Trey Anastasio and Derek Trucks crossed paths onstage for the first time just over 20 years ago, when Trucks joined Phish at Charlotte, N.C.’s Blockbuster Pavilion for a pair of songs during the Vermont Quartet’s encore. At that point in his singular career, Trucks was just a few weeks into his tenure with the Allman Brothers Band and about to open up his bluesy Derek Trucks Band to incorporate a range of Eastern, African and fusion-inspired sounds. Anastasio had also recently launched his first tour with the combo that would blossom into his longtime solo band, focusing on a similar mix of open-ended originals, loose covers and guitar-rock improvisational vehicles. Trucks sat in with Phish for their encore on two blues-rock songs from their catalog, including former guitarist Jeff Holdsworth’s “Possum” and Son Seals’ “Funky Bitch.” Anastasio’s three bandmates had already shared the stage with Trucks during the previous two years.
As time went on, both guitarists’ projects evolved, withAnastasio expanding his outfit into the orchestra-size Trey Anastasio Bandand Trucks partnering with his wife, Susan Tedeschi, to form the similarlysoulful and horn-abetted Tedeschi Trucks Band. The musicians have shared thestage a few times over the past two decades—mostly with the Allman BrothersBand, though Trucks guested with TAB in 2002, and Anastasio returnedthe favor at New York’s Beacon Theatre in 2017. But it wasn’t until lastnight that the two musicians shared the stage for a full set (for whichthey spent multiple days rehearsing).
Trucks blended in seamlessly with the Trey Anastasio Band fromthe start of their second set, using his trademark slide skills to color thegroup’s layered arrangements and take a number of well-placed solos. Theirjoint performance opened with two relatively new Anastasio compositions thatPhish has also embraced, “Set Your Soul Free” and “Everything'sRight,” and then shifted to three Phish originals Anastasio has added toTAB’s canon since rebooting the group last year after a short break: “CamelWalk,” “Ghost” and “Blaze On.”
Both “Camel Walk” and “Ghost” served as perfect vehicles forTrucks, who accented the former song’s bluesy roots and added a new, spookyfeeling to the latter Story of the Ghost gem. (Interestingly,Trucks has now joined Anastasio for both of Holdsworth’s lasting contributionsto the Phish repertoire.) As he continued to find his wayaround TAB’s full sound, Trucks shined on the meditative “Dark andDown” and the Phish-adopted groove-vehicle “Sand.”
Though she was not originally billed as part of today’slineup, Susan Tedeschi emerged as the song came to a close to sing on a tendermoment from Anastasio’s Ghosts of the Forest project, “A Life Beyond theDream,” and another tune that hugs the Phish andTAB worlds, “Rise Up/Come Together.” Finally, Anastasio,Trucks and the members of TAB closed the main portion of their showwith the high-energy rave-up “Push On 'Til the Day.”
Another element Anastasio has added to his TAB shows with morefrequency since touring as a solo act in recent years isan unplugged encore segment. Last night, the guitarists returned foracoustic duets with Trucks on the Ghosts of the Forest number “Brief Time” anda newer Phish song that has recently grown into a dependable rocker, “More.”Most of TAB then returned for another Phish favorite, “46 Days,” andAnastasio’s horns slid back onstage for the classic show-closing celebration “FirstTube.”
The day’s main-stage musical offerings kicked offover 12 hours earlier with Rockin’ to Lockn’ winner, Washington,DC’s Surprise Attack, who offered a high-energy set of their trademark “Mountainfunk.” (Elsewhere onsite, it has already been an eventful day: Joe Russoemerged during recent recording partners Circles Around the Sun’s late-nightshow in Garcia’s Forest around 2:45 am, and about eight hours later theDoobie Decibel Duo held court on the Pianos on the Porch nook.) Soonafter, the New York–based Greg Humphreys Electric Trio, whose namesake hasdeep ties to the improvisational world through his previousprojects Dillon Fence and Hobex, provided the day’s first interlockingset when they kicked off their performance while circling toward theaudience on the venue’s rotating stage.
Lockn’ has built its reputation on its unique collaborativeperformances and, after the trio’s set, Moonalice offered thefirst of several special “Lockn’ moments,” welcoming the sweet-voiced T Sistersand legendary soul singer Lester Chambers and his son Dylan at various pointsduring their performance. The T Sisters shined on a swirl of the GratefulDead’s “Uncle John’s Band,” “Bird Song” and “Attics of MyLife,” while Lester and Dylan helped Moonalice and the singers closetheir set with two songs long associated with The Chamber Brothers, “People GetReady” and “Time Has Come Today.”
Unfortunately, after the ensemble’s set, the concert field wascleared temporally as the second storm of the weekend passed throughthe area. Music resumed after a short delay, although a few acts ended upplaying slightly truncated sets to help put things back on schedule.Melvin Seal & JGB and their current featured guitarist,Furthur’s John Kadlecik, welcomed fans back with a set comprised mostly ofclassics from the Jerry Garcia Band songbook, kicking off with staples like“Cats Under the Stars,” “Run for the Roses” and an appropriate “Mission in theRain.” Their set came to a close with a Garcia-Robert Hunter tune fromoutside the traditional JGB well, “Eyes of the World,” before turning overthe stage to the recently reunited Edie Brickell & New Bohemians.
Brickell has a long history with the Dead world, havingcollaborated with Garcia and opened for the Dead, but it'sbeen a while since she has been on the jam circuit. Yet, at the end oftheir performance, Brickell & New Bohemians brought out Bob Weirfor a choice take on “Deep Elem Blues,” marking his first appearance with thegroup. (Earlier this month, Weir sat in with Brickell’s husband, Paul Simon, atSan Francisco’s Outside Lands and TAB percussionist Cyro Baptista has been partof his band. Though he did not perform, Simon was on hand for his wife’sperformance.)
Form there, the rest of the evening’s focus shifted tosome of the leading lights of the modern jamband and roots scenes, beginningwith funky Mid-Atlantic favorites Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. The quartet, whowere energized by their enthusiastic crowd, ran through “High As Five,”“Porcupine” and a segue from “Somethin’ For Ya” into “Julia,” before bringingout their previously announced guest, Vulfpeck associate Cory Wong, for“Lightning.” Soon after, The Revivalists horn section joined themembers of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong for a run from “FU” into Prince’s “1999,”before returning to “FU,” before PPPP closed their show by themselves with“The Liquid.” The group also took the opportunity to announce two big Decembergigs: a stop at Washington, DC’s The Anthem and their first area date, NewYear’s Eve at Asheville, N.C.’s ExploreAsheville.com Arena.
Several members of the day’s next entertainers, Old CrowMedicine Show, used to live in nearby Charlottesville, Va., and the musiciansopened things up appropriately with “Carry Me Back to Virginia.” The early partof their show was filled with theatrics and sing-alongs like their signaturetune “Wagon Wheel,” but things peaked when they brought out Weir foracoustic-guitar driven takes on “Mexicali Blues,” “Cumberland Blues” and “Willthe Circle Be Unbroken?” Old Crow founder Ketch Secor described the surprisesit in as a “dream” from the stage. The main stage’s penultimate act, TheRevivalists, kept the evening’s energy up, spicing their set with a cover ofThe Who’s "Eminence Front" and their own crossover hit,“Wish I Knew You.” In recent years, The Revivalists have grown to embody thefestival spirit with their mix of string, brass and improv-schooled energy, andfrontman David Shaw took advantage of the band’s surroundings, moving to thelip of the large Lockn’ stage to address his audience several times.
Before welcoming Trucks for his second set, Anastasio and hisseven-person backing band ran through a mix of classic TAB songs during what hejokingly described as the “shortest set ever.” The octet kicked things off with“Cayman Review,” one of the standout tunes from Anastasio’s 2002 solo release,and charged through rhythmic, Afro-beat influenced originals “Mozambique” and“Alive Again,” as well as “Valentine,” “Night Speaks to a Woman,” “SimpleTwist Up Dave” and the 70 Volt Parade-era single “Tuesday.”
After the final note of “First Tube” drifted into the ether, much of the crowd moved to Garcia’s Forrest, where Galactic had set up shop. Meanwhile, Anastasio, Tedeschi and Trucks were preparing for the second part of their two-set, two-day collaboration.
