Frost
| Originally Performed By | Trey Anastasio |
| Original Album | Traveler (2012) |
| Appears On |
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| Music/Lyrics | Anastasio/Marshall |
| Vocals | Trey |
| Phish Debut | 2013-07-17 |
| Last Played | 2019-12-08 |
| Current Gap | 223 |
| Historian | Phillip Zerbo (pzerbo) |
| Last Update | 2025-04-14 |
History
The delightful and lilting ballad “Frost” debuted with TAB on 10/6/11 at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville, NC. At that gig Trey noted that the song was co-written with Tom Marshall just before that tour kicked off during the same writing session at Manhattan’s Jungle City Studio that produced “Winterqueen,” the only TAB-first song that made the cut for Phish’s 2013 Halloween performance of Wingsuit.
Lyrically “Frost” draws from the metaphorical well that has served Anastasio/Marshall compositions for decades – wind, water, frayed communication, all in a chilly motif. Tom Marshall explained that the lyric released officially as "maybe he would sail away" was written "maybe he was sent away," and Trey has performed the song both ways, sometimes in the same performance.
Trey Anastasio “Frost” from the album Traveler.The studio version that appears on Trey’s 2012 release, Traveler, features a haunting organ part from Ray Paczkowski. Trey noted in an interview with Sirius JamOn that the organ part was recorded in a big empty room and sounds like “outer space music.” “Frost” stuck to the TAB repertoire–appearing in most TAB shows from its debut through the 2013 spring tour promoting Traveler–where the haunting, dreamlike fairy tale qualities of the song are enhanced by the vocals of Natalie Cressman and Jennifer Hartswick.
TAB, “Frost” – 10/18/12, Detroit, MI“Frost” was soundchecked three times on Phish’s 2013 summer tour, before finally breaking through on 7/17/13 in Alpharetta, GA. However, after its debut, the song sailed away from Phish setlists for several years while it remained a fixture in TAB setlists.
During the same year as its Phish debut, “Frost” was scored for full orchestra by long-time collaborator Don Hart, making its orchestral debut at Anastasio’s performance with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center on 5/22/13. The only song from Traveler to make the jump to orchestra (and the one new song introduced at Trey’s only orchestral performance of 2013), the stunningly gorgeous orchestration combined with a pristine vocal offering from Trey was a highlight of this magnificent show and subsequent ones in 2014 with the Oregon Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and return to Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic.
Trey Anastasio w/ LA Philharmonic "Frost" - 9/26/14, Los Angeles, CA. Video by Grunzy Channel.While Trey’s first acoustic performance of the song also came early in 2013 during his set on the World Cafe radio program, it wouldn’t become a regular part of songs in that rotation until 2017 and 2018 where it appeared a total of three times in that format.
Trey Anastasio "Frost" - 3/8/17, Northampton, MA. Video by aerofan2007.“Frost”-ing would not return to Phish setlists until the Bakers’ Dozen Boston Cream Night as a nice cooldown after the exciting medley performance of “Sunshine of Your Feeling.” The song continued to break into Phish setlists now and then through 2018 and 2019, including the first set of the last show of 2019 Fall Tour in North Charleston, SC.
While the COVID-19 pandemic that followed may have interrupted its return to the stage with Phish, it created unique opportunities for the song for Trey during the Beacon Jams featuring the Rescue Squad Strings, and it also was performed in the living room of his apartment as a duet with Jeff Tanski in the Sirius XM special series Rubber Jungle LIVE.
Last significant update: 12/20/23
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