We're in the midst of a whirlwind of a Dead & Company tour, but don't forget Phil Lesh! We've got tickets to go see him in Port Chester in October, but in the meantime he's been doing his own "Summer tour." I put that in quotes because he said years ago that he was done touring, and when he goes on the road these days it's on his own, quirky schedule. That works.
We decided not to go to his set at this Summer's Levitate Festival in Marshfield MA because the rest of the bill on that day was not really attractive to us, but he announced that he'd be appearing with the same band the next day at Thompson's Point, in Portland ME, and that was right up our alley. He's touring with his usual compadres of Grahame and Jason Crosby this year, and also with Amy Helm, Cody Dickinson, and Stu Allen. Though I'd rank Stu low on my list of "fake Jerry's" (hate to use that term, but there it is), this projected to be a great band and we were psyched!
Never been to Thompson's Point, but have driven by there a lot. It's a peninsula sticking into the Fore River in Portland, next to the train station. From our glimpses of the site from the highway we really couldn't imagine how they'd set up a concert there, but they did a really good job of it. They've having some great acts there this Summer and we'll probably go again if this continues.
Dave had had to miss the DeadCo concerts we'd attended (see previous posts), but was symptom-free, CDC-approved, and more than psyched to see this one, and it was a great day for an outdoor concert on Sunday, July 10. We drove up in time to get there for "gates open" at 4:30, and didn't have to wait that long in the line of cars filling their dusty, dirt parking lots. Followed people to the gates, where they were doing thorough searching of bags and measuring of lawn chairs, and had to send some people back to their cars to get rid of contraband or illegal chairs (seat no more than 12" off the ground). But we were prepared, got in, and grabbed a piece of lawn (well, hard-packed dirt with some weeds) by the soundboard, maybe 50 feet from the stage!
Filled water bottles, got beer, cruised the food trucks and got some (sushi tuna-roll for me, wrapped in tasty seaweed). Some boats and kayaks were assembling on the Fore River to hear the concert, don't think they could see anything. But it was a sunny day with a strong Southeast wind and by show-time of 6:00 the place was getting pretty full and there were still long lines to get in. Don't know if the place sold out, but it got pretty crowded there. This was our second time seeing Phil in Maine, and we'd seen TTB there this Spring. Sheryl Crow and Lake Street Dive are coming to Thompson's Point later this Summer and I hope top-level acts keep coming to Maine, and keep getting closer to us!
Late crowd and so they didn't really get started until 6:20 or so, but finally we saw them doing their Phil & Friends trademark huddle in the wings, and then they came out and tuned up. A big difference was that Grahame was way over to the right, beyond his Dad, with Jason far left, then Stu, and Amy, with Cody on the back on traps. And then they lit right into:
- Alice D. Millionaire
- Here Comes Sunshine
- They Love Each Other
- Shakedown Street
- Shelter From the Storm (Bob Dylan)
- Bird Song
- Touch of Grey
At first we couldn't believe it, LSD Millionaire is such an obscure song, but this was our second time seeing it performed by Amy. Amy can bring a lot of energy, and she sure did with this opener! And great harmonies from Grahame, he and she are a great pairing and were on all night. Then Stu continued the precise vocals with HCS and was joined by Amy, Phil, and Grahame on the choruses, singing about our redeeming sun, in the early evening while facing South toward the water on an outdoor stage in the beautiful Summer ... I was almost in tears and I think others were too.
Then Amy took another lead with TLEO. We'd just seen DeadCo cover this in Hartford and I loved Oteil's bassline on it, but how can you beat Phil? You can't and he brought plenty of funk to it to mix with Amy's soulful vocal.
Great sound from the start! We were worried that the stiff wind would be a factor, but it was not. They had the leader of the band turned up from the start and as the evening went on, Phil just got louder and louder and filled our souls. Grahame just keeps getting better and better and turned in some technical, uplifting, extended leads, especially on Shakedown. Amy stuck to the vocals and turned in a great performance, and Jason was low in the mix at first, but then they got that right and he had a great night. Stu was very good, and fit right in with the band. But the player that again and again dropped my jaw was Cody Dickinson on drums. We'd seen him with the North Mississippi Allstars and he was great, but with Phil & Friends he seemed to be playing on another level. No lazy GD drumming for him, he was dropping in the paradiddles and drum rolls in the middle of playing the solid backbone role
Dave called Shakedown from the tuning and this was a long one, they were ready to hit the psychedelics from the start and we were loving it. Didn't recognize the next one right off the bat, but it was an excellent cover of a Dylan song, sung by Stu (perhaps a few too many lead vocals for him). I called Bird Song and again, it didn't take them long to get deep into a jam ... a loud one rather than a cerebral one, fitting the outdoor setting. They were taking their time between songs to make sure they got everything exactly perfect, but when they started up with Touch I knew it was the set closer and so took off for the port-a-potties and more water. I pooh-pooh this song a bit, but they did an excellent job with it (Grahame on lead vocal) and were still playing it with me dancing in the back of the suddenly large crowd.
Wow, that was a great first set and we gushed about it with our neighbors. I'd been hoping for another cover of Two Souls In Communion by Amy (we'd seen her do this with Phil in Port Chester) and was sure they were going to a New Speedway Boogie of death, seeing the recent political developments. But whatever, they should play what they want, especially when they do it that well. The transitory nature of Phil bands means they're sometimes not well rehearsed, but the only one who seemed confused at times was Dickinson, who soon got back on the same page with everyone else. The others have played with Phil many times before and were a tight unit.
The sun was about to set, and when it did the strong wind died totally. Though the sound had been amazing for the first set, it was just perfect when the sun went down. I was afraid there'd be noise from the nearby highway, but that was never a problem. Lots of talkers in the crowd, but this was a joyous experience for everyone. You don't get a great band like this in Maine too often!
So what did they do for a second set? Well it was even better than the first set:
- Rosemary
- Terrapin Station
- Jack O'Roses
- Scarlet Begonias
- Dark Star
- Morning Dew
- Going Down the Road Feelin' Bad
- And We Bid You Goodnight
Holy shit! You think LSD Millionaire is obscure, how about Rosemary? This was a textbook, short version of it, again sung by Stu. But as much as the others on the stage shone, there was no question that we were at a Phil F. Lesh show and he was at his delicate, nimble, powerful best on this. And then they did Terrapin and Grahame took the mike to tell us about that fan incident. I was waiting for it, and then here it came, the return of the Lesh Brothers! Phil and Grahame can sing so well together, they're almost like one of those great bluegrass brother bands, the Louvins or the Stanleys or the Osborne Brothers. Grahame watches him intently and Phil conducts the duets with facial expressions and a few hand signals. It's not like Grahame just met him after all. And when their harmonies are joined by Amy Helm's soul and Stu's strong baritone, the vocal sound was enough to lift me off the ground.
And then yet another obscurity that we couldn't believe at first, Grahame sang one of the bits of Hunter's full Terrapin Suite, Jack O' Roses. We'd actually heard a recording of this done 10(?) years ago a few days ago, and here it was again! It's a small Terrapin world. Great stand-alone Scarlet after this ... people were just saying that they were sorry they hadn't continued it into Fire. But then those notes rang out from Phil's bass and suddenly, once again, he was playing one of the best songs ever for us, Dark Star. They did Phil's preferred vocal treatment on this, with him and then Stu, and then Grahame splitting the couplets between three voices. And then Amy would join in on the "transitive nightfall" line and this was so good! They went deep into space on this, and Amy to her credit did not faint from exhaustion, she stuck it out smiling until they swooped back into the second verse and took us all away again.
Boy, how could you beat that? Well I'll tell you, just listen to that tape and you'll get blown away like we did when we were just coming down from outer space and then, Brrannggg! ... they hit the first chord of Dew. Coincidental that there were so many "repeats" on this night. I'd recently seen TLEO, Scarlet, Dew, and the encore done by DeadCo, as well as hearing Jack O' Roses recently. But I was not complaining. Stu did some excellent lead guitar work on this and Grahame and Amy sang it in the beautiful call and response arrangement we'd seen them do before. Jason got out his fiddle for this and played a stellar lead. The crescendo of this song is fantastic and Grahame hit it just right. You think the times call for a protest song? Well this will do.
OMG, GDTRFB came after this and gave us all a chance to wring out our handkerchiefs and start smiling again. And when they got to the coda they kept it going and eventually morphed into Bid You Goodnight, which was done a cappella. A perfect ending to an incredible second set, emphasizing their strong ensemble vocals.
I was getting pretty tired by then, especially after such emotion, and we had a pretty long drive home in front of us. But there was old man Phil coming out, fumbling with his earpieces, and then giving us yet another fine donor rap. It was unclear how many encores they had planned, but they just did one, with Amy taking the lead vocal on Liberty. Yet another great protest song, "O freedom, o liberty, leave me alone!" Don't get me started.
Wow, what a concert, ending right at 10:00! Said goodbye to our neighbors, hit the port-a-potties one last time for the long drive, and then somehow found our car in the dirt parking lot. We'd heard that exiting Thompson's Point sometimes takes a while and it sure did for us, as we were one of the last cars in our lot (except for the dentist contingent, who may still be at it). But actually it was a bit quicker than we expected and by 10:30 we were back on the highway South, and eventually back in Massachusetts. This was a lot of fun!
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