Phil's 83rd With Another Great Band, day three

Another groggy hotel morning after a middling sleep, but another very good aud tape from the night before was already up, and the memory of Saturday night's concert was strong.  Local weather forecasters had been predicting arctic temperatures for the weekend, but we were determined to go out for a short adventure anyway.  The wind was strong but the sunlight was brilliant and we had a fine time exploring Kosciuszko Park in downtown Stamford, including inspecting the hurricane barrier and finding a hidden kayak.  We ended up having lunch afterwards in a crowded nearby restaurant (The Sign Of the Whale) with a booming DJ soundtrack.  Stamford is a very weird city IMO.

Anyway, back to the hotel for a short game of Parks and then an afternoon nap.  And soon it was time to head off to Port Chester for a third night.  Start time was earlier on that Sunday (March 19), and Port Chester was deserted this time, except for the people already lining up for the general admission.  This was Phil's 100th concert at the renovated Cap, and Pete Shapiro came out and did a tribute, including unveiling a 100th Anniversary banner.  They handed out towels with the same print on them!  They do some little things very nicely at the Capitol Theater.

Then the band came out and got right back into it.  Saturday night had definitely been the concert of the weekend, but this one was fine in its own way:

• Tennessee Jed
• Bertha
• Turn On Your Love Light
• Me and My Uncle
• Bird Song
• Ramble On Rose
• Box of Rain

More fantastic string interweaving between Rick, Grahame, and Katie on Tennessee Jed, and another great star turn by Nicki on Lovelight.  A bit of lack of practice was shown in the intro to MAMU, which everyone seemed confused about.  We sure were!  It seemed that at the last second Rick decided to sing MAMU instead of Jack-a-Roe and the others played along.  But then Bird Song reached the stratosphere and zoomed back to earth and they played a cracking Ramble On Rose.  And we would have been really disappointed if we hadn't heard Phil doing another cover of Box Of Rain.  Talk about the list of all-time great songs!

Phew, another long set break and we were fading.  It had been a long weekend and we hadn't been getting a lot of rest.  But still one more set to go:

• Terrapin Station
• Jack O'Roses
• Touch of Grey
• West L.A. Fadeaway
• Shakedown Street
• Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo
• Estimated Prophet
• Sugaree

We had no idea if they were going to leave the Terrapin reservation after what they'd done last night, but they did a beautiful, straight-ahead cover instead, and then Grahame did the lovely sequel of Jack O'Roses.  The crowd exploded again at James's cover of Touch, and he followed with his cover of Shakedown after Nicki did West L.A.  Great Half-Step, nice Estimated and Sugaree, and then we were done.  Such a great time and such wonderful musicianship from everyone on stage.

Phil came out for one more Donor Rap and then they encored with BEW.  I was hoping Phil would sing the "old man" chorus as he used to do with Furthur, but he may have been reaching the end of his energy and let the boys sing it instead.  Goodbye Phil, we'll hope to see you again!

Well, that was it.  Back downstairs through the crowd one last time and soon back to the car on a more temperate evening than the TV weather people had prepped us for.  And then back to Stamford and the Hampton Suites. 

Phil's 83rd With Another Great Band, day two

As tired as we were, we all had pretty lousy night's sleeps.  Again, might be better if the beds weren't so small, and it might have been better if we could have actually turned down the heat in the room (we figured out how to crack the window for the next couple of nights).  And it might have been better if my bed hadn't apparently hosted a thousand-pound gorilla recently.  It was not an old bed but had a distinct list to it, that I corrected to a large degree that morning by stuffing pillows underneath where the mattress was most depressed.

Dave found a great aud of last night's show had already been posted, so we had a soundtrack.  After breakfast Dave and I went in search of a local CVS that Google Maps showed us so we could get water (horrible tap water).  Amusingly, it was integrated into a huge Target on top of a massive parking garage and we had to climb four stories to get there while the Target Dog (tryout?) paced us on elevator (nice chick on the leash).  We needed the exercise I guess.

Played a round of Tapestry in the breakfast room later that morning. I took a second city walk on that sunny, almost-warm Saturday (March 18), and then had a nice nap.  Sarah and Dave were down in the bar when I got up, but it must have taken me a few hours to really wake up.  Maybe it was the stress but I was not feeling 100% ... but soon we were in the balcony at the Cap again and everything was fine.  Usually Friday is the crazy, crowded night, but Port Chester on that Saturday was wall to wall people.  There was a massive traffic jam downtown, Kiosko was more packed than I've ever seen it, and the theater itself was stuffed.  Whatever ... they came on with a little delay and played the best concert of the weekend.

• Deal
• Jack Straw
• Peggy-O
• Cassidy
• Loose Lucy
• They Love Each Other
• One More Saturday Night

Again, this band shone.  We've seen several not-incredibly-well-rehearsed sets from Phil & Friends, but these guys were tight and got better and better through the set.  They successfully achieved lift-off in Cassidy and then Grahame and Nicki roared back to earth for the precise refrain.  And then Nicki provided the highlight of the set again with a rocking, rambling, funky Loose Lucy that had everyone jumping up and down.  Another highlight was Rick's superb, right in time vocal on One More Saturday Night.

Another longer than average set break, but eventually the backstage camera showed us Phil gathering everyone for a backstage huddle, and then the straggled back out onto stage.  Halfway through the weekend already again!  But now it was time for the best:

• Eyes of the World
• The Eleven
• Uncle John's Band
• Sugar Magnolia
• Dark Star
• Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
• Dark Star
• China Cat Sunflower
• Terrapin Station (refrain)

Great start with Eyes, led by Grahame's great rhythm, Phil's monstrous lopes, and James's emotion.  And what a set list to follow!  I had to shake Dave several times (and he shook me) to verify that they were actually playing such a great selection from the best of all time list of songs.  I mean, look at that list!  As delighted as we were when they played Dark Star, when they went into LSD it was just surreal.  James and Nicki sang the verses (or at least tried to, they stumbled on some of the words, "Yeah I know that's what the teleprompter says, but that's just weird ... I mean, what's a newspaper taxi?").

But the weirdest part of the set was when China Cat was winding down and we were settling in for an excellent closing Rider, and then Grahame called the band all together around Molo, as he had at that juncture of the evening the night before.  We were ready for something unexpected, but not for this jump, right into the middle of the last section of Terrapin!?!  That was weird, especially when they quickly wrapped it up, smiled at the crowd, and then left the stage.  That was a mind-blower.

Phil came out for another lovely Donor Rap, and then introduced the band again.  To my delight they encored with their upbeat cover of Ripple, I love hearing this great song played at such a delightful pace.  And then it was over.  Watched Phil fiddle with his amps one more time and then shuffle off stage, and we also shuffled away.  Down to the street and back up to the car for a routine ride back to the hotel.

Phil's 83rd With Another Great Band, day one

Yikes, another wonderful weekend journey to the Phil Island!  Phil had had such a great band with him last Fall, and we were delighted to learn that he'd have a very similar band for his 83rd birthday celebration in Spring 2023.  Don't know how long he can keep going ... or how long we can, three day rock and roll weekends are becoming a little stressful.

On his actual birthday, March 15, he played at the Cap with exactly the same super-band he'd had with him in the Fall, including Natalie Cressman and Jennifer Hartswick.  We didn't go down for that, but went for the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday shows (the 17th-19th).  The band consisted of Phil and son Grahame, John Medeski, Rick Mitarotonda, John Molo, James Casey, and instead of Natalie and Jennifer we got Nicki Bluhm and Katie Jacoby.

Tickets went fast, but we got good balcony seats and rooms at the same Hampton Inn in Stamford that we'd stayed at before.  We decided to plan for a more mellow weekend this time, and brought some board games with us.  We like the hotel in Stamford, but wish the beds were bigger (they're doubles).

And this was another weekend of musical excellence.  I don't know if anything can surpass the shows we saw in Fall 2022, but these were excellent in their own right, though perhaps a little more up and down.

Picked up Dave in early afternoon on Friday the 17th (after getting another COVID booster and a pneumonia shot that morning) and headed Southwest on a chilly and windy late-Winter day.  This time we took 295 and then jogged West on route 6 over to 395 in Connecticut, and then down to Norwich where we met back up with 95 into the maw of Western Connecticut.  And quite a maw it is.  Over the course of the weekend we saw lots of outrageously dangerous behavior on the roads, more the closer we got to the big cities, and lots of traffic congestion, most of which we were able to avoid luckily.  Got to the hotel in Stamford eventually and had some time to relax before heading out to the show.

Parked and ate at Kiosko of course and then squeezed into center balcony seats in the Cap.  Not long before the band came on, with Nicki and then Katie to Phil's left.  Nicki, Katie, and James were pretty close together but each had a distinct station, and each made a distinct, and excellent, contribution to the band.

We'd seen James back in the Fall, but he actually shone more without teammates Natalie and Jennifer, taking quite a number of vocal leads and playing some rocking sax.  The crowd *loved* him and gave him the loudest and longest ovations all weekend.  I'd seen Nicki with Phil, but this time she did not just sit back and play the role of chick singer.  She was perhaps the most important harmony singer on the stage, watching Grahame like a hawk to make doubly certain she got the timings just right.  She played some excellent percussion, but she shone most on her leads, not only singing well but also getting the band and the crowd to follow her moves.  She was quite a dynamic front person on those songs.

And I was a little concerned about Katie at the start.  I've seen her several times in small ensembles and been very impressed by her in that setting.  I admit you've got to have some stage presence to be part of the Who's touring band (as she is), but I didn't know how well she'd hold up in a large psychedelic rock band.  But any reservations I had were put to rest by the middle of the first song.  She stuck to her fire-engine red, V-bodied violin all weekend, and she rocked as much or more as anyone else on stage.  And boy did she bring the creativity and the psychedelics!  Several jams featured amazing extended interplay between Rick on the left, Grahame next to him shredding away, and Katie over on the right, bent over her fiddle and staring at them like, "Is this a competition?  'Cause if it is, try this on for size guys!"  And you could tell that the big man in the middle loved it.

Here's the first set:

• Casey Jones
• Althea
• Friend of the Devil
• Here Comes Sunshine
• Easy Wind
• U.S. Blues
• Truckin'

Fantastic first set and, as I say, Katie was just dominant.  But the song of the set was Easy Wind, on which Nicki *took over,* not only belting it out with a great blues growl but also getting the crowd to sing along and meandering over between the guitarists to dance and egg them on.

Also have to mention John Medeski.  When we'd seen them in  Fall 2022 one slight criticism was that he wasn't mixed well.  But over this weekend we were treated to lots of Medeski, not only very well amplified and mixed piano but also some extended organ leads, which were a great addition to the ensemble sound.

The rest of the band was as good as ever.  Molo was in top form, Grahame was in fine voice and continues to excel on guitar, playing a couple of classic rhythm parts and matching Rick on the dual leads.  And what can you say about Phil?  He only took a couple of leads and needed lots of backup support on those, but he was as nimble, powerful, and spacey as he's ever been on bass.  I've never heard anyone play bass like that guy.

Well I was impressed.  Silly me to have a Phil band exceed my expectations once again, but they sure did.  Pretty long set break (maybe Phil needed a nap?? I could have used one), and then the second set was even better:

• Passenger
• New Speedway Boogie
• Dear Prudence
• Cold Rain and Snow
• He's Gone
• The Music Never Stopped
• Viola Lee Blues
• Going Down the Road Feelin' Bad

The classic Phil rocker to get us started, and then a classic Phil set to follow.  James emoted all over the stage on Dear Prudence and he had the entire theater hanging on his every shake and shiver.  Rick turned in another great vocal on CR&S, Nicki knocked it even further out of the park on Music.  And then Grahame got everyone in a huddle around Molo and power-shifted into Viola Lee, with all of us on that wagon Nashville-bound.

Phil came out for a Rap and then introduced the band.  He got everybody right and especially Katie, whom he called "the startling Katie Jacoby," she sure had been startling us and also Rick and Grahame!  For an encore they changed up the pattern again and did an excellent St. Patrick's Day cover of Whiskey In the Jar.  Or as Sarah pointed out, at least some of the innumerable verses.  Back into the late-Winter night after it was over and then a short drive back to Stamford and soon to bed.