Good ol' Phil Lesh might have quit coming out to the Capitol Theatre after his 100th show there last year, but he shows no sign of quitting, even at 84 years old. He announced another birthday run of five shows a few months ago, and that "the Q" (Barraco, Haynes, Herring, and Molo) would be doing the first two shows. We got tickets to the last two without knowing who would be playing with him. He eventually announced the band for the third show of the stand (Jason Crosby, Amy Helm, son Grahame, John Molo, and Eric Krasno). And they finally announced that the lineup for the last two shows would include special guests and would be revealed when the musicians took the stage.
Well, that led to a lot of speculation, as you might imagine. There were rumors that Bob Weir would show up, as a member of his staff was reported seen in Port Chester that week. We also thought that perhaps Jorma Kaukonen would guest, as he's played with Phil in the past. And Emmylou Harris is playing the Cap next week (though that would be a very odd pairing)!
Anyway, we loaded up the usual sandwiches, juice, water, etc. and headed down South on a partly sunny day, after picking up Dave in Quincy. This time we were going to try the Hampton Inn in Elmsford, on our continuing quest for a hotel that ticked all the boxes. This one wasn't it. Though we had a nice, quiet 5th-floor room looking out on the forested hill to the South of the hotel rather than out onto the highway, the beds were small, the breakfast wasn't up to par, and the hotel is on such a precipitous hill, it was alarming! Oh well, it was fine.
We took the Parkways all the way down to 287, once we got South of Hartford, thinking they'd be less stressful than 95. They weren't. A semi truck-trailer was actually trying to get onto the Wilbur Cross at one entrance and we managed to get past him. I hope he stopped, because if he got onto the Parkway (illegally) he would have gotten stuck under a bridge. Later, in a pack doing 80 on the Merritt, a big pickup going even faster danced left and right through everyone, and then a huge unmarked SUV turned on its lights and took off after him. And when we only had a few more miles to go on the Hutchinson, we noticed that the opposite side was deserted, and we suddenly ran smack into a traffic backup on our side, which involved standing on the brakes. As it turned out, the backup on our side was just rubber-neckers. On the opposite side a garbage truck(!) was sprawled across the Parkway, turned over on its side. There was barely enough room for one car at a time to edge up onto the median and squeeze itself between the truck and the guardrail. Wailing ambulances were trying to get to the truck through the thick traffic backup, which already stretched for the few miles to 287. This was not a relaxing drive.
But ... finally made it to the hotel, unpacked, played a little cribbage in their breakfast room, and then took off for Port Chester, very excited about what band we might be seeing. We had a nice dinner at a quiet Kiosko (no one was playing the jukebox, there were very few people there), and then waited in a pretty long line to get into the Cap as they searched everyone pretty thoroughly.
Getting tickets had been tough, and for that Friday we were way up in the balcony, third row from the top, though well centered. The stage setup revealed nothing (no Beam!), and seemed to indicate that the band would include Crosby and Grahame, some guitarist who played a blue strat, and somebody with a tower for an amp. They came out on time and we were at first a bit disappointed that, as we had scoped out, it was Crosby, Grahame, Amy, and Molo ... and the guest guitarist turned out to be Daniel Donato (that had been rumored also).
Well, as it turns out this band was excellent and we were not at all disappointed! Both Jason Crosby and Amy Helm were outstanding in the stream on Wednesday, and they were in top form (Amy just stuck to vocals) on that Friday night. Grahame and Molo were as good as ever, they play so well with Phil. And we'd never seen the young Daniel Donato, though he's been popping up everywhere lately, and he played some fantastic guitar and sang some great leads in his squeaky tenor. Perhaps he even sounded too much like Jerry at times!
And of course, the guy we wanted to see was Phil, and he was in top form too. He has a comfy office chair on stage with him these days and at times he looked tired and needed to take a seat in it. But his playing was as deep, rich, multi-faceted, and inventive as ever. He sang a few verses and contributed to the choruses, but his voice was not quite as powerful and nimble as in the past. But not bad for an 84-year old!
Here's the setlist:
- Cosmic Charlie
- They Love Each Other
- Friend of the Devil
- Bird Song
- Jack-A-Roe
- Brokedown Palace
Woo, we were right back in the Phil Zone with the opening notes of Cosmic Charlie, paddling that paper canoe! Amy contributed a great lead vocal to TLEO, and Donato instantly impressed, leading a space brigade on Bird Song. He has a way of dropping his left arm and curling his hand around the fretboard so it almost looks like a snake. He was also great on vocals, perhaps an acquired taste but instantly likable for us, with a very touching take on Jack-a-Roe. And Brokedown was beautifully sung by Grahame with backing from Amy; that vocal pair is always worth the price of admission.
And the fun thing was that there was a young, awestruck boy, in the wings, and then out on stage at the set break being shown all the equipment and eagerly asking questions about it. Took only a second to realize that this was Phil's grandson, Levon, whom we'd last seen at the Cap as a toddler in October 2015. Kids grow up fast, and it may not be too long before he's playing music for us.
Phil had stepped to the mike at the end of the first set and promised a "different format" for the second set, but the setup didn't look any different when they reappeared after an average set break, and the same guys took the stage. But again, this band did not disappoint:
- Promised Land
- Box of Rain
- Viola Lee Blues
- Bertha
- Viola Lee Blues
- Eyes of the World
They started off right with a rocking vocal from Donato on Promised Land, Grahame chiming in with the Tidewater 4-1009 ending. And we were delighted to once more have the good fortune of seeing Phil sing Box Of Rain. They really took the song to the outer limits also. It didn't take Donato long to realize that there was another excellent, young guitarist on stage, and they were throwing leads and fans back and forth. Then Phil came back in with the powerful last verse. Viola was an all-sing from the band, with Donato doing another classic Dead rocker in the middle. And then it was Amy's turn again with an excellent vocal on Eyes.
Well, what was this crap about a different format? Phil stepped to the mike again and said that they were going to take a short break and then bring out the guests. The break wasn't as short as we might have hoped, and the only change they made was to unveil the towering amp to his left. But then Phil came out with Capitol Theatre impresario Pete Shapiro, who introduced two special guests: young Levon and Mike Gordon(!), carrying an awesome birthday cake that Levon couldn't take his eyes off of. We all sang Happy Birthday and then Gordon strapped on the bass. Pretty good guest!
Here's their "encore" set:
- Estimated Prophet
- Let It Grow
- Sugar Magnolia
Wow, this was such a great bass sound! Phil and Mike did not step on each others' feet at all, and at the same time, neither sat back. They both played fast and all out, jumping around their fretboards like there was no tomorrow, and managing to sound like they'd been playing together for years. And they played three Bobby songs! My theory is that Bobby was going to show up and then didn't, so they had to steal his repertoire.
After a great Estimated (Amy contributed a wonderful backing vocal) and then a strong Let It Grow, they broke into Sugar Mags and we anticipated another strong vocal from Grahame, whom we've seen sing this many times. But Mike stepped up and sang the piss out of that classic song while not missing a beat on bass, what a surprise!
They did a group bow and Phil wandered off stage after that, as we sat back down and finished off our water bottles. As is often the case, the crowd at the Cap was mostly Phil fanatics, featured very few "chompers," and filed out pretty quickly. Another fine show in Port Chester, and not too cold a night as we walked back up Westchester Ave. to the car, and then drove back to Elmsford. Got to bed after a sandwich and orange juice nightcap, probably around 1:00.
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