So I went and yes, I DID get a $20 ticket (thanks for the clairvoyance halfstar). I waited outside for a while and this fella from Asheville walked up to me and dropped it on me…very nice. Unfortunately, I missed almost all of Tea Leaf’s set because I was waiting for the ticket, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I COULD hear it from outside the gates. Once inside I was surprised that they actually put seats in the dance space this time, which is unusual, but luckily my ticket was for the floor, so I got some prime real estate to see Trey do his thing. Here’s the setlist…

Set One:

Drifting
Tuesday
Dark & Down
Goodbye Head
Spin
Shine
46 Days*

Set Two:

Night Speaks To A Woman
Money, Love And Change
Low
What’s Done
Bar 17
Gotta Jibboo

Encore:

Come As Melody

Key:
*with Josh on guitar (Tea Leaf Green)

The first set got kicked off with a nice Drifting which I was very pleased with because I LOVE that album in general and the images that said song in particular invokes are simply wonderful. I have to admit that I’m not very familiar with Trey’s newer stuff from Bar 17 or even Shine, so I had a little bit of trouble fully getting into the next few tunes, but they were executed very well and Trey seemed to be enjoying himself up there. Still, a lot of the jams were pretty tasty and certainly warmed the crowd on this chilly Charlottesville evening, as we watched the lyrics explode in breathy bursts from the band’s collective mouth. The crowd reacted to Shine (radio friendly much?) but it was the 46 Days that really stood out for me. Josh Clark gets a HUGE, edgy, Frankensteinian sound out of his guitar and he meshed PERFECTLY with Trey and Tony on this one. At one point, Trey was literally ensconced with bubbles, as though they were flocking around him and him alone as the lights flicker-fluttered, painting the stage in surreal shades and hues. I burst out laughing, uninhibited…it was a joyful moment to see Trey shredding away, hair lashing from side to side as Josh and Tony likewise thundered out soaring notes and arpeggios. At one point, all three were just hammering away on their instruments, and Tony’s hand was a butterfly blur of movement as the song reached an ecstatic pinnacle before closing out the set. Brilliant.

Set two was the freaking money maker, though. The band wasted absolutely no time in launching into Night Speaks to a Woman (one of my faves) and I was pleased to hear it played so up-tempo. It was DRIVEN, fast, electric and got everyone kicking up their feet as it led into one of the better jams of the evening. This was quickly followed by Money, Love and Change (which was similarly much faster paced than I’d anticipated) which burbled into some frenetic back and forth between Trey and Tony, with Trey jumping up and down maniacally and grinning from ear to ear. This one two punch was definitely my highlight of the evening. The jams were edgy, well extrapolated upon and TIGHT. Jenn Hartswick did some stunning effect work with her trumpet that had me dog-cocking my head over and over again. As a side note, she looked pretty hip up there. Nice hat, Jenn.
Low, What’s Done and Bar 17 were all nice, but, honestly, unremarkable. During What’s Done, my friend who was taping the show said, “Oh great, another one of Trey’s depressing songs,” to which I replied, “Hey, sometimes Trey has to play sad bastard music, man.” I also noted that Ray looks a lot like my friend Dave, at which point I couldn’t resist screaming with delight, “HE LOOKS TOO MUCH LIKE DAVE!!!”
And how about a set closing Jiboo that had everyone in my general vicinity locking eyes and smiling ridiculously. We were all back on tour. The song itself went into a very interesting direction and never made it back to the Jiboo lyrical theme, but it didn’t need to. The audience was happy that the TAB spaceship had launched and watched happily as it twittered and soared into what was left of the evening.

I was hoping for the Divided Sky encore, but was plenty happy with Come as Melody, which i could only limitedly pay attention to, because i was running to see if i had to go to work (which i did). In fact, I still haven’t really slept because I had to do the overnight at the boys’ home, so it’s really a wonder that i’m typing all of this right now.
In any case, it was a great night of music. Trey looked healthy and happy and he was bouncing around up there like a llama bounding towards the turquoise mountains. Tony is now one of new favorite bassists and GOD BLESS JENNIFER HARTSWICK taboot, taboot. So happy she actually played a little (I thought she would only be singing…BONUS!).
Good show, good night, Trey bien!!!

originally posted over on crazyredbeard’s myspace page