Trey Anastasio Band in Montclair, NJ

In 2001, 2002 and 2005, saw some of the various incarnations of Phish frontman Trey Anastasio's solo act (though hardly solo - one version of the group had 10 people). On Oct. 12, I had the good fortune of seeing the most recent version. To make matters better, it was practically in my backyard. Here's a guy I've traveled to three corners of the continental US to see with Phish, and on this night, he was playing six miles from my home. I could have run there.

I was able to go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to the show and still get up in the morning for work the next day, which happened to be my rest day from running.

I cruised to the venue, the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, and since I know my way around the town, parked on the street for free while other folks got duped into paying for parking.

And I was still early.

When the band started playing "Burlap Sack and Pumps" I was already in an awesome mood. They were only a couple of weeks into their tour, but man, they sounded rehearsed. Solid. Tight. This septet version of TAB was out of sight.

Tearing through original TAB-only numbers like "Money Love and Change", "Cayman Review" and "Shine"; re-arranged Phish tunes "Alaska", "Magilla" (dig those swingin' horns); and covers such as The Band's "It Makes No Difference", the group had me dancing and swinging and swaying in the balcony of this intimate venue. The sound was crisp and clear and the crowd was friendly.

The breath of new life into the song "Pigtail", played only once by Phish in a shaky performance in Worcester during the otherwise amazing 2010 New Year's run, was fantastic, and the sleazy blues of the new "Snake Head Thumb" was filthy dirty in all the right ways. But the highlight of the first set was its closer, and a personal favorite of mine, "Push On Til the Day". I've since listened to every version played on that tour and I can't help but feel this one was the best. The climax was so ridiculously intense, Trey was running in circles on his little onstage carpet.

Set Two was just as much of a killer. To say that the multiple-times-modulating showcase of "Mr. Completely" was a highlight is to understate it greatly. Each band member got to strut his or her stuff a bit in this number. There was even a flute solo by Russ Remington. To my unexpected delight, they played my other solo-Trey favorite, "Goodbye Head" for the second of only three times during the tour.

And the cover song selection? Insane. What other band will play Gorillaz' "Clint Eastwood", the Five Stairsteps "Ooh Child" and Dire Straits "Sultans of Swing" in one set? And who would think to play Mark Knopfler's guitar riff from the latter on horns? Ending the set with a funky "First Tube" that was as, if not more, raucous than any Phish version completed two of two perfect sets.

For a three-song encore treat, the crowd was presented with the intricate horn-and-guitar composition "At the Gazebo" followed by a lovely take on my favorite new-ish Phish song, "Show of Life" and an incredible balls-out performance of Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" with lead vocals by trumpet-player Jennifer Hartswick.

Why am I telling you this now, so long after the fact, and not just because I neglected to post about it at the time?

I tell you because the show stirred something in me, something with which I had lost touch at several of the Phish shows I saw on tour last year (excepting Super Ball IX). So much of the experience of seeing Phish gets bogged down by the hassles of getting to the show, the traffic jams, the crowds of people pushing and shoving, the idiots in the audience who won't shut up and listen, and the poor sound at many venues.

I tell you because the last note hit at 12:03, and by 12:30, I was in bed, reflecting on this reminder of what a truly great show can be. It was, as far as I can recall, very, very similar to what it felt like after my first few Phish shows, way back in the early- to mid-90s.

I tell you all this now because I attended two of the New Years run shows at Madison Square Garden this past December and the feeling I got from them was, to paraphrase Douglas Adams, almost, if not entirely, unlike that from the Trey show.