SET 1: Here Comes Sunshine > Good Lovin’, Gone Wanderin’, Cumberland Blues, Dire Wolf, Loser, Cold Rain and Snow
It was a jam-packed first half, with a rollicking Good Lovin’ to get the crowd riled up, a scorching Loser and plenty of exploration (and teases and red herrings) in Cold Rain and Snow. But the story is Cumberland, which veered off in different directions after every verse, from fleet-fingered bluegrass style breakdown, to boogie groove, to blues shuffle. I’ve fluffed this amazing Phil & Friends lineup a lot, but it bears repeating: Cumberland is its signature tune. The rain’s picked up again, but Phil’s announced his intention to get good n’ crazy, and nobody’s leaving now…
We’re less than two weeks from the start of Lollapalooza 2008, and we’ve got two exciting pieces of news to share about the three-day blowout. First, rumors are swirling about an Obama appearance at the festie. Could this be his playing saxophone on Arsenio Hall moment? Also, for those of us who can’t make it out to Chicago we can watch highlights from Grant Park on Fuse.
Now let’s take a look at what went down this weekend:
Before we go here’s a few local stories:
While we dearly missed the Allman Brothers’ annual 78-show run at the Beacon this March we’ve got another incredibly long residency to help dull the pain. Phil Lesh and Friends kick off their second annual NYC Philathon on Halloween at the Nokia Theater in Times Square. The presale begins on Friday at noon for the Halloween show as well as the 13 shows in November (1,2,3,6,7,8,9,11,13,14,15,16 and 18) that Lesh alluded to on Sunday night at Jones Beach.
All sorts of crazy VIP packages, including a rare opportunity to watch the show from the side of the stage, are available via Consideritdan.com. We can barely afford the normal ticket price let alone a $500 ducat, but god bless the wealthy hippies.
Last year Stormy Mondays celebrated the birth of the country with a selection of Brit rock covers by Mr. Warren Haynes. One good tune deserves another, so this year we have Mr. Phil Lesh taking on The Beatles’ songbook. First up is a rare Grateful Dead version of Rain from MSG in ‘93. The tune only became part of the GD repertoire in that final slew of weird covers in the mid ’90s.
Next up is the Q with She Said, She Said from Boston in ‘00, followed by You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away from Jimmy Herring’s last gig as part of Phil’s band. Warren does a killer job as guest vocalist (Joan was already the lead singer at this point) on this soundboard recording that does not circulate. (The song would stay a staple in the ensuing, and miserable, Chris Robinson PaF.)
Finally, the long jam comes from an often overlooked, but exceptional version of Phil and Friends that played only two shows in the spring of ‘05, featuring Barry Sless, Mookie Siegel, Molo, Jackie and Gloria, and Al Schnier. Across the Universe is the jumping off point for a jam that winds through Eyes and on into a smokin’ Love the One You’re With. The band is just about perfect, nailing the music in a way that is, let’s face it, rare for an inaugural night of a new Phil ensemble. And from where this week’s mix leaves off, the set continues with Millenium Jam into The Eleven into a stunning, one time only performance of Phish’s A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing (!!!!!!) > Man of Constant Sorrow. Certainly worth checking out while you’re eating hotdogs and launching illegal fireworks over the weekend. As always, enjoy!
Any savvy concertgoer knows to temper expectations just a bit sometimes, even at the risk of jading. It’s so hard to find (and then bottle) lightning more than a few times a year that those who go looking for it wind up with a merely overcast sky time and time again—a long string of B and B+ shows with the rare A stuck in the days between.
[Photo by Rich Gastwirt via Phillesh.net]
Friends who don’t go to the 100-150 shows I average every year ask if going to so much music desensitizes me, and the answer is yes, of course—to a point. Glass half-full reasoning suggests that if you go to a lot, experience a different variety of all types of venues, styles and groupings, and when something really good happens you get that tingly feeling—the feeling you forgot, as the poet wrote.
In late 2007 the feeling I forgot came to me in an unexpected—but as it turned out, unsurprising—show last year: the final night of Phil Lesh & Friends’ epic 10-night run at the Nokia Theater here in New York. I’d been to the 11/6 show earlier in the week and it was a cursory delight—full of easy-mark crowd-pleasers, a safe level of stretching out, a few moments of A-level PLF work and enough mojo to convince me this fivesome warranted a place with at least the most capable PLF lineups. The final show of the run, however, was a game-changer, with a decently solid first set, a pretty, all-acoustic second set, and a stemwinder of a third set that, to these ears, remains to date the fullest, one-set expression of what this current PLF lineup can accomplish. READ ON for more of Chad’s PLF review…
The Superjam at Bonnaroo has been a staple since the inaugural edition of the festie in 2002. Typically, it was a bit of an after-thought with a hodge-podge of musicians who happened to stick around until Sunday jamming together with varied results. It wasn’t until 2006, when Superfly threw down the gauntlet with the mysterious inclusion of the first ever late-night Superjam, that it turned into one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend.
The band that took the stage that night included Ernie, Cactus and The Duo, who would later be joined by Phil Lesh, for a set that included songs from their respective catalogs. Here they are ripping up Going Down The Road Feeling Bad…
Sure it took two members of Phish debuting the band that would be forever know as G.R.A.B. with a sit-in by the Crypt Keeper to take things to another level, but hell, Superfly upped the ante last year with a set full of Zeppelin covers - with an actual member of Zep. No details for this year’s Superjam have been revealed, but our trusty friends from The Weight seem to think it’s a set full of Tom Waits covers.
In lieu of this week’s MP3 Boot Camp we bring you Download This…
After reading Dead scholar Blair Jackson’s riveting piece on Phil Lesh and Friends’ recently completed five night stand at the Warfield Theatre I just couldn’t wait to hear more of the shows. On Friday we directed you towards downloads of the first two shows, and today we’ve got your downloads of the last three nights.
[Photo by J.C. Juanis]
Just a note that I really like to tag all the mp3s I create, but I didn’t have the time for this batch. I wanted to get these uploaded quickly for those like myself and DayJob1978 who really wanted to hear these shows.
05/16/2008
Set 1 - “Workingman’s Dead”
320kbps MP3s: http://www.sendspace.com/file/hkspc9
FLACs: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=515332
READ ON for links to audio from the rest of Phil’s Warfield run…
On a muggy Friday night at the Warfield Phil Lesh and his talented Friends covered all of the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, leading fans to think they would play albums for the entire run. Saturday found the band expertly playing Skullfuck, before skipping about ten years and taking on 1981’s Dead Set. Both Dead Set and its acoustic brother Reckoning were partially recorded at the Warfield, making the choice to cover the electric album a fitting one.
[Photo by J.C. Juanis]
Yet Sunday was a completely different animal. Just as the show was starting Phil told the crowd that the night would be full of friends and improv. So the album covers went out the window, but what the crowd got what looks to be an epic three set affair featuring two acoustic interludes (one by Jackie Greene and Larry Campbell, the other with Greene and Tim Bluhm) between the sets.
The first set featured an intriguing trio of Phil, Bob Weir and John Molo rockin’ Come Together > Dark Star > Loose Lucy before Jeff Chimenti and Larry Campbell added their talents to West L.A. Fade Away and The Wheel > Not Fade Away. After Jackie and Larry’s mini-set Phil’s usual quintet came out to tackle a few GD favorites. Towards the end of the set Mark Karan came out to add some more psychedelic tones to the festivities. The quintet handled the third by themselves , ending what has to be the most exciting run they’ve played in years. Here’s hoping they keep the momentum goin’ throughout the summer. READ ON for last night’s setlist…
It’s been a slow news week around these parts outside of the tremendous Phil and Friends shows goin’ down in San Francisco. Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, the band has started their five show run at the Warfield by playing the Grateful Dead’s first four albums in their entirety. Our buddy Henge passed along links to audio of both nights. Get your Phil of the albums after this photo…
[Photo by J.C. Juanis]
5/13/2008 (w/ Bob Weir from Cream Puff War onwards)
Set 1 “Grateful Dead”
Pt. 1 http://www.mediafire.com/?mp03r2zihzz
Pt. 2 http://www.mediafire.com/?jtsmsxddioz
Set 2 “Anthem of the Sun”
Pt. 1 http://www.mediafire.com/?yyu1jdzlb0j
Pt. 2 http://www.mediafire.com/?mxamz22tjyc
5/14/08
Set 1 “Aoxomoxoa”
http://www.mediafire.com/?ndvthvj0ib1
Set 2 “Live Dead” (w/ Mark Karan)
Pt. 1 http://www.mediafire.com/?dgy4q90n0cm
Pt. 2 http://www.mediafire.com/?nwoymxnj0g3
We can’t wait to see how they handle Skullfuck and Europe ‘72.
Phil Lesh and his friends treated fans at the Warfield to another double-header of entire album covers. For their first set they played all of Aoxomoxa before busting out Live Dead in the second set. We’re pumped for a potential Money Honey.
[Photo by J.C. Juanis]
Here’s the setlist thanks to Coventry:
5/14/08 Phil Lesh and Friends, Warfield Theater, San Francisco, CA
Set 1: St Stephen, Dupree’s Diamond Blues, Rosemary, Doin’ That Rag, Mountains of the Moon, China Cat Sunflower, What’s Become of the Baby, Cosmic Charlie
Set 2: Dark Star > St Stephen > The Eleven, Turn On Your Love Light, Death Don’t Have No Mercy, Feedback, We Bid You Goonight
Encore: King Bee
If the trend continues, Phil and the boys will perform the gorgeous tunes from Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. Rumors are flying that Sunday’s show will be an all night affair. Will that allow Lesh to play every album before the run comes to a close? Certainly Europe ‘72 would be a show by itself. Stay tuned!
