Phil Lesh & Friends kicked off their summer run of shows with a rousing concert in the sylvan settings of Stanford University’s Frost Amphitheater, on a clear Saturday night where the weather cooperated fully and the temperature hovered in the low 70s and high 60s.
Stanford alumni Grahame Lesh’s band Midnight North was a late addition to the bill as the opening act, and their nine-song, 45-minute set featuring lead vocals from Lesh and guitarist/vocalist Elliott Peck smoothly alternated between rock, blues, and country while the appreciative crowd slowly filled the venue.
Phil Lesh, the 82-year old bandleader and founding Grateful Dead bassist and vocalist, headed a lineup rounded out by guitarists Grahame Lesh, Scott Metzger (Joe Russo’s Almost Dead) and John Scofield (Miles Davis), keyboardist Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), and drummer Joe Russo (Furthur, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead), and the sextet delivered a spirited, energetic three-and-a-half-hour show to a near-sellout crowd. And while Lesh is easily the most adventurous of former Grateful Dead members when it comes to mining the most distant corners of the Grateful Dead catalog and elsewhere for their live repertoire, last night’s show maintained a tight focus on the Grateful Dead’s open-ended material from the late ’60s and the early ’70s, with a visit to the late ’70s to close the show.
The active, energetic first set started with a loose, bluesy jam that hinted at the Grateful Dead’s psychedelic classic “The Other One” before dropping into signature 1970 anthem “Truckin’”, whose closing jam was augmented by Tench’s thick, full chords from his grand piano before transitioning into 1971’s “Playing In The Band” [check out a fan-shot video of “Truckin’”]. This time Tench’s organ would spur the foray into the song’s extended jam, which took off on a nimble, almost-disco detour before dropping into its reprise.
From there it was back to 1968 for a pair of “Primal Dead” classics in “St. Stephen” and “The Eleven”, which combined to run for almost 28 minutes even though the “William Tell Bridge” section of the latter was skipped, and was highlighted by some gorgeous, Allamanesque guitar tumbles right before the lyrics to “The Eleven”. Spirited versions of 1969’s “Uncle John’s Band” and 1970’s “Sugar Magnolia” closed the first set, with Grahame and Russo combining nicely on high vocal harmonies to augment Phil Lesh’s baritone vocals.
Related: Phil Lesh To Perform With Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy & Nels Cline, More As PHILCO At Sacred Rose
The second set started more deliberately with a spaced-out, 18-minute take on 1971’s “Bird Song”, which drifted into a jumping version of “I Know You Rider”, the traditional song that dates all the way back to the Grateful Dead’s earliest days in 1965 when they will still down as The Warlocks. Scofield’s screaming guitar solo closing out the song was the highlight of the night, augmented perfectly by heavier beats from Russo.
From there it was straight to 1973 for 34 minutes as Russo’s insistent drumbeat led the charge into an accelerated “Let It Grow”, before dropping into an extended version of jazz-rock hybrid “Eyes Of The World”. The remainder of the show jumped forward by just a few years, when the band played an exploratory 13-minute version of “The Wheel” (originally released on the Jerry Garcia’s eponymous 1972 solo LP, but not introduced into Grateful Dead live shows until 1976) that finally led to the 1977 “Terrapin Station” movement for a slower but majestic finish to the set. After an onstage huddle, the band had six minutes left before a hard 10 p.m. venue curfew, and they’d deftly fill all six minutes with a fast-paced, get-it-in version of 1978’s “Shakdown Street”, ensuring the show closed with an enjoyable arc of late ‘70s Grateful Dead classics.
Setlist: Phil Lesh & Friends | Frost Amphitheater | Stanford, CA | 6/4/22
Set One (6:25 – 7:41): Truckin’ > Playing in the Band, St. Stephen > The Eleven, Uncle John’s Band, Sugar Magnolia
Set Two (8:22 – 10:00): Bird Song > I Know You Rider, Let It Grow > Eyes Of The World, The Wheel > Terrapin Station
Encore: Shakedown Street
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