Stephen Stills, Peter Rowan & Bill Nershi Among Grahame Lesh’s Friends At Heart Of Town Opener In San Francisco

Grahame Lesh & Friends kicked off the three-night The Heart Of Town concert series on Thursday at Pier 48 in San Francisco. The son of late Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh celebrated 60 years of GD music with a vast array of special guests coming on and off stage, including Stephen Stills, Peter Rowan and Bill Nershi.

The core band for the start of the first set found Grahame Lesh on guitar and vocals joined by Dawes' Griffin Goldsmith on drums and Taylor Goldsmith on guitar as well as keyboardist Holly Bowling, bassist Sam Grisman, drummer John Molo and backing vocalists Elliott Peck and Nicki Bluhm. “Uncle John’s Band” was selected as the opener. Stephen Stills emerged as the jam heated up and stuck around for CSNY’s “Teach Your Children,” GD original “Althea” and Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.”

Eric Krasno swapped in for Stills on a “The Music Never Stopped” sung helmed by Taylor Goldsmith. The guitarists exchanged hot licks to bring the song’s raucous jam to a close. Pete Sears then took over bass duties as the ensemble linked the oft-paired “China Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider.” Next, singer Maggie Rose led Grahame Lesh & Friends through “Row Jimmy” and “Sugaree” before Roger McNamee fronted “Dire Wolf” and Garrett Deloian sang an “Alligator” that bled into a set-closing “Turn On Your Lovelight” featuring Andy Frasco on vocals.

Peter Rowan, Bill Nershi, Grahame Lesh, Sam Grisman, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo and drummer Nathan Graham began the second set with Old & In The Way favorites “Midnight Moonlight” and “Panama Red.” Rowan sat out the ensuing “Friend Of The Devil” led by Nershi but returned for the “Cold Rain & Snow” that followed.

The next segment of the show featured Melvin Seals and his JGB bandmates along with Grahame Lesh, Molo, Krasno and Graham. Guitarist John Kadlecik fronted Jerry Band favorites “Cats Under The Stars” and “Mission In The Rain.” From there, keyboardist Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk co-hort bassist Tony Hall shined on Robbie Robertson’s “Broken Arrow” and a well-jammed “Scarlet Begonias”/”Fire On The Mountain” sequence.

moe. guitarist Al Schnier also let it rip on “Scarlet”/”Fire” after his two-song guest spot towards the end of the first set. The closing stanza wrapped with “Shakedown Street,” the Grateful Dead classic that gave the concert series its name.

Grahame Lesh did his father proud by delivering a “Donor Rap” asking fans to consider becoming organ donors before the two-song encore of “Midnight Hour” and “Ripple.” Andy Frasco sang the former and a large crew shared vocal duties on the latter.

The Heart Of Town continues tonight and ends on Saturday. Both shows will start at 11 p.m. to allow fans coming from Dead & Company’s Golden Gate Park concerts to attend. nugs’ All Access subscribers can watch livestream premieres of the last two The Heart Of Town performances on Tuesday, August 5 and Wednesday, August 6 respectively.

Listen to an audience recording of Thursday’s The Heart Of Town show taped by Z-Man below:

Additional Videos

Setlist

Set One: Uncle John’s Band*, Teach Your Children*, Althea*, For What It’s Worth*, The Music Never Stopped**, China Cat Sunflower*** > I Know You Rider***, Row Jimmy+, Sugaree++, Dire Wolf+++, Alligator& > Turn On Your Lovelight&&

Set Two: Midnight Moonlight^, Panama Red^, Friend Of The Devil^^, Cold Rain & Snow^^^, Cats Under The Stars$, Mission In The Rain$$, Broken Arrow$$$, Scarlet Begonias% > Fire On The Mountain%, Shakedown Street%

Encore: Donor Rap, Midnight Hour%%, Ripple%%%

• * – Grahame Lesh, Stephen Stills, Taylor Goldsmith, Sam Grisman, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Griffin Goldsmith
• ** – Grahame Lesh, Eric Krasno, Taylor Goldsmith, Sam Grisman, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Griffin Goldsmith
• *** – Grahame Lesh, Eric Krasno, Taylor Goldsmith, Pete Sears, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Griffin Goldsmith
• + – Grahame Lesh, Maggie Rose, Eric Krasno, Garrett Deloian, Sam Grisman, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Griffin Goldsmith
• ++ – Grahame Lesh, Maggie Rose, Eric Krasno, Al Schnier, Sam Grisman, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Griffin Goldsmith
• +++ – Grahame Lesh, Roger McNamee, Eric Krasno, Al Schnier, Pete Sears, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Jeremy Koenig
• & – Grahame Lesh, Eric Krasno, Garrett Deloian, Pete Sears, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Jeremy Hoenig
• && – Grahame Lesh, Eric Krasno, Andy Frasco, Pete Sears, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Jeremy Hoenig
• ^ – Peter Rowan, Grahame Lesh, Sam Grisman, Bill Nershi, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Nathan Graham
• ^^ – Eric Krasno, Grahame Lesh, Sam Grisman, Bill Nershi, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Nathan Graham
• ^^^ – Peter Rowan, Eric Krasno, Grahame Lesh, Sam Grisman, Bill Nershi, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Nicki Bluhm, John Molo, Nathan Graham
• $ – Grahame Lesh, Eric Krasno, Melvin Seals, Jeremy Hoenig, John-Paul McLean, Nathan Graham, John Kadlecik, John Molo
• $$ – Grahame Lesh, Eric Krasno, Melvin Seals, Jeremy Hoenig, John-Paul McLean, Nathan Graham, John Kadlecik
• $$$ – Ivan Neville, Tony Hall, Grahame Lesh, Eric Krasno, Melvin Seals, John Molo, Nathan Graham, Jeremy Hoenig, John Kadlecik
• % – Ivan Neville, Tony Hall, Grahame Lesh, Eric Krasno, Melvin Seals, John Molo, Nathan Graham, Al Schnier, Elliott Peck, Jeremy Hoenig
• %% – Grahame Lesh, Andy Frasco, Sam Grisman, Al Schnier, John Molo, Nathan Graham, Eric Krasno, Holly Bowling, Jeremy Hoenig, Nicki Bluhm
• %%% – Grahame Lesh, Andy Frasco, Sam Grisman, Al Schnier, John Molo, Nathan Graham, Eric Krasno, Holly Bowling, Jeremy Hoenig, Nicki Bluhm, Elliott Peck, Peter Rowan, Bill Nershi