Last night, at Radio City Music Hall, Trey Anastasio and Dave Matthews shared the stage for four songs marking first time they have performed together since 2007.

The concert was billed as A Concert For Island Relief, and it was organized to support ongoing humanitarian efforts in the US, British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Matthews hit a personal note between songs when he mentioned how DMB touring trumpeter Rashawn Ross’ mother lost her home in the US Virgin Islands due to the unrelenting storms in the area. The trumpeter emerged partway through Matthews’ closing spot for “Mercy,” “Satellite” and “Save Me.” Ben The Sax who, who Matthews noted that he met while waiting a flight out of Portugal with his family, in April 2017, sat in on the later two selections.

Anastasio’s spot mixed material culled from throughout his nearly 20-year solo career. The segment opened with one of his earliest solo tunes, “Mozambique”—Anastasio debuted the instrumental in April 1998 with TAB-precursor 8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes and Phish briefly performed the song in 1999—before moving into a new Phish-adopted TAB original “Everything’s Right” and the duel-band chestnut “Sand.” From there, the outfit offered up standards like “Valentine,” “Dark and Down,” “Curlew’s Call,” “Money, Love and Change,” “Clint Eastwood, “Push On ‘Til the Day” and their relatively new take on the traditional “The Parting Glass.”

Wearing a jacket that served as the basis for some banter, Matthews’ setlist for the evening was heavy on songs from Some Devil the 2003 solo album Anastasio appears on. Both Anastasio and TAB keyboardist Ray Paczkowski also toured with Matthews in support of the album. For his encore, Matthews invited out Anastasio for a take on the Phish classic “Waste,” marking the first time the song as appeared in a DMB-related setlist since 2006. (Matthews covered the tune, which he described as his favorite song last night, on occasion in the 2000s and even recorded a version of the song to benefit the Mockingbird Foundation.)

Then, Radio City pulled up its curtain to reveal the rest of Trey Anastasio Band; Anastasio plugged in and Matthews, Neville and Ross joined the ensemble for the Daniel Lanois classic, “The Maker.” Finally, Ben The Sax guy returned for sing-along takes on the New Orleans favorite “Iko Iko” and Sly Stone’s “I Want To Take You Higher.”

The pairing of Anastasio and Matthews was a landmark moment for the jam stalwarts who have crossed paths many times in the 1990s and early ’00s, including when Anastasio was a member Dave Matthews’ Dave & Friends band from 2003-2006. “The Maker,” “Iko Iko” and “I Want to Take You Higher” were all holdovers from the Dave Matthews & Friends days.

The pairing of Ross and Trey Anastasio Band trumpet player James Casey during the encore also marked a mini Lettuce reunion; both horn players were members of the funk collective and veterans of the Berklee music scene.

Aaron Neville and Hurray For The Riff Raff also performed last night. Neville’s trio included guitarist Jamie McLean and pianist Michael Goods. The trio walked through a stripped down, mellow set that included well-known tunes like “Stand By Me,” “Bird On A Wire,” “Magic Moment,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” a medley of “Stir It Up” and “Three Little Birds, “Someone To Love,” “Yellow Moon” and “Louisiana.” Keeping with the cover spirit, Neville also sang a few lines of Bobby Freeman’s “Save the Last Dance For Me” during the all-star version of “Iko Iko.”

Concert For Island Relief
1/6/2018
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY

Set I: Stand By Me, Bird On A Wire, Magic Moment, A Change Is Gonna Come, Stir It Up> Three Little Birds, Someone To Love, Yellow Moon, Louisiana