Trey Anastasio’s new Ghosts of the Forest project made their live debut at Portland, Maine’s State Theatre on Thursday night, offering a re-ordered version of their yet-to-be-released LP, as well as a smattering of other new, unheard material.

The after an ambient, piano-led introduction – dubbed “What Made Me Think” – the band’s first complete tune was their first (and only) single “Ghosts of the Forest.”

From there, the band moved their way through the first few numbers of their highly-anticipated album – out April 12. After following their road map through “Drift While You’re Sleeping ” and “Friend,” the show veered into even more unexpected material. Unannounced tunes like “Sightless Escape,” “If Again” and “There’s A Path Above” were woven between other, previously announced tunes.

Regardless, all of the songs were live debuts (save for the TAB composition “Ruby Waves,” which was played once in 2008). And the crowd at the State Theatre was receptive from the band’s first notes to the set-ending, final take on the Ghosts of the Forest opus “Beneath a Sea of Stars” (and while Anastasio and company broke the song up into three parts during the performance, the complete album version of the song clocks in well over 20 minutes).

“If there’s any cheering going on here it should be us for you,” Anastasio said to the crowd near the end of the show. “It’s hard to really express what it means to put new music up here for such a receptive, cool, enthusiastic, gorgeous, brilliant group of people as those I see before me.”

Anastasio also told a story about his first days in Burlington, while visiting the University of Vermont. He recalled seeing bassist Tony Markellis perform at a bar with Big Joe and The Unknown Blues Band, adding, with an astonished grin, “I’m in two bands with him now, oh my god!” Anastasio also told brief tales about how he met drummer Jon Fishman, longtime trumpeter-vocalist Jennifer Hartswick, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski and vocalist Celisse Henderson.

“We’re all pieces in the grand machine,” he said, before closing with the appropriate “Pieces in the Machine.”

Listen to the entire show (via Jam Buzz), watch the opening “Ghosts of the Forest” (via YouTuber Gregory Marcus) and check out the setlist below:

Ghosts of the Forest
April 4, 2019
State Theatre, Portland, Maine

What Made Me Think (intro), Ghosts of the Forest, Drift While You’re Sleeping, Friend, Sightless Escape, Halfway Home, If Again, In Long Lines, There’s A Path Above, About To Ruin, The Green Truth, Beneath a Sea of Stars (Part 1&2), Mint Siren Dream, Stumble into Flight, Ruby Waves, Shadows Thrown By Fire, Wider, A Light Beyond The Dream, In This Bubble, Beneath a Sea of Stars (Part 3)

Enc: Brief Time, Pieces in the Machine

Notes:
Ghosts of the Forest live debut, all songs first time played (except “Ruby Waves”)

Source: LivePhish