ReView From The Vault - Phil Lesh & Friends 12/19/2004

Double twist when you hit the air
Phil Lesh & Friends
12/19/2004
Warfield Theater San Francisco, CA

review by Jeremy Kashnow (jeremy@setbreak.com)

Wide awake was the tired old adage – no good deed goes unpunished. I had told a friend I would take his extra pair of Sunday tix for my family. When they backed out I was left with a couple of extras to get rid of. Expecting an excess of tix on the scene, it being Sunday night and all, I felt it was now my responsibility to get rid of this pair. I told some friends they could have the set and all I had to do was get to a bar in Soma before 7:30. Arriving at 7:32 my friends were nowhere in sight. We raced to the Warfield only to find my friends in line having just sold this extra pair. Doh! Now I had friends who drove into the city just for the show and no way in. To complicate the situation, the scene in front of the Warfield was insane! Tix were selling for $100 each. As we wandered around with fingers in the air, a man approached us for a match and told us he’d sell us a ticket for $70. We politely told him that we only sell tickets for face value and we only buy tickets for face value. If he wants to sell us one for $45 we’d be happy to buy it. He walked off laughing. At that moment, Karma stepped in and the couple standing behind us tapped me on the shoulder and said they had one for face. The good vibes continued and somehow in the midst of the chaos we were able to get all four tickets we needed at face value.

As we walked in and strolled past the merch desk I noticed the three tarot cards on the concert poster for these shows. It was then that I remembered the conversation I had back in the office earlier in the week. Someone told me that each night was going to have a different theme. The three tarot cards on the poster represented the three themes. Friday was Life… Saturday was Death… and Sunday was Rebirth. Aha! Now it all made sense. With that in mind we began to think about the tunes they were likely to play. “The Wheel” came to mind immediately, as did “Eyes of the World”. “Box of Rain” of course and maybe “Unbroken Chain”? The list went on and on…

“He’s Gone” kicked off the night. This was appropriate given our new frame of thematic understanding. I believe this tune was written in reference to the malevolent antics and eventual departure of band manager Lenny Hart. The song ultimately morphed into a dirge of sorts and was played whenever a friend had passed. Initially one could have thought this would have had more to do with Death than Rebirth, but a careful review of the lyrics paints a picture of hope in the aftermath of loss. It was right on tonight.

The expected “Box of Rain” came next. This was written by Phil as a song for his dying father and has become an icon of love, peace and comfort. The Black Crowe’s “Tumbleweed In Eden” was beautiful. Chris really sings his own songs so well. This jumped into a rip-roaring “Golden Road To Unlimited Devotion”. Everybody was singing and dancing (in a ring around the sun). The tender “Row Jimmy” tugged at my heart. This tune holds a special place in my mind – back in December of 1991 at the Coliseum, this song led me down the fungus-laden path to the end of the universe. It still hits me hard. I didn’t recognize the next tune “The Dolphins” but what followed was pure genius… “The Stranger (Two Souls In Communion)” – and old Pigpen tune. It was incredible. An enormous “Unbroken Chain” closed out the set. This was the highlight so far. There’s that cavernous mind-bending jam near the end that never disappoints. I think this tune is the P&F masterpiece. It was another tune that the Grateful Dead had never played live until they broke it out in 1995. It never had a chance to blossom as a live piece for them, but Phil has taken this song to new realms and I think it has taken his band to its pinnacle.

Setbreak got saucy as the Jaegermeister flowed. This crowd was in ugly shape. The true nature of the weekend was taking its toll. I think I was more afraid of the Heads than the homeless on Market street that night.

Second set opened with the girls up in the balcony again. This time they were singing… could it be? “Imagine” – the traditional way. It was beautiful. The appearance of this song leant weight to my theory of teleprompter error the night before, but it is still just a theory. I’m not sure how well it fits into the theme of Death or even Rebirth for that matter, but it does exude Hope. “Help on the Way” hit the hall like a tidal wave with Paradise looming just out of reach. “Slipknot!” scrambled our brains in its characteristic style and shot us out like a slingshot. The anticipated “Franklin’s Tower” eluded us as the band thrust into “Eyes of the World”. I hadn’t heard this one since last Winter’s acoustic Dead set at the Berkeley Community Theater. I always thought Eyes was about the band’s move from SF north across the bay to Marin. I had gone to look at a house in Mill Valley that cold day last winter before seeing The Dead. Hearing that song cemented the plans in my mind to make Mill Valley my home. The Help->Slipknot!->Eyes was amazing. “Saint Stephen” found us dancing drunk near the balcony bar. We were a sight! The jam that followed finally turned into “The Eleven” with that bizarre tempo. Absolutely NOTHING sounds like The Eleven and Molo nailed it dead on. The original Grateful Dead version of this song involved high-flying vocal acrobatics involving different members of the band singing the two verses interspersed with each other line-by-line. When The Other Ones debuted this song here at the Warfield back in June of 1998, they had reworked and simplified it. Bobby sang each verse separately, giving the song an entirely new feel. You could actually understand the lyrics and appreciate the poetry. This is absolutely a song about Rebirth – (now is the time of returning… with our thought jewels polished and gleaming… now is the test of the boomerang… tossed in the night of redeeming). Unfortunately P&F attempted the complicated original version and failed miserably. CR sang – no more time to tell how… and Phil sang – eight sided whispering hallelujah hatrack… but then it fell apart miserably. It was still fun, but it reminded me why P&F usually plays this one as an instrumental.

“Turn on your Lovelight” was bluesy and fun and led into the second verse of “Dark Star” (which we almost forgot about). The jam turned into a Particle song, “Elevator” with that signature trancejam sound. A loving “Comes A Time” was a touching treat. If you’re ever feeling sorry for yourself, the line “comes a time when the blind man takes your hand… says, ‘don’t you see?’” should really smack you around and set you straight. “you’ve got an empty cup… that only love can fill” – fuck… I miss Garcia!!!!

A brief “Happy Birthday” (for whom?) turns into “Franklin’s Tower”… oh yeahhh! What is it about this song that makes you feel so happy? There’s something about that first line, “in another time’s forgotten space… your eyes looked from your mother’s face” that lends a transcendental-collage-of-momentary-space-time-vignette feel to the tune. It just always leaves you… satisfied. Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” finishes the set strong.

This band did a 180 from the mellow night before and tore the roof off!

Break/Donor Rap/Intros…

“The Wheel” – the ultimate symbol of rebirth. (Who invented the wheel? Ben Franklin? ;-) ) Nice… not thrilling, but nice. With double encores being de rigueur, “And We Bid You Goodnight” came as no surprise. I heard this one at my first Grateful Dead show when I was 16 and I thought they closed every show with it. How cool! This was nice, but they only sang the chorus… no verses. Why do they always drop the verses? They’re great…

Tell “A” for the ark that wonderful boat
(bid you goodnight… goodnight…)
Tell “B” for the beast at the ending of the wood
(bid you goodnight… goodnight…)
Well it eat all the children that would not be good
(bid you goodnight… goodnight…)
I’m walkin’ in Jerusalem just like John
(bid you goodnight… goodnight…)
I remember right well, I remember right well
(bid you goodnight… goodnight…)
His rod and staff shall comfort me
(bid you goodnight… goodnight…)

Lay down my dear brothers…

You get the point… great shit, right?