Phil Lesh and Friends

October 21, 2000

Riviera Theatre

Chicago, IL

Spent a nice day in Oak Park with my family before heading down to the Riviera for night two of Phil Lesh and Friends. I took the EL down to Lawrence and was again greeted by lots of people looking for tickets. It was chillier on Saturday so I didn’t hang around outside much. I headed inside and found a nice spot right in the middle of the floor where I knew the sound had been good the night before. The show started pretty close to on time and unlike the night before where they started the show with some freeform jamming, this night they jumped right into a nice version of "Dancin’ in the Streets". Barraco was on from the beginning and played the famous Dancin’ riff on organ and shared lead vocals with Warren. The "Dancin' in Chicago…" line got a huge reaction from the crowd. They jammed on this one in late sixties Dead style for a while with Haynes and Herring digging in deep with some cool improvisational guitar. Soon the jam lost all semblance of " Dancin" and we were off into a welcome and fun version of "Doin’ that Rag". Barraco sang lead on this and really led the band through it. I liked the little vocal touches he added along with his keyboards. At the end of the tune the whole band did a very cool accapella ending with Phil leading this part.

Next up Warren led the band through a very well played version of "Dupree’s Diamond Blues". This was a crowd pleaser and everybody sang along to this tight succinct version. Next Phil sang a nice "Broken Arrow", the Robbie Robertson tune. This was a much more fleshed out version than I have heard him do before with the Dead. I always love when Phil sings this one. I think the song fits his voice very well. Nice keyboards by Barraco on this one again. The ending jam of "Broken Arrow" got real funky and eventually led into a very fast paced version of "Fire on the Mountain" with Phil handling lead vocals adequately. The fastness of it was disconcerting at first, but I think it worked. Warren and Jimmy definitely played great on it and Phil really led the tune with his bass playing. Next Warren played "Soulshine" which he used to do with the Allman Brothers. This is a really good song and it fits with this band very well. Warren took the spotlight here with his singing, but it was Jimmy’s soloing that stole the song. They did a really big Allman type jam that led right into "Blue Sky", the famous Allman Brother’s song. Again Jimmy and Warren were all over this and Warren, Rob and Phil took turns handling the lead vocals. This was a long version that eventually wound down to end the set. The Allmans medley was a cool way to end things. This night first set was shorter then the night before, but probably also tighter. Phil said that the band was going to take a break and check out the score of the baseball game before coming back out for the second set.

I grabbed a Coke and hung waiting for the second set. After about a half and hour the band took the stage again and just started jamming. This eventually led into a slow version of "Morning Dew" with Phil singing. I thought that this version was fine, but never really took off for me. After the vocal part of the song, the band jammed for quite awhile and there were some really interesting themes explored. I would really like to hear this passage on tape again. Somehow it all lead into a very cool sort of African highlife version of "Uncle John’s Band". The group vocals were great and Herring played some very cool lead guitar. This sounded like how I would imagine it if Yousou N’Daour played "Uncle John’s Band". They did a full "Uncle John" jam which was very inspiring and they segued it perfectly into "Just a Little Light" which is a great Brent Mydland tune that Warren sang. I am so glad that they are playing a few Brent songs. They tend to get a little forgotten when people think about Dead music, but he wrote some great stuff. Phil and company proved it with this version too. Warren seems born to sing this one and he spiced it up with some very intense guitar playing. The whole band just kept bringing the energy of the song higher and higher. They finally ended it and everybody was smiling and patting each other on the back. Next they started a little jam that led into a very good "I Know You Rider". Again, Barraco stood out on this song which was a crowd pleaser. I even saw Molo singing along behind his drum kit.

Next they started playing the beginning of "Crazy Fingers:" with Herring playing some nice leads. That would have been cool, but instead of diving full into it, they segued into "Lady With a Fan". The crowd had obviously been waiting for this. Herring and Haynes did some cool stuff with the main theme and Phil handled the vocals perfectly. They got into a very cool Moorish jam at the end which was one of the highlights of the whole night. Just as they were about to do the normal segue into "Terrapin Station" they dropped into the opening of "Stella Blue". I can’t imagine a version of this that could be better unless Jerry Garcia was still alive. Warren sang it and did an amazing job. This song really suits him. Herring played some nice understated rhythm and Phil bass lines were amazing. The crowd was hushed with excitement as the song unfolded and it never disappointed. As the song ended they started playing the "Terrapin" theme again and it was very exotic and different sounding. Phil was laying some crazy bass lines like I have never heard him play and it was almost like an old school Dead version of the ‘Spanish Jam" for awhile. Finally they dropped into "Terrapin" with the "inspiration…" line and the crowd went nuts again. I really loved this take on the song. It was faster, funkier and totally out there. It almost sounded like a Phish song or something and Phil’s playing reminded of Mike Gordon here. Usually it is the other way around. I thought that "Terrapin" would probably end the set, but instead Barraco's piano and Phil’s monstrous bass line led them into a huge version of "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad". Warren, Rob and Phil all switched off on vocals and again the crowd was singing along. At the end of the song Warren played the little instrumental "And We Bid You Goodnight" solo that Garcia used to play and then they brought the music way down and actually sang an accapella version of the actual song, "And We Bid You Goodnight". The crowd sang along and clapped out he beat. The vocal blend of Phil, Warren and Rob was great. Jimmy didn’t sing, but Molo was at least mouthing the words in the back. They did a nice vocal jam on this one, totally breaking it down before finally finishing up and leaving the stage.

I wasn’t sure how they were going to top that with their encore, but they reemerged, delivered the baseball score and started an epic version of "Mountain’s of the Moon" with Phil singing and all sorts of cool instrumental passages that eventually jammed into a rollicking version of Wilson Pickett and Steve Cropper’s "In the Midnight Hour". The crowd really lost it here. Warren sang lead and seemed to conjure the spirit of Pigpen. Barraco played thick organ and everybody was dancing. It was one of those great moments where you know you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right then. They finally ended up the incredible encore and left the stage to booming applause. I couldn’t have been more satisfied with the show. Phil played so well both nights and looked healthy. This is the first version of his Phil Lesh and Friends project hat I have been able to catch because I am always out of the country. Because of this I can’t compare this version to any of the others, but it is hard to imagine a tighter band than this. They obviously love playing together and mesh perfectly. I hope to see these guys again as soon as possible.