Trey Anastasio made a guest appearance at Soule Monde’s Nov. 11 at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park.
The band Soule Monde — featuring keyboardist Ray Paczkowski and drummer Russ Lawton, supported by bassist Dezron Douglas — was booked to headline at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park on Nov. 11, in a show that also was a 60th birthday party for Tom Marshall. Paczkowski, Lawton and Douglas are all current members of the Trey Anastasio Band, and Marshall is best known as the lyricist for many of the songs Anastasio has written for his main band, Phish. So a guest appearance by Anastasio probably seemed like a strong possibility to those in attendance. But I suspect that few expected Anastasio to not only show up, but play a full set.
But he did, performing with Paczkowski, Lawton and Douglas for nearly an hour and a half. (You can watch a video of the whole set, below.)
Mashall, who lives in Asbury Park, made a guest appearance in the set, to duet with Anastasio on Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping.” That’s the 1997 song with the famous line, “I get knocked down, but I get up again/You are never gonna keep me down.” Before it started, Anastasio told the crowd, “You all know why we’re here tonight: To celebrate my dear friend Tom Marshall’s birthday. And I’m just gonna say that this is a guy who I’ve known since I was in fifth grade. This is a guy who’s been knocked down so many times, and he always gets back up again.” (“Tubthumping” starts at the 16:45 mark of the first video below.)
Anastasio and Marshall also performed an acoustic version of the Phish song “Waste” — from the 1996 Phish album, Billy Breathes — together (see video below). According to reports, the acoustic set also included “Strange Design” and “Lost in the Pack.”
At the end of the band set, Anastasio said, “Thank you, Tom, I love you so much.”
Phish.net offers the following setlist for the band set:
“Back on the Train”
“Sand”
“Tubthumping” (with Tom Marshall on vocals and Tony Perusso on trumpet) > “Happy Birthday to You” (with Tony Perusso on trumpet)
“Outside the Lines”
“Wolfman’s Brother”
“The Moma Dance” > “No Men in No Man’s Land”
“Steam”
“Blaze On” > “Ghost”
Here is the video of the complete band set and, below it, a video of “Waste.”
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