5-22-02, Salem Armory Auditorium, Salem, OR

Date: Wed, 05 Jun 2002 08:16:21 -0700
From: andy [email protected]
Subject: review: trey 5/22/02

TREY ANASTASIO
Salem Armory | Salem, OR | 05.22.02
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Set I:
Cayman Review
Mozambique
Night Speaks To A Woman
Noodle Rave Daddio
Money, Love & Change
At the Gazebo
Last Tube
Set II:
Mr. Completely
The Way I Feel
Drifting
At the Barbecue
Ray Dawn Balloon
Sand
E: Alive Again

Before describing the music, I really should set the scene for those of you who haven�t spent
much time in Oregon. Salem is about 30 minutes south of Portland, or one hour north of Eugene via
I-5. I mention it in context of these two cities, because although Salem is the state capitol of
Oregon, it really doesn�t have the character or music scene of the latter two.

I arrived at the parking lot about an hour before the doors were to open. I was totally surprised
that there were very few people in the lots. I don�t really enjoy a crazy "shakedown" lot, but
when they opened the doors at 6:30, I estimate there were less than 50 cars parked outside,
seriously. There was a very small line of about 60 people waiting to get in when John Langenstein
(head of security for Phish) came out and opened the doors. A true professional: in order to take
care of the people in the front of the line first, he politely asked everyone else to take a few
steps back, which we all did, smiling. Security at the door was a couple of guys doing extremely
light pat downs, and a quick squeeze of my backpack - that was it. That�s what it�s like out
here; people generally are mellow and behave themselves, so we don�t get hassled much. �A 20 oz.
water costs 1.25.

The Salem Armory is a pretty small venue; I think it holds about 3,000. This is where I saw my
first Phish show in 1994. Widespread Panic and Oysterhead have also played this venue recently.
It has a gym-style floor with rows of seats in the back. The rail that separates the crowd from
the front of the stage was unusually far back from the stage, providing a barrier of about 10
feet.

When the show started (about 7:40) it seemed strange to me that the venue wasn�t very full. I
guess I just don�t get it how Phish can sell out 30,000 tickets, but most of these people won�t
come see a spin-off like Trey�s band. I was up front for the entire show. It was never crowded,
there was always tons of room to boogie, and boogie we did!

Trey was smiling a lot through out the first set, and dancing quite a bit as well. This is good,
because when Trey�s happy, I�m happy. During a quiet moment, I yelled: "Thanks for coming to
Oregon," which made him chuckle a bit to the delight of the front few rows. Trey�s band is
definitely under his direction. They all constantly watch him for cues; sometimes it even felt
like they were waiting for a time when they could play something as well. Overall, I thought Trey
did a good job of "conducting" (at one point in the second set, Trey even used a conductor�s
baton to lead the band through a little jam). At the same time, I felt like I wanted to hear 
morefrom the band. The horns section is a solid presence throughout (Jennifer H. also does great 
on
back up vocals), but I don�t remember hearing much - solo or otherwise - from Ray Paczkowski
(keyboards). Tony Markelis� (bass) role seems to be pretty well defined. He was positioned behind
the horn players, and pretty much just kept the groove going. At least on this night, he wasn�t
slappin� ^�em down or getting ultra funky with his base lines. I hope as the tour progresses that
the other band members get a little more confident in taking the lead sometimes, and that Trey is
comfortable with this as well.

The second set consisted of a lot of quiet and spacey jams. Like I said, Oregon is pretty laid
back and mellow, and so was a lot of this set. Even during "Sand" and "Alive Again" (encore) I
was wishing they would pick it up a little bit.

One person to keep your eyes on is percussionist Cyro Baptista. This guy is truly a freak-daddy.
I saw him light a fire under Trey more than one time during the show.

I had a really good time at this show, I thought the music was great, even if really mellow and
slightly repetitive at times. The last time I saw Trey was an Oysterhead show in Los Angeles. The
show in Salem was truly more enjoyable because of the crowd, the vibe and the music.

Andy Bracco
JamBase | Oregon
Go See Live Music!


click here to return to the 2002 reviews page


hits (many)