PHIL & FRIENDS | WARFIELD | 03.29 & 03.30

Phil Lesh & Friends | Warfield | San Francisco, CA | 03.29.02 & 03.30.02

Anticipation was high for the Phil Lesh & Friends shows at the Warfield. This two-night run at the historic theater marked the kick-off to the "Four Winds Tour," a short Western run that covered stops in Idaho, Colorado and Montana - a nice little Phil stint for anyone jumping on the bus. A large crowd was milling outside the Warfield before the shows, and this was a tough ticket if you didn't come prepared. Inside, the theater was swarming with fans anxious to catch Phil and Friends - Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring on guitars, Rob Barraco on keyboards and John Molo on drums - for their first shows since their NYE run at the Kaiser in Oakland.

FRIDAY | 03.29.02

The audience was in high-gear Friday night, and the band — they seemed excited although, as Phil pointed out later in the show, they hadn't played in a while and were perhaps a little "rusty." There were moments, however, when they sounded exceptionally tight and energetic. "Eyes of the World" was nicely done, followed by "The Real Thing," a new Warren composition that sounded pretty rockin'. This led to "The Wheel," a set highlight that featured some fine guitar and keyboards by our friends Warren and Rob. (It was also during this tune that Phil pulled a classic Dead maneuver: jumping in with the chorus while the rest of the band was still at the bridge.) But the real highlight of the set – not to mention the entire show – was their rendition of "Passenger." Warren and Rob do a great job with vocals on their own; but singing together, as they did on this tune, they sounded dynamite. And Phil added nice, timely bass vocals, along with his ripping bass lines, to the chorus. This song definitely ended the set on a positive note.

There were a few gems in the second set, too. The new Lesh tune "Midnight Train" led to two old-school, rarely heard tunes: "New Potato Caboose" and "Sittin' on Top of the World." (The beautiful lyric "All graceful instruments are known," from "New Potato Caboose," gave the evening one of its most transcendent moments.) Then, after some noodling that sounded like it could lead to anything from "Wharf Rat" to "Stella Blue," they eased in to a lovely "Standing on the Moon" with Warren's smoky voice nailing it right on with real emotion. Along with "Passenger," this was the centerpiece of the show. Then came portions of the "Other One" suite; a shaky start, but it picked up toward the end. (Phil's vocals suited the "Cryptical Envelopment" portion of the piece.) The band wrapped up the show with a nice "Cosmic Charlie" encore. While they've been known to deliver a slower, more funked-out version of this tune, which sounds very fine, their upbeat rendition on this particular night was very satisfying.

Overall, the set featured good song selections: the new tunes, particularly "Night of 1000 Stars" (Lesh/Hunter), are enjoyable, and Phil & Friends do a good job of digging up rare old favorites and giving them new life. However, while their songs are tight, their jamming seems a bit too loose. Phil & Friends tend to open each set with a jam before busting out the opening song, and their jams between songs often seem longer than the songs themselves. Their improvisation reaches great heights when it comes within the structure of a song, and when they're on, they are ON (i.e., "Passenger" and "Standin' on the Moon"). But it's not as if the band is simply rehashing old Dead tunes: each one of these musicians puts the emotion into the songs, giving a fresh approach to old favorites. And though the band was using charts for most of the show, their delivery on certain songs was anything but stiff and stifled. If the band continues to focus on creating improvisation within each song - having the jams evolve from the songs, rather than the other way around - the sets would seem more fluid and consistently inspired.

SATURDAY | 03.30.02

However, as with the Friday night show, the jamming seemed somehow disjointed and lacking direction. The musicians rarely seemed to be having a musical conversation, rather they were marking time between songs. In this sense the jams seemed more artificial than organic, and while there were excellent moments, those moments mostly came within the songs, not the jams. Instead of building within the jam toward the next song, many times it sounded as if they fell into the song almost by accident. It could be that their recent studio work and concentration on the new songs has shifted their focus away from the live performances, but surely they'll regain their "live chops" on the road.

More From Phil

After the Four Winds Tour, Phil Lesh & Friends are off to Jazz Fest in New Orleans. Then it's on to promote their upcoming release, There & Back Again, kicking off a tour that will cover some of the nicest, head-friendly venues in the West Coast, including the Greek Theater in Berkeley (with Robert Hunter one night!) and the Frost Amphitheater in Stanford. (Other special guests at various stops of the tour include Galactic and Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. See Phil & Friends' Tour Dates for more info.) Seeing as these shows are coming on the heels of an extended run of shows, we'll be anxious to see what Phil & Friends have in store for us next.

Margaret Pitcher | John Waldman
JamBase | San Francisco
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