Another beautiful Armonk day right now (no kidding, blue sky and big fluffy clouds, around 50, almost Spring!) after a Phil & Friends concert the night before (3/15, his 79th birthday). Definitely not as good as Thursday night, but still an experience not to be missed.
It was forecast to be a rainy, gloomy day yesterday but turned out to be almost partly sunny. After a bit of a late sleep and just catching breakfast, we sat in the room and blogged and internetted, through a lunch break with the sandwiches and beer in the frig. Then we packed up for the movies! Seeing as it was supposed to be a bad day for being outside, we figured we'd take the opportunity to stay inside and see the newly released Captain Marvel movie, at the big theater in downtown Port Chester.
Left around 1:45 for a 2:15 showing, and parked in the same lot behind Kiosko after a quick trip down Westchester Avenue. Longer walk than expected (especially since we passed it by at first), and so we were a bit late, but because of that missed just a possible few of the interminable trailers. We all enjoyed the movie ... you should see it. Good plot and some very good set-pieces and lines ("I'll give you $50 if you turn yourself into a praying mantis.")
Then went looking for a cup of coffee as we were all tired, me especially. I could have used a nap. But there were no dedicated coffee shops in the area as far as we could see (chain or otherwise), and so after a brief fly-by of Shakedown Corner we headed up to Kiosko and started with a cup of coffee there. David's friend Lorien showed up soon after that and we all had another Kiosko dinner that couldn't be beat and talked about Dead and stuff.
Left around 6:40 and went right down to and in the Capitol. I was anxious to see the pre-show band in Garcia's, Deadgrass. I have to say that I was a little unimpressed by them, due to several factors such as that they were playing a horrible version of Mississippi Half-Step when we got there (they got better) and the crowd was already oppressive. It was clear from the get-go that this was not a mellow Thursday crowd, this was a Friday crowd out to let loose at the end of the week and the volume and jostling level were already approaching my limit.
Deadgrass was a fun band, but very spotty. Some great banjo runs and some nice lead guitar work, but I'm definitely not rushing back to see them tonight. They were making some headway when they finally played a real bluegrass song (Midnight Moonlight) after dabbling with Half-Step, Deal, etc. But then they couldn't really get over the hump. I'm a tough crowd I guess.
We got out of there around 7:30 and settled into our seats pretty far over to the right of the balcony, just one row farther back than Thursday night but seemingly much farther away.
I need to keep this short as if I went into as much detail as yesterday, I probably wouldn't get finished before we have to go back today. And the show really didn't equal the level set Thursday night. They played a bunch of meh songs throughout the night, even though the second set was by and large fantastic. But the first set was a grab-bag of songs without much cohesion and the large-crowd ambiance didn't help much. The sound also wasn't quite as crisp as it had been Thursday, probably because we weren't in the perfect spot in the theater that we were at before.
Whatever, it was still a vastly entertaining first set (see Dave's blog for more details on the songs):
Liberty
Casey Jones
Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
Loser
New Minglewood Blues
West L.A. Fadeaway
Bertha
Liberty and Casey Jones (especially) were played with no mistakes, though little dynamism. They sure got the crowd settled in though, which may have been their point. Jackie Greene was back to his exceptional lead blues vocals on Loser and Minglewood. They set a pattern here that really worked well in the second set, where he would sing and the Lesh Brothers (as I called them, Grahame's and Phil's voices worked together so well it was almost like a bluegrass "brothers band") backed him up, sometimes taking over the song like the pair of Grahame and Jackie had done on Thursday from Phil.
Then back to meh with West L.A. I was psyched when they lit into Bertha, since Grahame can kill this song, but that was a little pedestrian itself. Maybe I was just crabby and should have been put down for a nap earlier, but I know Dave agrees that it was not an "on" first set in any way, and I think most Deadheads would too.
Set break was another fun interlude. It was pouring outside and I hung out for a while near the upper fire escape door, where there was at least a little ventilation. I think had gotten up near 60 that afternoon, and the usher told me that when they'd arrived that day the heat was on and they were still trying to cool the place down when the show was ready to start. It has *hot* in there with a packed, rowdy crowd. Lorien's seat was in the back row and right under a heating vent that was stuck on but fixed right before the concert started. The heat definitely added to the overall thick atmosphere we'd been experiencing.
But then the guys came out and just pushed that aside with an excellent second set (though still in second place to Thursday's). First of all was Phil being serenaded with Happy Birthday while Pete Shapiro and Jill Lesh presented him with a cake, which looked just like it came out of the poster (which came first, the cake or the picture of a cake?) Then:
Playing In the Band
Shakedown Street
Playing In the Band
Help On the Way
Slipknot!
Mountains Of the Moon
Unbroken Chain
He's Gone
The Other One
New Speedway Boogie
Right off the bat, the playing from everybody on stage was upped a notch. And I don't know what it was (maybe it was the vape pen), but suddenly the sound was kind of "fixed" and I was back to hearing all the instruments well. Playing and Shakedown were quite the treat as the opening songs of the set, and they were done tightly and excellently. Scofield was back to saying, "You want me to take the lead? Ok, hold on to your hats!" Grahame also ripped off some leads himself, continuing his excellent recent guitar playing.
But the highlights were probably Benmont Tench, who I didn't mention as much as I should have for the Thursday concert, but seemed to have gotten entirely comfortable playing Phil's music in his band, and was startlingly good on organ and also grand piano (though this was never miked right). AND again, the vocals. Jackie was set free to release his inner Jackie Greene on Shakedown (etc.) by the rock-solid backup of the Lesh Brothers. And the two rocked our world on Unbroken, singing many of the verses in unison, like they'd just written it.
And then it went on and on! Jackie did a great He's Gone with Grahame and Phil on backup, but then they were almost back to meh with TOO (imagine a meh TOO, Phil stumbled on the first verse!). Back up to the heights with a rocking, bluesy arrangement of Speedway (with teases of Smokestack Lightnin', Spoonful, One Kind Favor, and another one we didn't quite catch), but then it was time to bring a long and solid second set to an end.
We were pretty exhausted by then. David had had to sit for some of Mountains (not a great version) and Sarah was nodding. But we finished the last of the water we'd brought in and were back up for the long Donor Rap and then another great encore.
The crowd couldn't contain themselves and had been attempting an NFA chant during the break. But then the band lit into the real thing and it was excellent. Great arrangement of Not Fade Away, and Jackie stretched it out and out, egging on the crowd to sing and clap.
And then they stayed on stage, scratching their asses and wondering why they were still there. Oh well, might as well finish up with Ripple! Again, this was a rocking, bluesy arrangement as opposed to the folkie thing it usually is, and Phil actually turned in an excellent lead vocal on it. And as cynical as I may be, the very sight of Phil F. Lesh closing a concert by singing the stuffing out of a song like Ripple.... Well, if it didn't bring a tear to my eye that was because of hydration issues, not lack of emotion.
Let it be known, there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of men
Big group hug after that! They had done some great things in the last couple of nights and it was time to go home. Well maybe not, Grahame and Jackie hung out at the back of the stage until we were out of there, jabbering away like teenagers.
We walked back up Westchester Avenue to the lot behind Kiosko under a now just-past-halfway-filled moon. Luckily the rain had stopped by then, though the streets were still glistening under the lights. Gave Lorien a ride home to her hotel and then hopped back onto 287 for the quick ride to 684 and back to Armonk.
Oh boy, almost time for another concert!
Here's a link to Sarah's pictures, including a ghostly Stealie that appeared on our bathroom mirror.
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