ReView From The Vault - Phil Lesh & Friends 12/17/2004

Kite on ice since the first of february
Phil Lesh & Friends
12/17/2004
Warfield Theater San Francisco, CA

review by Jeremy Kashnow (jeremy@setbreak.com)

The only Phil & Friends shows of 2004 came in just under the wire last weekend at the Warfield Theater in SF. The hyper-dimensional self-transforming ensemble Phil assembled for this feast hit hard and long and left most Heads struggling for cognitive cogency come late Sunday night. The (hard)core of the team was made up of Captain Phil on his six-string Modulus bass, former Hornsby-drummer and longtime P&F mate John Molo on skins, and ARU-alumnus Jimmy Herring on sicko-psychedelicatessen guitar. This trio alone would have been enough to push any of us into the outer reaches of our skulls but this weekend we were treated to a unique stew of hand-picked musical spices.

The early Phil & Friends days were characterized by a small core (usually Phil-Molo-Kimock) surrounded by an evolving array of friends. Each three night run at the Warfield would be made up of a different cast of superstars. This changing-lineup format produced some of the greatest musical moments of the nineties, culminating with the stellar April 99 weekend of Phil, Molo, Kimock, Trey & Paige. The band ultimately became known as “the quintet” – Phil, Molo, Herring, Haynes & Barraco – and has stayed that way for most of the New Millennium.

Pulling some moves out of his 1999 playbook, Phil took us back to the revolving lineup format this weekend. Seen in the audience at a number of small clubs in recent months, it looks like Phil was doing his homework. Black Crowes front man Chris Robinson took the lead vocals, acoustic guitar, and harmonica position. (Chris’ New Earth Mud band includes former P&F friend Rob Barraco and recently completed a joint tour with former P&F friend Warren Haynes’ Government Mule.) Guitar rocker and pedal steel virtuoso Barry Sless joined us from the David Nelson Band. Phil went to see the trancejam quartet Particle at the Independent in SF earlier this month and found keyboardist Steve Molitz. Railroad Earth also played the Independent this month and Phil found us both violin-player Tim Carbone, and mandolinist John Skehan. Drawing some talent from the final incarnation of the Jerry Garcia Band, we were treated to rare performances by vocalists Jackie LaBranch and Gloria Jones. To round out the flavor, Phil added a horns section to a few tunes made up of Dave Ellis on tenor sax, Kevin and Marty on trumpet and trombone.

The scene was silly out on Market Street Friday evening. The scene at the Warfield is always silly… a strange brew of hippies, homeless, and all around freaks. It was great to see so many old friends in town for the fun. The only Dead-related Warfield fun to-date this year had been a lone “Dead” show back in early February. That’s really not much music to placate the deadhead masses, so most of us were salivating as our hunger built walking into the hall (that may not be why some of us were drooling). Ticket time was 8PM and these days that can actually mean something. Friday night that meant 8:30. The lights dimmed but the curtain stayed down. The band was definitely playing but we couldn’t see them. Above, in the side balcony, Gloria and Jackie began singing Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing.” Then the curtain rose and the band launched into a funkadelic “Cosmic Charlie” (my Tam-house tune, as I moved in on Feb 1 this year)... a poignant “Althea” ensued (you may be the fate of Ophelia)… followed by a rocking version of the Solomon Burke tune, “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” (a Jerry Band staple of the 1990’s – remember the old Blues Brothers version in the 80’s?)… Black Crowes tune, “Lay It All On Me”… smoking version of “Next Time You See Me” (old Forest/Harvey blues tune that Pigpen used to sing)… brutal Phil-vocals on “High Time”… and a hefty “Sugaree” to close out the set.

A typically long setbreak followed which gave us all time to reflect on the set and “talk about our feelings.” I was impressed! I was skeptical of Chris Robinson but he did a great job. My only complaint is that he relied on his teleprompter too much. It’s a prompter, not a book! Phil has a tendency to do this often as well. The result is a robotic rendition of a song instead of a heartfelt howl. I want the howl.

At 10:30 we heard what we thought was the thunderous assault of the beginning of “Shakedown Street” as the curtain began to rise… BAAAAM!... and then again… BAAAAM!... and on into the funk… this turned out to be Disco-Dead complete with a horns section. It was solid and serious and long… this bled into a Robinson-led version of “Candyman”… and then the main event… “Viola Lee Blues”… damn this was heavy. I have an odd penchant for those old early twentieth century prison tunes… (some got six months… some got one solid…) and then there was August West standing before me telling me his dire tale in “Wharf Rat”. Dylan’s “Wicked Messenger” came next and then the bizarre “What’s Become Of The Baby” into the gospelish “Driftin’ Too Far From The Shore” into “Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)” – (old Warlocks tune and one of the few credited to the whole band). The expected Chris Robinson-led “Hard To Handle” came next… a monstrous “Other One” into… could it be?... yes… “Fire On The Mountain” to close out second set. Holy Shit! That was a huge two-hour set.

Phil came back and gave his donor rap and jumped into “A Piece For You” – this was a favorite new Phil tune I heard a bunch last summer (2003) on Dead tour on the East coast. I seemed to be the only one who knew it as there were quite a few bewildered faces in the crowd. It was nice, but I missed Joan Osborne’s vocals. And just when we all thought it was over… the mandolin chimed in for the beginning of “Rueben & Cherise” to finish the meal.
WOW!
We were blown away on Friday night and although satiated, we were hungry as hell for two more nights of fun.