Trey Anastasio brought his band to the Fox in Oakland California last night for the last show of the much anticipated tour. As a relatively recent convert to Big Red’s music I had not had the opportunity to hear acoustic TAB. The band was hot, the venue incomparable both in beauty and acoustics, but the sold out crowd was, let’s just say, not as excited for the acoustic set as I was. The excessive crowd talking surprised me, it was actually hard to hear the man sing, it took until toward the end of the set when Jen Harstwick and Oakland girl Natalie Cressman came out to join Trey and add their instruments and vocal to the mix to get the attention of the noisy majority.

As the second set started, talking was no longer an issue the volume was up to 11 (where it should be!), the crowd had put on their dancing shoes, buttoned their lips and shelved the conversations till later. From then on there was no more wondering if the show would kick some rock and roll ass, as the band jettisoned into one favorite after another. After wrapping up the second set, I expected the band to rock on for at least two or three songs in the encore but after a very tight” Black Dog,” the band shared smiles and hugs and disappeared into the rainy Oakland night.

“Ocelot”

“Sultans of Swing”

“Black Dog”