PHIL AND FRIENDS AT THE BEACON

Set I: Jam, Dear Mr. Fantasy, Cryptical Envelopment, Soul Shine, Mississippi Half-Step > Eyes of the World > The Eleven > Golden Road

Set II: Viola Lee Blues, Alabama Getaway, Going Down The Road Feeling Bad > The Wheel > Dark Star > Mountains of the Moon > Revolution I > Midnight Hour

E: Blue Sky

My first impression from this show is that the band fizzled when they should have sizzled. That is, the jams lit the wick wonderfully, but when they burned all the way down and a powder keg explosion was imminent, the bombs were duds and they seemed to fall apart. The segues were weak/non-existent for the most part. For a lot of the first set, I found that Warren was trying too hard to lead the band and they either weren't interested in following, or they were having trouble listening to each other. He also was doing a lot of experimental effects stuff with some Estimated Prophet-style envelope effects that were almost Kimockian in their similarities to Garcia. Sometimes this stuff worked and other times it was distraction.

The show rolled off with a beautiful full band interaction jam that has become the welcome standard to get the mood going and get the crowd away from the bar and to their seats. Jimmy and Warren work so well together and it's great to watch Phil getting off on these guys. The jam was all over the place in a good way but then as the band tried to bring it back in line with the setlist, it kind of fell apart into an annoying second of silence like someone driving stick for the first time having trouble getting from second to third, struggling and finally and moving forward into Fantasy. I thought this was average at best. Another awkward pause and then Cryptical came inching out of the gates. A good start, but a little timid, I thought. I'd say they were a few miles short of blowing my mind at that point. Cryptical was nice and entered a nice moving jam that had no inclination of the Other One... a disjointed piece that again fizzled into a pause as Phil looked at Warren as if to say: "OK, you drive now" and he took the steering wheel and drove the band into Soul Shine. Standard Allmans tune that was unremarkable until the end when Jimmy and Warren went back and forth with it as Warren used to do with Dickey way back when. The difference is that Jimmy listens and plays simultaneously and it shows as he dodged Warren's blows and counter-punched wonderfully building up a head of steam until chugging to a halt once again as the gears grinded into Half Step. I think the vocal section of this is a tad awkward when Phil sings this, but the jam is unlike anything the Dead ever dared to do with this song. Last night was no exception and for the first time in the evening, the band really had all the wheels on the road and pointing in the same direction. They launched their way through this one and picked up some momentum until the bright lights of the next town appeared on the horizon and they coasted smoothly and wonderfully into Eyes of the World. I was a tad disappointed they pulled this one, but only because this tempered rumors that Branford might show up this weekend. Eyes continued the newfound tightness the band had taken on but was fairly standard in that it featured more individual soloing rather than thick full-band jams. Still, can't complain too much about getting that nice Eyes in the first set.

As the song finished up, the band tumbled into a fresh jam that twisted each member together and was held tight by Molo's work on the kit. Finally, Phil broke free and whipped Molo's pace up... the rest of the band followed one by one and they flipped into that tell-tale 11 beat time as if by magic. The Eleven flowed so unabated from the jam and carved a canyon of cheers through the audience. The vocals were pretty good, particularly the times when Rob, Phil and Warren would harmonize (this was true of the whole show) - strength in numbers, I guess. The Eleven flipped between straightforward Dead cover and Jimmy Herring Olympic floor exercises as his fingers cartwheeled over the strings in perfect 11 fashion. As the judges recorded their scores and awarded their medals, the band switched gears again and thumped it's way into a rollicking Golden Road which drew perhaps the loudest cheers of the evening (for any single song, at least). This was the rock and roll that many had paid to see and Warren belted out the lyrics nicely, reading them off the sheet music. And after 80 minutes of somewhat struggling perfection, the set ended and the band cleared the stage.

Thirty minutes later, they returned with an apparent pact to floor anyone remaining standing. Their first weapon would be a half hour foray into Viola Lee Blues that chipped holes in my skull and fed on my brains. They got to it from the get-go, no noodling to warm up their fingers or coax the folks back into their seats. This thing took a few minutes just to get to the vocal section as both Jimmy and Warren tried to outduel each other again with Phil close by to make sure they played nice. Warren seemed willing to share now and as they launched into the post-verse jams, he continuously tickled Jimmy until both of their guitars were giggling out of control. Phil's bass lines were taking on a life of their own and soon became a trampoline which Jimmy and Warren would bounce seemingly harmless riffs on which in turn were propelled into the beautiful Beacon ceiling. Rob deserves mention here as well... not to let his work fall by the wayside. He has really developed with these gigs and has learned to fill in any unused space by the guitar leads with well-timed runs and agile rhythm. Unfortunately, this adventure into Viola Lee was ruined as Phil would shake off the trance of the jam and interject the next verse, seemingly cutting and interrupting the most interesting of conversations between Jimmy and Warren. This was the case for both the 2nd and 3rd verses... where it seemed that the entity need not be known as Viola Lee any more, Phil would put it in it's place and rein it in, somewhat unmercifully.

Tragedy it was, as the plug was pulled and another awkward moment as metal rubbed against metal in the grind towards Alabama Getaway. Getaway and then GDTRFB were pleasant enough rockers, but not meriting much more comment in this already too-long retrospective. As Going Down... came to a close, though, instead of the fizzle, we finally got some of that sizzle as they entered a jam that was reminiscent of the opening jam from the 1st set. Jimmy and Warren went back and forth in that amazing way that sounds so fresh every time they go at it. Phil was just as masterful and slowly inched into The Wheel so delicately that the audience wasn't fully aware of where they were being lead until the lyrics were belted out. This version of The Wheel must stand alone apart from other versions for it's beauty and breadth and the sheer brilliance of it. In a similar style to the Viola Lee that preceded it in the set, this took on a life of it's own. Phil (and his Modulus) was like an Arthur C. Clarke-style monolith from which the rest of the band drew knowledge and passion. Again, the jams would wind down and would be squelched by the unnecessary return to the lyrical song form. But, at this point, it was little more than a distraction, the band had earned their merit badges and were battling valiantly towards Dark Star. I was surprised to get the hint and then the full taste of Dark Star as I was sure the set was coming to an end with Wheel. Dark Star was very nice, although not too drawn out. It was a moody jam with dark purple and green lights to mellow out the music. Finally, it made way, nicely again, into Mountains of the Moon. The band would waste no time being nice any more, and it fleshed out this ballady tune with some wonderful interaction. It was understated and beautiful all at once. But the lion could not be caged for too long and Phil finally let them loose with some noise jam that was very "free", in the Ornette Coleman sense of the word. This may have gone on a little too long until they finally remembered the paying audience was still there and appeased them with some serious rock and roll.

Warren gnashed his teeth on Revolution > Midnight Hour. Warren came full circle with these tunes and where he seemed a tad lost and out of it in the first few songs, he was in full control here, ripping solos with and without the slide and churning out the lyrics with his rock star vocals. Revolution was the manifest of a more subtle Beatles theme to the evening, at least for Haynes. He dropped a very quick but unmistakable Eleanor Rigby tease somewhere in the Dark Star > Mountains of the Moon area, and then a Day Tripper (if I remember correctly) tease in Revolution. Then, as the band did one more Allmans imitation in Blue Sky, Warren played a Norwegian Wood tease during his solo. Blue Sky was excellent, with Jimmy's solo being of the garden variety, ass-whooping, I'm-in-the- Allman-Brothers-now style, and Warren's being a more building, mature opus on the slide guitar.

Before the encore, Phil said "What was that??" or something to that effect... if HE was in amazement, you know it was a brain melter. Some rough points? Yes. Perfect? No. Still one helluva show, whose high points were as climactic as I could imagine. Looking for even better things to come this weekend.

Aaron Stein
JamBase New York Correspondent
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