11/28/14 Trey Anastasio @ Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, IL

Last Friday I worked pre-load for UPS from 2:20 AM until around 9 AM.  I spent the rest of the morning getting the vehicle gased up and preparing for the journey to Chicago.  I've got the routine down pretty well after all these years.  I was prepared for massive traffic on Black Friday but that really wasn't the case.  I parked in Wicker Park and ate dinner at Pizza Metro.  Took the L train up to the Aragon.  I always chuckle to myself that the stop before Lawrence is Wilson.  Appropriate on this occasion with Trey Anasasio Band playing the ancient Aragon Ballroom which my father attended in the late 60's during its brief incarnation as a disco named the Cheetah Club.  I killed some time at the Uptown Lounge and the famous Green Mill Cocktail Lounge which was frequented by Al Capone.  Finally I loaded up on preshow caffeine at Starbucks before heading in.  I met up with my buddy Steve and we were on the railing in front of Trey.  Unfortunately a psychotic girl next to us was obsessed with her territory.  All night she fought people off.  I finally told her that's not necessarily what this experience is meant to be in my opinion. 


I've seen Trey Band 4 times this year which is plenty.  This show at least offered a little deeper look into his solo catalog.  First Tube got things going well.  Burn That Bridge is a song I heard Phish soundcheck in Charlotte on Summer 2010.  It's from the Broadway play Hands on a Hardbody that Trey helped create the music for.  Caymen Review is almost always played in a similar slot on TAB tour.  Bounce is a new song that I like the studio version they've offered fourth.  The Band cover made the first set for me.  Trey was singing from the heart and did the song justice.  Valentine was next.  Flying Machines is a reworked version of Pulsing Days which was debuted earlier this year.  Magilla and Alaska despite their ties to Phish were a lull in the set for me.  Natalie crushes 1977 with the Spanish lyrics. A rather standard Sand finished off a long first set. 


The first three songs of the second set was probably my favorite portion of the show.   Sometime After Sunset is my favorite of his new material.  Alive Again was a above average version.  Greyhound Rising is a TAB song that I hadn't heard live.  I think it would work as a cooldown Phish song.  Shine is better than it was nowadays with the horns.  Wherever You Find it was the next song which also appears on the Shine album.  This song had a ripping solo from Anastasio.  I always dig TAB's take on Sweet and Dandy by the Toots & Maytals.  STUD is one of my favs of his solo songs. I dug the pacing of the show.  He mixed in his ballads at appropriate times.  Frost is a song I'd wish Phish would try again.  During Goodbye Head I moved further back in the venue.  Architect and its God lights on Trey's guitar and Clint Eastwood appeared at their predictable points in the show.  The latter had the Looney Tunes/Warner Bros theme teases.  You also could see Push On 'Til the Day coming as well as the Gotta Jibboo encore.  At the Gazebo was a slow way to end the show but it allowed the veterans to start for the exit which is always a logjam at the Aragon.  I took the train back to my ride and drove home.  I grabbed some McD in Utica and talked to a UPS driver from Peru.  Full circle on my day.  I was awake for over 25 hours straight.