Phil Lesh & Friends
05/16/08
Warfield Theater
San Francisco, CA
Workingman’s Dead
Uncle John’s Band (JG, all)
*High Time (DN)
*Dire Wolf (JG)
*New Speedway Boogie (JG)
*Cumberland Blues (all)
*Black Peter (PL)
*Easy Wind (JG, DN)
Casey Jones (JG)
American Beauty
*Box of Rain (PL)
*#Friend Of The Devil (DN)
Sugar Magnolia (JG)
Operator (PL)
Candyman (JG)
*%Ripple (DN)
$Brokedown Palace (JG)
+Til the Morning Comes (TW)
Set III
Donor Rap/Intros
E: +@Attics Of My Life (TW, PL, LC)
*Truckin’ (JG, all)
Phil Lesh (bass, vocals)
John Molo (drums)
Jackie Greene (guitar, vocals)
Larry Campbell (guitar+)
Steve Molitz (keys)
*w/ David Nelson, +w/ Teresa Williams
#w/LC on fiddle and pedal steel, %, w/LC on mandolin,
$w/LC on fiddle, @w/LC on guitar and no other instruments
This is a very cool show. Phil and his friends did a run at the Warfield in San Francisco last year and during each show they played two Grateful Dead albums straight through. On this night they played two of my favorites, Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty. What’s interesting about those two albums is they really began the Dead’s focus on writing cohesive songs, rather than just mighty jams. Live Phil still brings the jam, Phil always brings the jam, but the beauty of the songs still shines.
This is an audience recording and there is lots of audience noise. During the music it isn’t too distracting, but it is always there. It also carries the airy sound of an audience recording, but the playing is well worth those faults, and it still sounds good. One thing to note about Phil’s band is they truly are jam centric. The Grateful Dead liked to take a song into the stratosphere, but they could also play a five minute ditty with little filler too. Phil almost always improvs h is way through every song as can be seen on this show with about half of the cuts clocking in at over ten minutes. So, if you dig the jam, step right up, but if you shy away from the noodle, well maybe you should stick to the studio tracks.