Welcome back to our Then & Now column, where we compare a recently busted out song to the version before it was put on the shelf.
Last night at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago, jam stalwarts moe. dug deep into their live repertoire to bust out only the second version of Casey Jones by the Grateful Dead in the band’s history. Drummer Vinnie Amico sings the cover, which was first played on August 18th, 2005 at Revolution Hall in Troy, New York, at a show where the band was billed as the “Vinnie Amico Experience.”
As part of Phish’s outstanding New Year’s Eve performance at Madison Square Garden this past Monday night, the band performed two covers in their entirety that they had played portions of in the past. For this edition of “Then and Now” we’ll look at the first time Phish tackled bits of Steve Miller Band’s Fly Like An Eagle and Iron Man by Black Sabbath and then show you the versions that took place on New Year’s Eve at The Garden.
On October 7th, 1989 Phish performed at a Bates College dining hall in Lewiston, Maine. Towards the end of the second set Jon Fishman started the David Bowie cymbal intro. A few seconds in you hear guitarist Trey Anastasio say the words “Fly Like An Eagle” in falsetto. Right away bassist Mike Gordon played the bass line for the main section of Fly Like An Eagle and his band mates seized on the opportunity to jam a bit on the Steve Miller Band classic.
Here’s the minute-long Fly Like An Eagle jam from 10/07/89…
And here’s how Fly Like An Eagle sounded/looked on New Year’s Eve…
Upon hearing the news that The Rolling Stones had dusted off Mother’s Little Helper b-side Lady Jane after 45 years last night at the 02 Arena in London, we figured this tune – after one of the lengthiest bust outs in rock history – was the fitting subject for our latest Then and Now column.
Way back in 1966 The Rolling Stones performed Lady Jane on The Ed Sullivan Show. Notice Brian Jones added to the Elizabethan vibe by using a dulcimer.
And now check out one of the first clips to surface of last night’s Lady Jane. More similar to the studio version, Chuck Leavell simulates a harpsichord on keys while Ron Wood tackles the dulcimer part by using a 12-string acoustic guitar.
Today we continue a new column called Then and Now in which we let our readers compare a recently busted out version of a tune to a take from before the song was put on the shelf.
Phil Lesh and Friends completed a tour-opening run at the Wellmont in Montclair, New Jersey on Friday night where they were augmented by Jason Crosby (God Street Wine, Robert Randolph and the Family Band) on fiddle at various points during the show. Crosby helped on a cover of Life Is A Carnival by The Band which was sung by John Kadlecik who added a little Jerry-flair to Lesh’s version.
The Grateful Dead/Furthur bassist first played Life Is A Carnival with a Phil and Friends ensemble that featured Lesh, John Molo, Jimmy Herring, Chris Robinson, Steve Molitz, Barry Sless and members of Railroad Earth on February 12th, 2005 at a Mardi Gras themed show in San Francisco, Calif. Here’s a soundboard-sourced, streamable track of that performance…
And now check out a killer video of Friday’s take on The Band classic featuring Lesh, Kadlecik, Joe Russo, Jeff Chimenti and Jackie Greene thanks to YouTuber sgibson818…
Today we kick off a new column called Then and Now in which we let our readers compare a recently busted out version of a tune to a take from before the song was put on the shelf.
Jamtronica act STS9 isn’t a band that plays covers all that often, so it was quite a surprise when the band filled nearly their entire first set with covers on Halloween night at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Penn. Starting off with Michael Jackson’s Thriller, STS9 tackled Icky Thump by The White Stripes, Daft Punk’s Robot Rock, The Walk by The Cure, Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones, Deee-lite’s What Is Love, King Pharoah’s Tomb by King Tubby, Bloody Beatroots’ Awesome and the Deodato version of 2001 (Also Sprach Zarathrustra) by the time the set was done.
STS9 hadn’t covered 2001 since 1999 and Wednesday night’s take, like other songs in the first set, featured horns. We wanted to share a version of 2001 from 1998 as well as a decent video of Wednesday night’s cover to show off the differences between them.
THEN
Here’s audio of STS9 performing Also Sprach Zarathrustra on April 18, 1998…
