close out his solo acoustic tour with a second sold-out performance at Carnegie Hall tonight, Wednesday, October 30th. For more information on upcoming Trey Anastasio tour dates, head here.
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Trey Anastasio Oct 29, 2019 | Carnegie Hall New York, NY 📸: @rene_huemer
Setlist: Trey Anastasio (Solo Acoustic) | Carnegie Hall | New York, NY | 10/29/19
Set: Theme From the Bottom [1], Water in the Sky[1], Ghosts of the Forest[1], Sample in a Jar[1], Limb By Limb[1], Brian and Robert[1], If I Could[1], Wolfman’s Brother[1], The Inlaw Josie Wales[1], Shade[1], Mountains in the Mist[1], Blaze On[1], Strange Design[1], Rise/Come Together[1], Back on the Train[1], AC/DC Bag[1], Snowflakes in the Sand[1], Till We Meet Again[1], Turtle in the Clouds[1], Sunset Days[1], Winterqueen[1], Everything’s Right[1] > The Wedge[1], Backwards Down the Number Line[1] > Sand[1], Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.[1]
ENCORE: Driver[1], Summer of ’89[1], Wilson[1]