Chris Robinson Brotherhood @ Great American Music Hall – December 14
Words: DaveO
Images: Lee Fenyves
You just knew that when Chris Robinson Brotherhood announced a mid-December four-night run at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, these shows would produce something special. Pure speculation led to vague promises on Wednesday when the Twitter account for the venue let everyone to expect special guests for the final two nights.
[All Photos by Lee Fenyves]
Wednesday night’s show, and I’m sure all CRB shows, featured a first set where the guitar-work more closely resembled that of the Grateful Dead than The Black Crowes. Then, the craziness started with Phil Lesh grabbing bass duties for the entire second set and encore which featured five tunes from the Grateful Dead repertoire in addition to a cover of Catfish John which, while recorded by the Grateful Dead during the Terrapin Station recordings, was never played live or released until the Deluxe Edition in 2004.
[Videos of They Love Each Other, Sugaree, The Dolphins and Blue Suede Shoes by SGordo]
Filling out the set and encore was Bob Dylan’s Crash On The Levee, New Earth Mud’s Sunday Sound, Fred Neill’s The Dolphins and Carl Perkins’ Blue Suede Shoes. It had been a while since I had seen Phil play music live and it is always an absolute treat to witness his unique style of creative melodic playing – he truly is a one of a kind Rock & Roll bassist.
Reportedly, the sit-ins continued on Thursday with Bob Weir contributing guitar and vocals for the close of the second set which featured takes on Seventh Son, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues, Bright Lights, Big City, New Speedway Boogie and Minglewood Blues. Chris Robinson Brotherhood plays New Year’s Eve in Hermosa Beach, Calif.
Here’s the rest of Lee’s fantastic shots…
