Phish-ing with strings

Last night I endured the soul crushing drive to Baltimore during rush hour. It took nearly three hours, and I got to my seat only about a minute before the performance began. But I made an exception to my no-weeknight-shows-in-Maryland rule for a reason, and that was Trey Anastasio (from Phish) playing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. It was a very Phish friendly audience – nearly every move Trey made elicited loud cheering, which was especially odd during some of the softer pieces (during some of the much louder cheering after the pieces ended, one of the violinists would clamp her hands over her ears, one hand still holding her bow).

It was quite a performance, and the sound was mixed well, the guitar only overpowering the orchestra when necessary. The bulk of songs from the night were Phish songs with new parts for the orchestra to play, along with one new 30 minute piece, Time Turns Elastic written by Trey and Don Hart. Dedicating Water In The Sky to his sister who recently passed away was moving, but my favorites were the instrumental Guyute and the encore of If I Could.