Last night my wife and I got my sister to watch the kiddos and headed to to Upper Darby for the first time since Trey band played there in 2005. That show was a much different time for us, and for Trey it seems. We were kid less, and Trey was dark & down, or seemingly so, a year prior to his arrest.

We stopped at an awesome little Thai/Laotian place, about two minutes from the venue. Sai-ba-dee, give it a chance if you find yourself in upper Darby, it's BYOB, really well priced and delicious. We made the quick drive to the venue and parked in that weird little parking garage behind the tower. It always amazes me that despite the size of that garage it still fills with the notorious hiss of tanks post show.

We had scored GA pit tickets through a friend and my priority was to get in when the doors opened and hightail it to the front, we weren't first in line, but we did get prime real estate estate 10 feet back on the horn side. Everyone on the floor was stoked about the huge section with no seats that had been cleared out. 2/3's of the first floor of the venue was GA Pit. You could tell the place was primed to go off, and the energy in the crowd as folks spilled in was palpable. At that point, heading back and forth to the bar/bathroom was easy and you could make your way back to your spot with ease. The men's room, what I can only assume, was the coat check area, was converted into a small cash bar only for beer. Brilliant! Kind of a closed loop if you weren't careful, but incredibly convenient!

Lights go down, let's get this party started. I thought money, love and change was a great way to start a high energy show. Well executed, with a little extra jam on the end seemed to prone everyone's pumps. The next tune was one I was not familiar with, but has gained a special place in my heart, despite my wife's chagrin. Natalie "chainsaw" Cressman dropped a cover by a 1990's Chilean rapper, Ana Tijoux. 1977 rumbles along with swagger you can feel. I didn't understand a word she said, but whatever her hips and the well placed shhhh's were saying had my attention. I told my wife that Natalie would be her replacement soon, which got me a well deserved eye roll and a few huffs. She's a patient woman.

I can't give a blow by blow on each tune, but I can clearly say that I was concerned about how good the second set would have to be to follow the barn burner that was the first set. Cayman review kept the high energy vibe flowing, I love small axe, and heart it instrumental so I and others could sing along was awesome. Valentine was good, but not a tune I find myself listening to a bunch outside of a TAB show. Magilla, pigtail and alive again stretched out a first set that had some serious meat to it. No longer than any normal set it seemed concise, quickly getting down to business when it should have. Dark & down was as it should be, and provided a nice breather. The devil went down to Georgia was botched lyrically, but I'm not sure I could pull half those lyrics off on my best day, never mind, in front of a packed house. Besides for the lyrics, it was well played, and again super high energy. The first tube was the fricking bee's knees. If that place hadn't been amped prior to that, which it had no reason not to be, it was on. First tubes have different paces. Sometimes they sear, other times they have had a slightly slower pace, with both phish and TAB. It's not a huge difference, but last nights was a standout. It seethed and teemed with the power that could be lent to an encore, but was well placed in the money spot at the end of the second set.

Set break filled the floor with some newer folks and the proverbial "shuffling of the deck" when everyone hits the facilities and refreshes their drinks. The venues choice to hand stamp folks with pit tickets, then allow them to use that to get back into the pit seemingly allowed for stub down galore,. In fact I'm surprised anyone was in the loge after the first set.

Second set started with sometime after sunset, which I enjoyed, but felt kinda meh about. Night speaks was hot, burlap sack and pumps, drifting whipped my wife and everyone around us into a frenzy. In rounds provided another breather, and was well needed after the torrid pace at which the second set was moving. I like invisible knife, and to me seems like one of the newer tracks I Would really like to see again. The random spotlights on the ceiling at that point confused all of us, and my wife thought Fishman was going to come down from the balcony somehow. I was not expecting the next tune. Sand was a TAB tune, but I think of it as more of a phish tune given its many insane versions. I remember saying to my wife that it was gonna get funky, dirty funk in dirty, nasty philthadelphia.....and sand delivered. Again I was shocked to hear the first few notes of Clint Eastwood drop and realize that one of the true pleasures of TAB and live music in general was about to light up the room. My wife and I absolutely love Jen Hartswick. Both on the trumpet and her voice slay. Saying that woman can sing is a pitiful understatement, and Clint Eastwood's ambling baseline and the chorus it's a perfect showcase for her. Mr. C brings it consistently, and didn't give any indication that this dream TAB set was slowing down. Ether Sunday gave a quick respite from this epic tour closing throwdown, then back into Push on til the day. The two song encore was the cherry on top of this gem of a show, and was punctuated by Trey's speech about his new old guitar. I was looking at his guitar earlier in the show and thought, hey that's the ocedoc! Wrong answer, genius, from my vantage point it seemed that's what I was looking at with a clear animal on the headstock in mother of pearl inlay. Looking back the body is different, and the fretboard is void of the lightning bolts. It's a resurrected 1991 Marley doc!? Trey has fallen in love with another doc, brought back from the dead after its neck began to warp many, many years ago. Heavy things was fun, but the unexpected encore was what made my wife and I melt into a puddle of J. Ha fandom. Black dog smokes on a bad day, done by high schoolers at their first talent show. Last night laid waste to the tower. Big legged woman ain't got no soul, my god, her voice makes the hair on the back of my neck I stand up. The Trey guitar, Jen Hartswick vocal battle at the end was dirty, raw and I wouldn't have berm entirely surprised had the stripped down and went at it afterwards.

The whole band is amazing. James Casey, Russ, Tony and Ray bring it, consistently. The only thing I am not happy about last night is Trey changing the lyrics to singing that the Flyers will win the cup. I fear he may be delusional. Go PENS!