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    It is rare for a band to be able to play with one of its idols. It is especially rare when that idol is one of the best-known musicians on the planet. So you can imagine the sheer joy the members of Phish must have felt when blues legend B.B. King sat in with them for three songs on 2/24/03 at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ.
    King, one of the most revered and important blues musicians, is a guitarist of immeasurable influence, and continues to wail to this day. The sharp, pointed trills he coaxes from his signature instrument, “Lucille,” can be heard in the stylings of innumerable blues and rock axe men today, including Trey. His anguished vocal style has been nearly as influential. And his recordings from the late 1940s through the mid 1980s, from “Every Day I Have the Blues” to “Ten Long Years” to “Paying the Cost to Be the Boss” to “The Thrill Is Gone,” did as much as any to popularize the blues. He scored 74 R&B hits between 1951 and 1985 and is considered by many to be the king of the blues. Pretty good for someone who got his start in the music industry as a disc jockey.
    But, like Phish, he is known for his live performances as much as his studio work, and until late in his career performed over 300 gigs per year. The first meeting of B.B. King and the world of Phish was on 2/24/00, when Trey joined King, along with The Roots, for a taped performance of “Rock Me Baby” at the Los Angeles Grand Olympic Auditorium for the IMAX film All Access. (The film was produced by former Wetlands Preserve owner Peter Shapiro and released in 2001.)
    Three years later to the day, King appeared at the end of Phish’s first set for three songs totaling about 45 minutes. All three, Memphis Slim’s “Every Day I Have the Blues,” Rick Ravon Darnell and Roy Hawkins’ “The Thrill Is Gone” and King and Joe Josea’s “Rock Me Baby,” are longtime staples of King’s repertoire. Each featured extended solos from King and Trey, with the others getting in on the act for “Every Day I Have the Blues,” which lasted over 20 minutes. While some fans quibbled that the guest spot went on for too long, no one could deny that the band had experienced a thrill that would never go away.