Gimme Shelter In Place: Incidental Animals Perform ‘Bertha’

Gimme Shelter In Place is JamBase’s new daily archival video series launched for fans who right now can’t go see live music. Canceled concerts and music festivals due to social distancing and sheltering in place in response to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic brought a halt to tours around the globe. We know nothing can truly replace seeing live music in person, but we hope the Gimme Shelter In Place live videos provide a taste of those memorable experiences.

Today’s video was recorded on May 8, 2015, at Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh‘s concert venue and restaurant Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California. That evening saw Incidental Animals, featuring Jennifer Hartswick, ALO members Lebo (Dan Lebowitz), Steve Adams and Dave Brogan, and The String Cheese Incident’s Kyle Hollingsworth, perform in the Grate Room, wrapping their show with an encore cover of the Grateful Dead classic “Bertha.”

Members of Team JamBase were at TXR that night to record Incidental Animals for our Songs Of Their Own Grateful Dead 50th anniversary video series. We captured the encore that evening as well as an acoustic, stripped-down arrangement of “Bertha” that was filmed backstage before the show and included guest vocalist Nicki Bluhm. The final Songs Of Their Own version incorporated both the encore and backstage recordings into a single video.

After digging through the JamBase archives, we were reminded of how special the backstage performance was, and decided to share it in its entirety. While sheltering in place, JamBase CEO David Onigman teleconferenced with Lebo to reminisce about the hectic but fruitful session at Terrapin Crossroads. They started by discussing Lebo’s recent foray into livestreaming, his upcoming online Seder performance and how he has adapted to life off the road. Lebo explained how Incidental Animals originally formed to play Relix editor-in-chief Mike Greenhaus’ wedding, and then DaveO and Lebo gave a rundown of the somewhat stressful session at TXR. Watch their chat below:

Watch Incidental Animals’ full backstage performance of “Bertha” and all of the Gimme Shelter In Place videos in the playlist below:

Stay tuned as we share a new Gimme Shelter In Place live performance video every weekday for the foreseeable future. Keep tabs on livestreams via the JamBase Livestreams Calendar, which offers the ability to toggle back and forth between streams, and be sure to subscribe to the JamBase YouTube channel.

Songs Of Their Own Playlist