By: David Schultz

Concert reviews very rarely offer practical advice. Save for occasional moments during a U2 show, rock concerts seldom provide a fertile environment for obtaining answers to life's mysteries. However, Trey Anastasio's Tuesday night show at New York's Roseland Ballroom served as a Petrie dish for a clever observer to detect whether the date you brought to see Trey might be "the One." Consider this to be the litmus test for discerning the solution to one of life's more difficult dilemmas: at the conclusion of Anastasio's acoustic bridge between his two sets, ask your lady friend what she thinks of the show so far. Should the response include any type of overly enthusiastic appreciation for the show, consider proposing. If in order to pose the question to her, you have to interrupt her from talking to one of her friends on her cell phone, a call that obviously couldn't wait until the show finished, and overhear her say "I'm at a show by some Phish guy," consider the prospects dim. If she blatantly feigns illness and wants to leave, usher her to the door and wish her a nice life. Consider this the musical equivalent of Chazz Palminteri's advice to C in A Bronx Tale and Earvolution's contribution to greater harmony and happiness amongst true music aficionados.

Anastasio's practice of shunning the traditional set break began this past summer. Preferring to let the band rest, Trey foregoes a short respite, opting instead to entertain the crowd with acoustic readings of songs from the Phish catalogue. This night, the acoustic set included the latter-day "Pebbles and Marbles," the old-school "Sample In A Jar," and Phish's oft-played Rolling Stones cover of "Loving Cup." In addition to affording Anastasio an opportunity to relax with intimately familiar material, the acoustic break also provided a lull from the locomotive pacing of the first set.

Those expecting to see Trey play a two hour set of Phish tunes with the 70 Volt Parade substituting for the absent members of the band will be sorely disappointed. Unlike a Ratdog or Phil Lesh & Friends show, Anastasio refuses to use his prior band’s major accomplishments as a crutch and falls back on the more popular selections of the Phish catalogue as infrequently as Jerry Garcia fell back on the Grateful Dead's while touring with his eponymous band. Phish's free-spirited live shows, which were closer in nature to Frank Zappa than to any of the other jambands that preceded them, succeeded on the strength of the band's communal spirit. No such shared vision exists with Trey’s current project: Trey’s backing band, the 70 Volt Parade, take their cues and direction from their leader. The musical direction may be different, but the joyous results produced on stage have remained the same.

When not bouncing energetically in place, Anastasio blows through solo after solo, coming across as a younger, funkier more amiable version of Eric Clapton. Focusing primarily on material from his solo career, Anastasio preserves Phish's spirit of exploring every possibility of a song. Although most of Trey's solo songs start awkwardly, they gel quickly and close with intense fury. Longtime concert gems like "Night Speaks To A Woman" and "Simple Twist Up Dave" as well as the Round Room Phish era "46 Days" enraptured an audience yearning for Anastasio to let loose and unleash a whole new set of guitar licks. The only misfire of the evening came during the Layla-like finish to "Wherever You Find It" as the band never seemed to get find their comfort level with one of the newer songs from Shine, Anastasio's most recent solo effort.

Phish provided Anastasio with ample room to explore the arena space, however, he was never able to jam as hard and to the extent that he does during his solo performances. Feeling the passion with which Trey played at the Roseland Ballroom, it's easy to question whether the fabled Vermont foursome held Trey back from accomplishing greater things. Before the seed of such a notion could germinate, the encore eliminated any such doubts.

For the first encore, Page McConnell appeared on stage with Trey, marking their first joint appearance on stage since Phish's last performances in August 2004. With Anastasio on acoustic guitar and McConnell on keyboards, the two countered the rambunctious reaction caused by Page's appearance with a quiet, sweet encore of Phish songs consisting of "Strange Design," "Waves" and "Waste." Phish devotees incessantly shushed a restless minority during the pair’s charming, engaging set. However, the show didn’t end on a quiet note. McConnell rejoined Anastasio for a second encore along with the 70 Volt Parade and yet another guest keyboardist, John Medeski. The unassuming Medeski and McConnell skillfully traded riffs with Anastasio on "First Tube," closing the show with an energetic finale.

Listening to Trey and Page rekindle their musical flame erased any qualms about Phish restraining Anastasio. Playing alongside McConnell, Anastasio displayed a different side of his multifaceted musical personality. Trey's solo performances allow him to freely explore his pure rock guitarist side. Rather than hold back Trey, or any other member of the band for that matter, Phish allowed each of them to stretch beyond comfortable limits and develop and explore diverse facets of their musical personas. Prior to the encore, Anastasio smilingly looked over at McConnell and joked with the audience that they were seeing the debut of Halfway There. If Gordon, Fishman and McConnell have as much left in the tank as Anastasio, Phish may still have more to offer than a legacy of impressive bootleg concerts.

Labels: Trey Anastasio