Though we'd gotten a nice hotel, I had a terrible night's sleep. Who invented duvets anyway, and why?
But the breakfast at the hotel was at least as good as any Hampton Inn breakfast, and we had a mellow morning after that, blogging and seeing if there was anything good on TV. In late morning we decided to take advantage of the beautiful Fall day, and piled in the car for an excursion to the Mianus River Park in the Northwestern part of Stamford.
I have to say that Stamford is a weird city that's grown faster than it should and so is a crazy hodgepodge of Hispanic neighborhoods and old housing stock, huge office and residential buildings to rival Arlington VA, and vastly rich old Southern New England enclaves. Mianus River Park is in the latter and is a carefully managed forest with a creek in it, filled with fences to control people and animals, old stone walls that don't seem to make any sense, awesome stone ridges, lots of tall trees, and lots of white people walking dogs. We passed a group of the latter as we entered off Merriebrook Lane and the quasi-leader announced loudly, "It would be great if everyone pooped now." We hurried on.
What a different kind of forest than we see in Northern New England! Just a few evergreens and very tall beeches, maples, white and black oaks producing huge leaves, and strangely, large rhododendron bushes all over the place. There were a good number of people there, but once we got a couple of miles into the trail system we had a solitary walk. Another great interlude for a Phil concert weekend, especially since the Fall light was incredible, lighting up the understory of the tall trees.
Back to the hotel after that and ate some more sandwiches, took a nap, went for another walk in the Mill River Park across the street, and by then it was time to leave for Port Chester again. We wondered what they could do to equal or exceed last night? Was it possible?
Had another great meal at Kiosko's as the area filled with Deadheads. They're so nice at Kiosko and gave us a complimentary dessert, though we were incredibly full already! Then over to the theater and braved the confusion up to our balcony seats. We were pretty much where we were on Friday night, but a couple of rows back. The sold-out crowd showed up on time again, and soon we were pretty packed in and the band came on.
Maybe I can keep this shorter than last night, but they were just as good, maybe even a little more comfortable with each other. Here's the first set:
- Bertha
- Althea
- When I Paint My Masterpiece
- He's Gone
- Cold Rain and Snow
- Touch Of Grey
Another short set list filled with long jams and great musicianship. We've seen Grahame sing Bertha several times and he's just better and better. Then the incredible Althea, which has more corners you can explore and emotions you can exploit than a whole bundle of pop songs. An excellent Masterpiece, sung again like a Band song they'd just recently picked up rather then sticking to the GD style.
And then they took off like a rocket again. It was Natalie's turn and she started into a cautious, quiet "Rat in a drain ditch..." with Grahame supporting on He's Gone, and then turned it up to 11 and took it to the ceiling. She sang her lines a surreal octave or two higher, perhaps another twist on the minor key(?), and brought an incredible human-ness to that song that we'd heard a million times. It was more fabulous ensemble singing on the choruses and then she'd take another verse and the crows would roar. Great stuff!
And then they jammed and jammed and emerged into a crunchy, psychedelic, doomed CR&S. In fact, this was one of my takeaways from the night, that they were playing with dark forces, man's fate, and things that go bump in the night. The ghostliness had started with He's Gone and then they turned it up a notch with the murder ballad of CR&S. They followed this with the redemptive, sing-songy Touch, but as with all songs they've done this weekend, they brought something fresh to it as well as excellent musicianship. James turned in a wonderful, bright vocal on this, made more special from the fact that he's a cancer survivor.
Ack, halfway through the Phil weekend again! This was again a pretty long set break, but we were mellow and had lots to talk about with that first set. They came back out eventually and picked up the torch:
- China Cat Sunflower
- I Know You Rider
- Brown-Eyed Women
- The Wheel
- Terrapin Station
- Morning Dew
- One More Saturday Night
Just as with last night, one of the qualities shown by the band was a tight guitar pairing. Grahame and Rick just killed the intricate guitar work between verses of China Cat, and then stretched it out and traded runs into Rider. Medeski was even more brilliant on organ than he'd been Friday, rolling out waves of sound to compliment the guitars. And Molo was perhaps the player of the night, pounding those drums and leading every song. Can't knock Phil too, who took my breath away over and over.
A big change from Friday though, was the dominance of James' sax. I guess they'd realized that they needed to take more advantage of it and turned him up, and he contributed great fills and leads to every song. The did a mystical cover of The Wheel after a short BEW, and then the Lesh Brothers took over again. We've seen Phil&F do Terrapin several times and each time you think it can't get any better, then it does. And the vocal arrangements were again just awesome, with the TAB Three backing up every line and Grahame and Phil singing a unison lead.
Time to fasten our seat belts after that! They started into the Morning Dew of death, and this was incredible. Usually, GD bands do this as a massive guitar vehicle, and the crescendo is when the lead starts fanning like the world is going to end. Instead, they'd somehow arranged it as an alto saxophone tune and James took off himself towards an even higher crescendo than a guitar could reach. We'd been waiting for Jennifer to step up as she had Friday night (they missed a chance with CR&S IMO, which she would have killed). But they had her singing a duet with Grahame, with her asking the questions and Grahame trying to calm her down. This was really dark, and though Grahame tried and tried, when she'd take a line the fear and awful reality of the post-apocalyptic situation came through and washed over the theater. Then James did his part and by the time the song ended the Capitol was a smoking hole.
Well, what could they do after this? It was Saturday night after all, and Rick ended the set with a great vocal on the Weir rocker, with the whole band backing him up. Again, what a show!
The crowd roared and roared and the players were all bashful about leaving the stage, they knew how well they'd killed it. But they took a break and then Phil came out and did his donor rap, and actually got Rick's name right when the guys came back and he ran through introductions! Grahame took up the rock and roll thread and gave it a good shake on Johnny B. Goode to end the night, with everyone dancing and singing behind him.
OMG, another stunner of a concert! Everyone on stage had shone in their own right and then shone even more when supporting each other. Again, this was not the standard P&F band. They were beyond tight and there was no line between the stars and the guests, they all displayed excellence, brought something new to the table, and knocked us dead.
OK, time to exit the Cap again through the confused, gob-smacked audience and out to the street. Up to our parking lot behind Kiosko, much delay getting back past the theater through the crowds, and then followed the cars onto the Turnpike and back to Stamford. Another fine night!
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