It seems to happen this way all the time: we had a pretty good cadence going, popping down to Port Chester to see Phil on his birthday and/or Halloween stands at the Capitol Theater. And then we kind of let one slide, then another, and before we knew it we hadn't been down there in a long time! The fact of the matter is that we've seen some great Phil & Friends ensembles and the last couple hadn't been perfect, so that contributed to us opting to skip. But we were hoping for another great lineup this year and they sure announced one. So we got tickets as soon as they went on sale for all three nights of the stand (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 14-16) and booked rooms at our regular "luxury" hotel in Armonk.
I've been experiencing a lot of tension lately between work taking a lot of mindspace and my Dad's health and needed support taking concentration. So I was very happy to load up the car with sandwiches, beer, clothes, books, whatever it takes, and to hit that dusty, care-free Armonk trail on an in-and-out but seasonably warm Thursday, the start of the last week of Winter. It was Pi Day!
We picked up Dave in Quincy and then backed up to the beginning of the Pike in downtown Boston, then quickly West and Southwest on the highway. We stopped to eat a convenient sandwich at a slovenly picnic area near the Connecticut line, and then motored full speed down to Armonk, arriving at the shop-worn La Quinta right around 3:00. As referred to earlier, the sun was in and out, glaringly lighting the bare trees and melting banks of dirty snow, the muddy forest floor showing through when it surrounded the highway, but still without a hint of Spring life. That'll be changing soon.
Moved our stuff into our second floor room and stowed it like the experienced travelers we are. There was time to hang out for a mellow hour or so, and then we hit the road again for Port Chester, parking in the municipal lot behind Kiosko. Went right in there for an excellent, leisurely, early dinner, and then headed down the hill to the Cap.
There were two attractions leading to the line we joined outside of the theater at 6:20 or so (the small Shakedown Corner was dismissed with a glance). The doors were opening at 6:30 and most of the people in line had GA-floor tickets and were bound to grab spaces in the Phil Zone or as close to it as they could get. But what we and some others were there for was that there was going to be a pre-show gig in Garcia's, the Capitol's bar, by Jesse Bardwell and the Free Union, with Grahame Lesh and Elliott Peck (with Nathan Graham on drums and Joe Cirotti on lead electric guitar)!
Grabbed a spot by the soundboard, grabbed a couple of beers and ciders, and enjoyed an excellent set while the crowd swelled alarmingly. Jesse is an Americana singer-songwriter type who meshes very well with the country vibe Elliott (on acoustic) and Grahame (on electric bass) can bring. Elliott also sang a couple of her songs to my delight. And they stopped the show with Ring Of Fire, a couple of tunes after Elliott's Highway Song:
So meet me on a highway
somewhere between Roanoke and Baltimore
We can sing some tunes like Johnny and June
and make the most of this time together
Meet me on a highway
where the river meets the Mason Dixon Line
Climb on your bus write a song that we can sing
to them sweethearts together
We pushed our way out of there as they started their last song and made our way into the ornate Cap and up the stairs. Dave had earlier bought the poster for the night, which is psychedelic. The Thursday show apparently wasn't sold out, though it was pretty full in the balcony. We were about dead center, in the fourth row, not bad at all! They weren't painting the alcoves with film loops, as they have in other years, but they had huge projections of the poster for the whole stand (as opposed to the one for the night ... merchandising you know), which is a delightful motif of a terrapin which is kind of a tent and kind of a world unto itself, and kind of a parade balloon, being shepherded along by six dancing bears. Pretty good! And I should mention that throughout the show they splashed some wonderful, colorful patterns on the lovely Cap interior dome. They can do a light show really well in that room.
I haven't mentioned the ensemble that had piqued our interest. On Thursday they had Phil on electric bass, John Scofield to his right (as we faced the stage) on electric guitar, Jackie Greene and then Grahame Lesh on guitars in the center of the stage, John Molo on drums behind them, and then Benmont Tench on the full keyboard/organ/Leslie setup to the far left. And they were excellent.
Really, I gush and gush, but this was a fantastic concert. Here I am the next morning on a gloomy day in Armonk after another styrofoam hotel breakfast, looking out on bleak trees and an endless parking lot, and just the smallest recollection of what we experienced last night thrills me.
We were pretty thrilled in real time too. As with other amazing concerts I've seen, I was trying to hold on to and appreciate the moment all through it, especially at certain junctures (like when Phil sang the last set of codas to Box Of Rain and I was trying as hard as I could to experience and preserve the moment, knowing I might never see him do this again). But at the same time I was aware of the nature of music and of time, and that it's the liquid, moving aspect of both that makes them delightful, makes them exist. I mean, the Star may be Dark, but it's moving at a speed we can't really fathom and that's what makes it so fascinating.
Well anyway, the guys came out a little late because of a late-arriving crowd (many people coming right from work, probably). And they played an amazing first set (see Dave's blog for more details on the songs):
Mason's Children
Mr. Charlie
Bird Song
Scarlet Begonias
Eyes of the World
So Many Roads
U.S. Blues
Right from the start they were on! So many things about the concert were excellent, and top of the list was the incredible sound in the Cap. It might have been partly because we were in a perfect spot in the middle of the space, but it was one of those nights when I could hear and see every note from every player on stage. They were all playing excellently, but possibly number two on my list of great things about the concert was Phil's playing, which was as good as it gets. I'd call him riveting, but he's more than that. He can make you float like a great bass player, but still comes up with that amazing, shocking Phil power and dynamism. Several times he was leading me along by the hand and then surprised me with volume, reverb, scariness, emotion, speed, and/or virtuosity. Several times, one in particular, he left me breathless and laughing.
Another aspect of the show worth mentioning was the vocals. Jackie, Grahame, and Phil all split the leads pretty equally, and all were in fine voice. As I've said before, I'm an adherent of the widely held notion that Grateful Dead music, as old as it is, has an incredible amount of depth that people haven't explored to its limits. An example is JRAD, who the night before had opened their second set with Man Smart Woman Smarter into The Eleven(!!!). But P&F out-JRADed JRAD last night, like a gauntlet had been laid down. The first sign of this was Jackie's singing on Mr. Charlie, which was equal parts homage to Pigpen, true blues, and true Jackie Greene, who has his own unique inflection.
And Jackie's vocal lead on So Many Roads was another example, making us teary-eyed with the remembrance of Jerry later in life singing it, but at the same time bringing his own interpretation to the song. And I should mention Grahame's playing, on his huge country Gibson. He naturally falls into the Bob Weir role in any band he plays in, leading the rhythm of the song and deferring endlessly to the other players while maintaining a standard of excellence and pace. Several times after Scofield had taken a lead and Greene had taken a lead, and Scofield had taken another and then looked across the stage like, "Who's next?" Then Jackie and Benmont would look at Grahame like, "Go for it big guy!" And Grahame would take a measure or two and send it right back to them. This was charming but perhaps Grahame should have taken the bull by the horns more than he did. Oh well, he's young!
And I haven't even mentioned Eyes Of the World! I mean, talk about doing something new with an old song that we've heard (and adored) a million times. They had just played an excellent, tidy Scarlet Begonias when they jammed and emerged into Eyes, and just made the theater ring with a tight, juicy, perfectly sized Eyes. Grahame took the lead (he pronounced "nuthatch" with precision), and then the boys thundered through the changes. He stepped up again for the next few verses when they were just about to go off the edge into free-form jazz and brought us back to the song's country sensibility.
Jeez, I was wondering how they were going to end that set. Our minds were blown but then they let us regain our composure by closing with another neat and tidy sing-along, U.S. Blues. Ack! I screwed out right away at the end of the set and was getting another beer and cider while people were still wondering how to wipe the smile off their faces and get to the bathroom or something. Then I got back to our seats and tried to deal with my own smile. That set alone had been more than worth the long drive, the expenses of the weekend, and the hassles of the crowd. And there was lots more to come.
Pretty long set break, but I timed it well, finished the beer and some conversations with the people around me (my neighbor had seen Weir and Wolf Bros the night before and wasn't ready to hear any criticism of them), and then hit the funky upstairs bathroom in plenty of time to be back in the seats and a little bored by the time they came out for the second set.
It has been a pretty long (though only 7-song) first set followed by a pretty long set break, and people were already beginning to wonder what kind of shape they'd be in for work tomorrow. We were on vacation so had no sympathy ... play all night! And then they did. They opened with:
Dark Star
Box of Rain
Wharf Rat
Box of Rain
Franklin's Tower
Uncle John's Band
St. Stephen
Let It Grow
The Wheel
I Know You Rider
Dave and I debated this a bit. I feel that properly the first sequence was Dark Star jam > Dark Star > jam > Box Of Rain > Wharf Rat > Box Of Rain. But Dave hates calling things "jams" when they could be seen as parts of a specific song. I feel the opening jam (which Dave called very quickly as Dark Star) should definitely be rolled into the song on the eternal tape label. But after Dark Star they went into a jam that was so unique it even seemed to surprise them, like "What are we playing now??" Should this be its own track? Well, let's let time tell. This was such a wonderful jam I can see them trying to re-capture it.
And at the same time I have no idea what to say about the Box Of Rain/Wharf Rat medley, and I also could rhapsodize about it until Armonk is no more. I mean, Phil's bass holding up his song about his father's passing, his stepping up to the mike and beautiful singing of those lines that touched on sorrow and family bonds and the idea of carrying on, and his band's incredible pace and melody. And then Jackie stepping up to the mike in the middle of it himself and all of a sudden we realized that they'd arrived at Wharf Rat and Jackie was singing it with a fresh quality in a fresh octave. This is another song that I've heard a million times and wondered how much was left in it, and then a Jackie Greene sings it with a Phil Lesh backing him up and you think, "OMG, I've never heard this song before!" And then they jammed and jammed and I wondered what was going to happen next and then boom, we were back in Box Of Rain and approaching that amazing ending.
And then they kept on going! Another case of out-JRADing JRAD: they suddenly were playing the last few measures of Slipknot! from a standing start, and then they jumped into Franklin's Tower with a full head of steam and with both feet (well, with all 12 ... at least). And the following UJB was amazing too. As mentioned, I found the vocals last night to be top-notch and one of the best things about this ensemble was how Grahame's and Jackie's voices supported each other when they did dual harmony. They had gotten to the point where they could sing really, really loud and yet be totally in synch with each other. And they shone on UJB like you wouldn't believe, Phil singing the supposed lead (e.g., starting with "It's the same story the crow told me") and then the two backup singers taking over the verse.
And then the set went on and on and on. Seriously, this was a *long* second set. I kept on thinking they were going to wind it up here, or here, or here. And they kept on rolling out those songs and playing the shit out of them. One definite criticism you could make was that they could have used a bit more practice on some of the songs they did later in the second set, like they were a little disjointed at times on St. Stephen (which featured a pretty fresh jam itself) and Let It Grow. And The Wheel failed to take off ... maybe they were getting tired themselves, though they sure seemed to be enjoying things. They wanted to play all night too!
But then they finished up with a song they all knew, I Know You Rider, and we were back to perfect. Wow, what a show!!! Really, as great as lots of P&F shows I've seen have been, that one might be at the top of the list ... at least for today. My balcony neighbor (who's also going to Friday and Saturday) agreed. "Phew!" he said, "They sure set the bar high with this one!" We'll see what they do for their next trick, but there were things about this show that absolutely could not be equalled.
Time for the donor rap, which was a heartfelt as always. Phil mentioned a recent, unfortunately passed donor, Chub, before going into his standard talk about Cody. Got to side with Phil on this, even when he tricked us all into promising him our organs. And we'd realized during the break that we were well past midnight and it was now his 79th birthday! An off-key but sincere chorus of Happy Birthday broke out. And then the band played another easy sing-along everyone knew to close the night, Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad to send us all on our way. By then a lot of the people who had to work the next day had taken off to beat traffic, and we had plenty of room for dancing up in the balcony.
What fun! Made our way out of there and back to the lot behind Kiosko, and then hit the road back to Armonk. Short drive under the misty half-moon and we were back. Drank lots of water in the car and had another sandwich when we got back to the room. It had been 8 hours since dinner! And again, there was going to be lots more to come.
Here's a link to Sarah's pictures. Note the poster for the entire stand with terrified bears trying to run away before a gigantic terrapin crushes them.
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