Tag: Central Park

These Cats Are The Real Deal: Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band w/ Melvin Seals & Nicki Bluhm – Central Park SummerStage – 8/30/2017 (Review, Videos, Setlist)

by Russell S. Glowatz

There ain’t nothing like a Phil show at Central Park. When the weather is airy and light, the scene is right, and the music is tight. All sources of serene sonic sorcery combine to manifest a sublime state of serendipity. The bucolic surroundings alone are a rare respite in a city of steel and smut. Add a heaping spoonful of Deadheads, a dollop of Phil Lesh, a sprinkling of The Terrapin Family Band, a dash of Melvin Seals, and a pinch of Nicki Bluhm, you have yourself a recipe for psychedelic communion at the Church of Grateful Dead.

Traversing what could be termed as “Shakedown Rock,” a geologic grouping of boulders outside SummerStage central, Deadheads’ can be found cavorting, carousing, communing, and commercing. A handful of vendors are selling heady handmade goods. Others are reuniting with old cohorts, and mingling with new friends alike. Some folks are sipping on craft brews, or eating homemade sandwiches before the main event commences. There is no lot, nor a typical shakedown, but Central Park makes for a pregame of perfection. One with nature, attune with the chime of the leaves in the breeze, there’s not many better places to take in the show before the show than the placid pastures outside Rumsey Playfield.

Such an enchanting encampment, loosens the soul from the grime of the daily grind. So once entering the venue, many Deadheads find themselves appropriately apart from the maddening melancholia of modern day materialism. We find ourselves removed from our ragged runarounds, primed and ready to escape inside the symphony set before us.

As was advertised, we are met with a set of Jerry Garcia Band tunes to open the evening. We are no longer “Tangled Up In Blue” as this euphonious ensemble tears through the Bob Dylan original, and JGB staple. “How Sweet It Is” to dance in the setting summer sun, as Nicki Bluhm soars through this peppy rendition on vocal lead.  Soon we find ourselves half passed 7:00pm, but it’s “After Midnight” in the daylight as Ross James & Grahame Lesh trade licks on J.J. Cale’s classic with vigor and grit. Throughout the entirety of the JGB segment, Melvin Seals serves as our rock, channeling the soul of Jerry and his old side project, tenaciously with his trigger finger on his Hammond B-3 organ. Jason Crosby serves as his worthy counterpart on the keys with effortless execution.

As set one moves us brightly, set two lights the fire under our ass. From Phil’s opening bass bomb, love is shakin’ on “Shakedown Street;” a simple poke around proves it to be true. “The Music Never Stopped,” and while singing and romancing, it’s evident we’re all “Playing In The Band.” On drums, Alex Koford is our engine, driving this collective train, as we’re “bound to cover just a little more ground.” We traverse through the “transitive nightfall of diamonds,” before walking out in that sweet sweet “Morning Dew.” Not a single soul around fails to “Turn On [Their] Lovelight” as the music plays the band, and the band plays us. Wrapping up our psychedelic parkscapade, shakin’ like “Sugaree” at a jaunty jubilee, one cannot help but exude profound gratitude and incalculable thankfulness.

At 77 years young, Philip Chapman Lesh continues to defy expectations and boundaries with a musical troupe that’s currently playing some of the best live Grateful Dead music out there. It seems he’s relying more heavily on The Terrapin Family Band as of late, as this group’s congruous chops shine brightly wherever they choose to throw down. There is something to be said about a band, a true band of brothers (and sometimes sister) that regularly plays together. The camaraderie of this company of players is palpable at every single performance, and it reflects in the harmonious, out of the box, mind fuck music they create. This is not a cover band, nor a nostalgia act. These cats are the real deal, and if you have yet had the opportunity to catch them live, get on that shit. Stat!

 

“Second That Emotion”

“The Music Never Stopped”
“Estimated Prophet”
Set I:
Tangled Up in Blue
They Love Each Other
How Sweet It Is
Mission In The Rain
Reuben & Cherise
Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
Second That Emotion
After Midnight

Set II:
Shakedown Street
Music Never Stopped
Estimated Prophet
Galilee
Playing in the Band
The Wheel
Dark Star
Morning Dew
Dark Star
St Stephen
Love Light

Encore:
Donor Rap
Sugaree

© Stand For Jam, 2017.
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Review: Phil Lesh and Friends, Central Park SummerStage, 9/16/2015

(Originally published on Grateful Music)

 
No venue in Manhattan is quite like Central Park SummerStage at Rumsey Playfield. Centered in the bucolic and historic park, the surroundings themselves are worth the venture alone, yet when a surviving member of the Grateful Dead is playing, the scenery serves merely as a gateway to the main event. With a capacity of roughly 5000 people, SummerStage was packed to the rafters on Wednesday night, yet due to its relatively small size the venue provides an intimate environment, often not seen at many outdoor concert grounds. So strolling through the park prior to the show, I found myself drawn to the nearby rocks where folks regularly congregate before events. Meeting old friends and new, the aura outside was terrific, mellow, and anticipatory for the night to come.

And expectations were wholeheartedly met as Phil Lesh and his current company took the stage and Tony Leone belted out the familiar drumbeat signaling the Samson and Delilah at hand. If folks took this as evidence of a show heading in the direction of late seventies up-tempo Dead, they, as I, were markedly mistaken, as the band forayed into the longtime Jerry staple, Catfish John. The soulful tune allowed ample time for guitarists Eric Krasno, and Neal Casal to open up and cut deep. The interplay between the two lead axemen remained to be a strong point all night long, accentuated by the versatile keysmanship of the latest Black Crowes keyboardist, Adam MacDougall.

As the music moved forward, it was evident that we were in for a blues heavy show with back to back Pig Pen tunes, Hard to Handle, and Easy Wind. As MacDougall, Casal, and Leone are all Chris Robinson collaborators of past and present, a bluesy element emblematic of the Crowes emanated through the players, and created a unique sound relative to past Phil & Friends incarnations. Robinson delved into his roll as lead vocalist with ease and swagger, and at times seemed to be channeling the late great Ron McKernan, not only with voice, but also through a gritty harmonica solo in the midst of Easy Wind. As set one came to a close with Big River, the band presented us with a fresh take, and I found myself reaching a transcendent state for the first time in the evening.

The fact that Phil’s still bringing us full length shows of stellar live music well into his seventies is a blessing and a miracle. For that, I can’t blame him in the least for the extended set breaks that have become commonplace at his shows. I know many folks his age that are long in bed and asleep while he’s raging onward night after night. So while the lengthy intermission allowed Phil and company to reenergize, it gave us heads ample time for bathroom breaks, beer runs, and mingling with our friends and family. As the sun went down on the Park, and the lights brightened on the stage, we all dug in for what was to be a smoking second set.

The He’s Gone opener was met with rip-roaring enthusiasm from the audience, as the song has taken up special meaning since the passing of Jerry Garcia. At this juncture it occurred to me we haven’t heard much from Phil in respect to fronting vocals. While many deadheads have taken umbrage with him appropriating a lead on certain songs, there are a few he has adopted and truly made his own in the post-Jerry years. And as clear as the summer’s sky, his voice shined through in singing Saint Stephen and Franklin’s Tower. With the night winding down, the double encore opened with the recognizable riff of Mr. Charlie, a fitting choice with Robinson’s ability to conjure the essence of Pig Pen. Each band member took a musical bow with respective solos, and in capping it all off, the ensemble left us with a sentimental U.S. Blues that evoked nostalgia of the epic summertime “come and gone.”

All in all this was a well-executed show, with a handful of highs, and some middle of the road moments. For many of the Northeast deadheads in attendance, this was their first opportunity to see Phil live and in the flesh in this fiftieth year of Grateful Dead (or at least since before Fare Thee Well), and that vibe waved wide and high as we danced and sang the night away to our favorite tunes. As a New Yorker, I consider myself to be among the fortunate since Lesh retired from touring, as I’m still able to get my Phil fix fairly frequently. As he rides off into his twilight years, I imagine Phil will venture less commonly from his home at Terrapin Crossroads. So with a run of shows coming up at the Capitol Theater in Portchester, NY at the end of October, I’d encourage all who can make it to catch Phil and his friends as they round out this epic year in Grateful Dead history.

Words: Russell S. Glowatz