The thing about Phil's current bands, and any band after Jerry in which he is the lead--he doesn't mess with the tempos. Tempo-wise, he's always on the mark. He plays the song the "right" way. This can't be said for a lot of the bands Bobby has been in and is in. Not that I don't still like Bob, I do. What I find interesting is that when I've seen him play "El Paso," he actually keeps the time of the Marty Robbins' version, not so much what the Dead did with it. And he otherwise stays truer to that version than the Dead version. It's not necessarily better, but that's what I think I've seen him do.
I do like Dead & Co. though. I don't love Dead & Co., but I don't love Phil's bands either. Like would I get upset if either band had a major personnel change? No. And it's almost impossible to track Phil's personnel changes these days. Once in a while he plays with John Molo, and otherwise, I think I've seen a slew of different drummers backing Phil at TxR. Here's the breakdown, and many here know this instinctually, Bobby has the voice and he wrote more popular Dead tunes with Hunter and Barlow than Phil wrote. But Phil is the better technical musician. And Phil could have chose any instrument to become famous on, and that's why Garcia told Phil he was going to be his bassist, because I don't think Jerry even considered another electric bassist. The other reason is because Phil is weird insofar he was into classical electronic music or whatever, or maybe academic electronic music, or whatever it's name is. Jerry also needed someone who could not only keep pace with him on stage, but also be inventive and insert his personality into his playing. And Phil did all of that. Bob and Phil were two pieces of a six and sometimes seven piece puzzle that Jerry put together. Bob and Phil belong together on stage if they have a Jerry with them. This is why Further took off with some people, including me--with a guy who really could sound like Jerry, Weir and Lesh could assume the roles that made them special and famous. And John K. was just nowhere as good as Garcia, but he could imitate Jerry really well because he made a career out of doing that in DSO. The only post-Jerry shows that were really, realy good in my opinion is '98 Further w/ Hornsby, and then the first three Further shows in Oakland at the Fox Theatre. All the rest of it has been enjoyable, especially when I'm with old GD buddies, or at least old buddies, or, hell, I'll even settle for @Crispy Rob (That a joke, Rob! ), but I can take it or leave it. It's just fun to get out and see that crowd once in awhile, esp. if there's a Shakedown Street where someone's selling "Lazy Lightning" t-shirts. Bummer though that there was no Shakedown scene outside of Red Rocks before the Phil show I just saw there.
That really kicked the show off and made the hassle of getting there worthwhile. I got the BR for $5 off fleabay. Nice overall production and I generally watch it up to HSF segment. At that point, it's time for the real thing!
I love those times when everybody in the Grateful Dead is playing like a genius and Garcia is making angels weep but your ears and your mind gradually center on what Lesh is doing deep inside the flow, and you realize he’s continuously performing and juggling both intricate lead and rhythm-section foundation duties at a seamless equal level of swing and freedom in both dimensions.
Every word of this is true, I was there as well and the Spirit of the Grateful Dead was present at Red Rocks. I have seen Phil with his famous Q, and with his second Q, which featured Jackie Greene, Larry Campbell and Steve Molitz (a better band to my ears than the 1st Q, but we'll argue that out later), with Ryan Adams, in Furthur, with the Family Band, and with the original Phil and Friends (featuring that Garcia kid on lead guitar). Phil is the center of both the microcosmic and macrocosmic orbits around which special music occurs. He brings leadership, direction, companionship, and a portal to the deepest regions of out and inner space. In Phil We Trust!
Is any familiar with the Phil & Friends Warfield run from May 2008 where they performed the full Grateful Dead studio albums in order? That was very fun. I highly recommend looking up and playing that run.
Here’s a link to a recording of the opening night, May 13, 2008, where they played the debut album and Anthem of the Sun: www.archive.org/details/paf2008-05-13.neumann.91865.flac16
I attended the two shows at the Denver Fillmore right before this run. Utterly exceptional shows in every way. I followed the Warfield run via audience recordings as it happened- the whole month of May 2008 was a great time for Q2. Edit: Oops!
Last night I broke out the RFK 1989 Grateful Dead box set for another listen-specifically the second show. Phil is quite prominent in the mix of the show and you can hear everything he is doing. My unmusically tutored way of describing his playing is he is another lead voice in the mix but also so much more with interesting shades and directions which provides a terrain in which Jerry may explore or Bob may splash color. BTW-maybe I was in a late era Dead mood but that RFK show is a really strong bear of a show( if time permits I will play the previous night’s show as well).
Boy, do I feel dumb right now. I guess that explains why he looks like Gary Shandling, as Crispy Rob said the last time we were at Green Leaf Rustlers. Bing! I meant Bing. In other news, Phil goes off towards the middle of the live New Potato Caboose on the Aoxomoxoa 50th.
Was surprised that Warren Haynes neither sat in with Phil at Mt Jam not had Phil come up when he played Dark Star as part of Mule's Woodstock tribute set. Is there some bad blood between them at this point? Phil has certainly burned a lot of bridges (hence his currently playing mostly with unknowns like his son and some of his son's friends). Last I knew the bridge with Warren was still standing, but this was a conspicuous level of non-collaboration when they were playing the same stage separated only by one act.
Warren is playing with Phil at the Peach festival next month so no need to worry. Warren had to borrow Molo for the Woodstock set because his own drummer became sick that day. Molo played with Phil and Friends on the festival. Man, these guys are real musicans. No one outside the jam or jazz scene would replace a drummer the same day without any rehearsals
Having seen Phil with his "unknowns" just recently I'd say he's doing just fine. In music sometimes the most important notes are the one's that are not played. Or the expected collaborations that don't manifest.
I've been very disappointed with the last 2 Phil shows I have seen (this past Saturday, and last summer at Central Park), and will not go out of my way to see him again unless he announces his employees in advance and they seem worthy. Best things I can say about his show this weekend are 1. It's great seeing a show when you are in love 2. He didn't sing much
Reports regarding last weekend was that it was a train wreck, so I appreciate your disappointment. More importantly, your Thesis #1 is a Great Truth. Congrats!
I had to bail on the Hartford show Sunday but my friends told me that they thought it was the worst Phil show they had ever seen-the sound system was bad, Phil was was too high in the mix so that you couldn’t hear the lead guitar and the band generally wasn’t very good( according to my friends) although Elliott Peck did a great job with vocals. They actually moved away from their seats to see if the mix was better in other parts of the shed but no.
I saw Allison Krauss, Phil, Willie, Lukas Nelson, Revivalists, Govt Mule. Left part way through Govt Mule, a good while after it became clear their late night set was not going to include Phil, as it was real late and I had a long drive to where I was staying and had to get up early to do Fathers Day stuff. Had a real good time. It was my new lady's first time doing anything remotely like this and sharing the experience was a real treat. Particularly enjoyed Willie doing Stil lm Is Still Moving To Me
There was some nice stuff in the Phil set. China Cat , Sugaree and UJB were the highlights for me. But it didnt blow me away. No hanging on every note, just a nice enough soundtrack to a fun evening in a beautiful setting. I didnt really know the Revivalists, so I enjoyed their set but could not comment on specific songs.
