Trey Anastasio chooses fitting cover for storm raveged northeast on Jimmy Fallon

By Ryan Neeley exclusively for Appalachian Jamwich; photos by Ryan Neeley

Trey Anastasio, frontman for the band Phish and currently on tour with his band Trey Anastasio Band (TAB), appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday, 10/30 and covered the Chicago soul family group the Five Stairsteps O-o-h Child.   Unlike the night before, when Hurricane Sandy swept through the area, the house was packed for the performance, which was scheduled after a few cancellations due to the weather.   NOTE:  Although Trey disagreed in a post on the site Glide Magazine:

One Response to “Trey Anastasio Band Covers The Five Stairsteps’ O-o-h Child on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Tonight”
  1. Trey says:

    there was no crowd tonight… actually the band and I provided the laugh track for the entire show. hope you all enjoyed 🙂 stay safe!

Trey Anastasio Band, who had cancelled a show on Sunday at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, covered the song, which hit # 8 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1970, at the first show on Feb 15, 1999 and have played the song 37 times, most recently at the Beacon Theatre in New York on 10/26.  It was also teased by Phish way back on 4/22/90 at Cutler Quad in Colorado Springs, CO during a Harry Hood tease.  Fallon (@jimmyfallon) had tweeted earlier in the night that the song was by the band the Five StarSHIPS (he had gotten it wrong), and TAB horn section member Jennifer Hartwick (@jhartswick) tweeted back stage that they were “@Jimmy Fallon ready to play a song dedicated to everyone on the east coast.”   In a twitter frenzy, drummer Questlove (@questlove – love his fro) tweeted, “its always magic when @treyanastasio comes to @latenightjimmy, but him his percussionist @ drummer are KILLIN !!! #pocketfor days”, speaking of drummer Russ Lawton and percussionist Cyro Baptista.

The lyrics for the song tell children that “things are gonna get easier” in times of trials and tribulations, and was the only single to reach the top 40 on the Billboard chart.  It was ranked #402 on the Rolling Stone Magazines list of The The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and it has also been covered by the likes of Dusty Springfield, Mary Wilson from the Supremes, Hall & Oates, and Richie Havens.  In speaking on the phone with Phish fan and victim of the hurricane Jill “Sugaree” W., who had to be evacuated from the city, “It gave us hope, made us realize that we’re lucky for what we have.  Thanks Trey!”   If you missed the performance last night, peep it here, courtesy of The Audio Perv:

http://theaudioperv.com/2012/10/31/trey-anastasio-o-o-h-child-1030-fallon/