I Never Needed You Like This Before
| Originally Performed By | Trey Anastasio |
| Original Album | Lonely Trip (2020) |
| Appears On |
|
| Music | Anastasio |
| Lyrics By | Marshall/Herman |
| Vocals | Trey |
| Phish Debut | 2021-07-28 |
| Last Played | 2024-08-11 |
| Current Gap | 43 |
| Historian | Cassidy McManus (donttouchthatknob) |
| Last Update | 2025-07-14 |
History
Trey released a lot of songs during the COVID-19 pandemic–two albums worth, in fact. Not every song released during lockdown was about the pandemic, but a lot of them felt like they were. “A Wave of Hope” is a pandemic song. “Lonely Trip” is a pandemic song. “Mercy” is a pandemic song. But for my money, there is a definitive song about how Phish felt during the pandemic: “I Never Needed You Like This Before.”
For those of you getting into Phish in the 2040s who are too young to remember, in 2020 there was an outbreak of a disease called COVID-19. It was very bad and millions of people died, leading most of the world to sequester-in-place in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus. Things got so bad they even canceled the Phish summer tour! Almost twice! That time was a period of intense isolation for many people, including Trey, as many of the songs written in that time speak to a certain loneliness.
The lyrics of “I Never Needed You Like This Before” deal in metaphor. The song opens talking about a mysterious force that could ensnare the narrator in darkness, then about another person (you) who has moonlight and fire in their eyes, protecting the narrator from the darkness. The metaphor itself is flexible. The darkness could be loneliness and dark thoughts felt in isolation, with the other person being whichever person keeps you from giving into that darkness. The darkness could be death, maybe even pandemic death, with the other person being whoever gives you that feeling of hope.
It could be unrelated to the pandemic altogether, and just a song about a person who needs another person. It could be about you and your spouse or your dog or your UPS guy. The ultimate point of the song is said in its final, repeated line: I Never Needed You Like This Before.
“I Never Needed You Like This Before” was released as the lead single to Trey’s solo album Lonely Trip. Like all the songs on the album, the song features Trey on all the instruments except for drums, which were played by Fishman. This version is slower than later renditions, built around Trey’s heavier guitar riff and Fishman’s simple drum pattern. At times, I am reminded of early versions of “Carini.”
The first live performance was on 8/11/20, when Trey was the first in-studio musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon since March. Backed by members of The Roots, this version picks up the tempo a little bit while still honoring the slow groove of the studio version. There are some notable differences. Keyboardist James Poyser plays with an organ sound rather than the synths of the original. Bassist Mark Kelley plays a much more active bass part than Trey did. But overall, it’s an incredibly faithful rendition.
The tempo continued to get a little faster every time Trey played it. During the 10/16/20 installment of The Beacon Jams, a series of socially distanced concerts streamed live on Twitch to raise funds for the Divided Sky Foundation, the song made its TAB debut. The song was first played for an audience during the Trey acoustic show at SPAC on 6/19/21.
When COVID vaccination became available and the world opened back up, Phish resumed touring like they had never left (or maybe it was the dawn of a whole new era, depends who you ask.) Their very first show back was in Rogers, Arkansas at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion on July 28th, 2021. And the very first song played? The Phish debut of “I Never Needed You Like This Before,” naturally The band sent a very clear message to their fans: not just “we miss you”, but “we needed you.”
This version pretty much settled on the tempo and basic arrangement of the song, with Mike and Page singing slightly lower harmonies than were sung in TAB. The band continued to play it throughout 2021, almost exclusively as a set opener/closer. The jam generally remained the same, just a minute and a half of Trey shredding before returning to the final chorus.
As the band solidified how they were going to play the song, they started to stretch its legs. 8/31/21 has a version that is fairly standard, but the final jam goes on for about a minute longer than usual. This extended soloing continued through the 2021 TAB tour and into 2022.
After a few solid mid set 1 renditions in 2022, the band was ready to really take this song for a walk. And on 7/26/22, the band took the song to places nobody expected. Initially, Trey takes an even shorter solo than usual, as the band jumps back into the chorus. But that’s just a springboard, as the band spends the next 12 minutes seeing all the places they could take the song. First, they explore what it means to play this song in E major instead of E Minor key. Then they explore what it means to fill the song with synth tones from Page. They explore what it means to slow the song down a little. It’s not an incredible jam, but it’s a really good jam, an interesting jam, showing lots of possibilities. As the song wraps up, the band transitions into “Leaves,” which they would also take Type 2 for the first time.
Following Jones Beach, the band seemed to lose interest in “I Never Needed You Like This Before.” A few shows later, it opened a weather-delayed one-set show at Pine Knob. After that, it disappeared for the rest of 2022. Since then, it’s been played four times–opening two shows in 2023, and two second sets in 2024. However, the song has continued to stay in regular rotation with TAB, with an especially strong showing in TAB’s Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 tours.
It seems like, at this point, the song has fallen out of favor as the band finds themselves playing with new toys. While it’s always possible that the band rediscovers their love for it like they did with “Evolve.” But realistically, it’s gone back home to TAB, joining the ranks of Former Phish Songs like “Tuesday” or “The Inlaw Josie Wales.”
Last significant update: 7/14/25
Phish.net
The Mockingbird Foundation