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.
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