Phish-less Anastasio reels in fans with eclectic set February 23, 2001 - Syracuse Herald-American by Mark Bialczak The lead singer is glad to share the spotlight with his own band members. The ticketless outside the Landmark Theatre Thursday night were willingly forking out a couple hundred bucks for the few but greatly coveted spare ducats. Not surprising for a show that sold out all 2,900 seats in 18 minutes. Once inside, the happy fans seemed like they'd be happy if the guy on stage were singing the contents of the Syracuse phone book. Also not surprising. A concert by lead singer Trey Anastasio is as much of an event as the legendary cult classics put on by his jam band, Phish. The Phish fans - and make no mistake about it, this was a dance-loving, music-taping, eclectic bunch in every respect - were treated to a performance by Anastasio and his band that lived up to the work of that Vermont foursome. The music of Phish is an acquired taste. So is the concert work of Anastasio. He and his core band of stolid bass player Tony Markellis and solid drummer Russ Lawton laid down a folk-leaning, blues-straying foundation. When they waylaid their way into the Phish favorite "Gotta Jibboo," from the disc "Pharmhouse," the crowd practically sighed with satisfaction to be hearing a tune from their favorite band, which is in the midst of a self-imposed hiatus. Or maybe they were just exhaling. For sure, this was the pot-smokingest Landmark bunch since the days when their was a cannabis plant growing on every porch. When Anastasio is part of Phish, he's the front man but certainly not the lone star. With that band, he gladly allows band mates Jon Fishman on drums, Page McConnell on keyboards and Mike Gordon on bass to show off their considerable talents, too. The same is true with his side project. A lot of the mood was reminiscent of the work of Jerry Garcia when he took off from the Grateful Dead to happily mess around with The Jerry Garcia Band. Anastasio obviously was thrilled to let his new stage mates show off. He also brought along a dynamic three-piece horn section. They spiced up the night with a scintillating jazz flavor. One of the hottest spots was a Latin-influenced instrumental that allowed the sax, then trombone, and finally trumpet to deliciously work their way around the infectious melody line. Finally, Anastasio added his guitar for the final layer, mirroring the horn line. It was sublime. Like a Phish show, too, there were moments that were, well, not exactly ridiculous but far less sublime if you're not a love-every-note fanatic. Anastasio's solo guitar song at the end of the first set had a couple of shining instrumental moments but was very long. The whole crew put their heart into Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" and Bob Marley's "Hammer," and the crowd lustily sang along. "I was just asking them if they were up to playing this one because we only rehearsed it a couple of times," Anastasio said before Marley's tune. "It's such a great song, I want to play it. Please bear with us." They did more than that. It was especially darling as everybody shared the lyrics, "Love, sweet love, darling. Strike the hammer while the iron is hot, open up your heart." Anastasio opened his to the sound man, Paul, dedicating the fun tune "The Happy Coffee Song" to the man twisting those important dials. By then, most everybody was percolating along just fine.