The after-show is a curious species of concert: ostensibly designed to extend the buzz of a good night of music (or be just a fun, no-frills late night gathering), even a weak one usually succeeds. There’s no pressure from being prime-time headliners; performers have a tacit understanding with the audience that they’re going to keep things loose — place your expectations moderately, they’re saying, hold onto that buzz and have a little fun.

Under those expectations, this was one of the best I’ve ever seen: undoubtedly relaxed, with a terrific, no-bullshit and all-rock crowd, and a band that managed some awesomely fun and even transcendent moments while maintaining a goofy, freewheeling tone, charmingly self-aware but without much need for presentation or concert decorum. “We have no idea what the fuck we’re doing up here,” Mark Karan laughed, even after he and most of his stage mates had traded almost as many juicy solos as they had laughs.

Karan was the nominal bandleader, but for about two hours, it was essentially a RatDog-plus-guests set that saw no fewer than 12 musicians turn up, including a generous, 25-minute appearance from The Chief himself. The hours were wee; people had lined up outside of the cavernous, 150-capacity Triad Theater as early as 11:45 for a show that was supposed to start at midnight, but as with most aftershows, the stated start time was more or less a “suggested” times of arrival, and not a note was played before 1 a.m., if it was even that early.

READ ON for more on Mark Karan & Friends from Chad…

No matter. A laid-back, swinging “Schoolgirl” became epic in the way it began with the night’s core band — Karan, Robin Sylvester and Jay Lane from the ‘Dog, along with keyboardist John Ginty — and then saw the stage personnel literally double over the course of 15 minutes. Dred Scott slid in next to Ginty to man the organ, Kenny Brooks sauntered onstage to blow horn with two more saxophonists — the wily Doug Yates and the mad scientist George Garzone — following soon after, and finally, with the help of a hastily managed push through the crowd flanked by security personnel, came Bob Weir, who cracked smiles aplenty despite visible exhaustion. Weir was a hoot; comfortable solos and plenty of raunch in Wang Dang Doodle and Smokestack Lightning, if his vocals weren’t quite up to howling. Several more blues classics later — Wang Dang and a Smokestack sandwich with Spoonful in the middle — he departed to a thunderous ovation and a thanks from Karan from the stage.

From there it was the anything goes atmosphere that defines these types of late-night jams: players drifting in and out, stirring in new ingredients, not drifting too far afield but playing with the unhurried assurance of a show in which nothing in particular is at stake. Lovelight, especially, was funky and exciting — both Karan and Lane attempted Pigpen-style raps with Karan going so far as to intone Pigpen’s famous “Get your hands out of your pockets” command — and included a keyboard showdown between Ginty and Jeff Chimenti, whom Karan directed to do “a little back and forth, a little back and forth from the two of yous.”

There was more from the sax collective — organized somewhat haphazardly around a single mic — and the keyboard corps, with Karan in the middle of it all, beaming, shiteating grin firmly pasted, and the great Emory Joseph and a second guitarist (was Scott Finley his name?) taking over the final third of the show.

You can check the set list below — comfort food songs, done as highly musical bar band delights — and guess that it was probably fun, so what else to add? For the 150 of us crammed into this bizarre little cabaret for a little late night jamband music, what fun.

SETLIST

Core band: Mark Karan (guitar/vocals), Robin Sylvester (bass), Jay Lane (drums/vocals) and John Ginty (piano).

Good Morning Little Schoolgirl*+#~@ > Wang Dang Doodle*+#~@ > Smokestack Lightning*+#~@ > Spoonful*+#~@ > Smokestack Lightning*+#~@%, Don’t Let Go*+#% > Turn On Your Lovelight*+#% >
What Did I Do Wrong+%^, Hey Pocky Way*# > Women Are Smarter*# > jam*~ > noisy jam$~ >
Sugaree*~$^ > And We Bid You Goodnight*~$^

* with Kenny Brooks on sax
+ with George Garzone on sax
# with Doug Yates on sax
~ with Dred Scott on organ
@ with Bob Weir on guitar and vocals
% with Jeff Chimenti on keys
^ with Emory Joseph on harp and vocals
$ with Scott Finley (?) on guitar