Of course not everyone loved the new material, and there were even those who mocked the line-up, calling it The Phil-man Brothers Band, in reference to Warren obviously, but also Jimmy’s short stint with ABB. The critique is largely unfounded though; the guitarists own voices were driving forces in the band, but no one would mistake the Q for the Georgia peaches, even when they covered Mt. Jam or Blue Sky; it’s a lazy comparison by people wanting Phil to produce a GD sound. It’s true that the Q doesn’t sound much like the Grateful Dead, nor was it meant to; it was something broader, and in a lot of ways better.
There are two particularly noteworthy two night stands in the summer of 2002. The first is 5/31 & 6/1 at The Greek, hometown gigs that have an easy, drenched, California feel. The Acadian Driftwood > GDTRFB that opens the shows is just about perfect, and the whole second set from that night is amazing, with a Lady with a Fan > Stella Blue > Terrapin climax. The next night has a killer first set closer: Roadrunner > (Jimmy’s) Again and Again > Unbroken Chain, and again the second set is a monster, with a Cryptical Jam > Dew > Dark Star > St. Stephen > 11 > Dark Star > Night of a Thousand Stars. The Dark Star > Stephen is phenomenal, with little hints at Watchtower and an angular, moody Milestones jam.
Just over a month later, The Q celebrated the Fourth of July on the East Coast with Phil’s first appearance at the Gathering of the Vibes. Many fans cite these two festival gigs as their favorites, and for good reason. The Vibes was in Upstate New York that year, offering its first four day event. The weather was absolutely perfect, the surroundings beautiful and the vibe was entirely blissful. Phil was out wandering the grounds during the day, signing Organ Donor cards and greeting fans, and at night the Q burned up the stage. This week’s Stormy Monday, in two acts, features both the opening and the closing suites from that weekend. The first, Jam > Crazy Fingers > Jam (with Mt. Jam teases) > Midnight Train > Rider, is a great slice of summertime, playful and breezy. The second is the opposite end of the spectrum: Terrapin > NFA > Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds > NFA > Friend of the Devil > Golden Road. The Terrapin Station (the Vibes is a Terrapin Presents production) is monolithic and Warren plays chilling, ferocious guitar on the jam, his strings just screaming out tiger calls. But the apex is the LSD – The Q’s Beatles covers were never anything short of anthems. During the donor rap Phil just gushes about the whole weekend.
The rest of the summer tour would feature a number of guests, including Al Schnier, Reid Genauer, Jorma Kaukonen, Greg Osby, Dickey Betts, Jeff Chimenti and multiple sit-ins from Billy, Mickey and Bobby. The Bonnaroo set was actually without Warren, but featured both Bobby and Jeff in a band that looked ahead to the fall. The summer closed with a family gathering at Alpine Valley called Terrapin Station, which featured all the GD bands – except DSO and the Tricksters – including Billy’s Trichromes, Ratdog, and of course The Q. But the big show was the latest incarnation of The Other Ones featuring the core four, plus Rob, Jimmy and Jeff.
[Photo by Terry Mayer]
The band would go to tour throughout the fall, Susan Tedeschi joining on backing vocals, playing 15000+ rooms with some amazing results, so amazing in fact that the band would stay together the next year under a new moniker: The Dead. Despite the strengths of the bands (The Dead of course featured Joan Osborne on lead vocals, without Susan), their shows are too often overlooked and sometimes disparaged, problems that come from both the advertising and the size of venues. If a small sample of the theater crowds didn’t get PLQ and wanted more GD sounding music, amplify that almost a hundred times, drawing in people who wouldn’t go out to see Phil Lesh or Bob Weir, but would to see the remaining members of the Grateful Dead share the stage again, and you’re bound to have people who are surprised and even disappointed with the music, which drew far more on the previous seven years than the 30 before that. Regardless, The Other Ones/The Dead, along with the wild success of Gov’t Mule’s rotating cast of bass greats, would keep the PLQ off the road for just over a year.
There are no official soundboard releases from 2002, but a short list of recommendations includes:
3/30 in San Francisco, 4/6 in Vail, 5/23 in Phoenix, 5/30 & 6/1 at The Greek, 6/23 at Bonnaroo and 7/20 in Camden (unofficial SBD)
One Response
Is there something wrong w/ Side A? It won’t download for me…thanks!