[UPDATED] Leftover Salmon & Phil Lesh And The Terrapin Family Band Collaborate At Red Rocks

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band teamed up with Leftover Salmon for a sold-out, co-headlining show at the historic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado on Saturday night. The two jam acts each offered up a set of their own music that saw both bands get into the collaborative spirit of the scene.

Leftover Salmon got the night started. The Colorado-based band, who are no strangers to playing the iconic venue, was in a celebratory mood as they were one day removed from the release of their latest studio album – Something Higher. The six-piece, polyethnic-cajun-slamgrass act opened with “Let’s Give A Party (Ants In My Pants)” and proceeded to string together a handful of tunes from their catalog. The band then proceeded to play their new record in its entirety. Produced by Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin, Something Higher finds LoS showing off some of their influences beyond bluegrass and rock including jazz, hip-hop and R&B.

After working their way through the 12-track effort, Leftover Salmon had one more surprise up their sleeve as they brought out Phil Lesh to join them for a pair of Grateful Dead-related songs to close out their portion of the night. With the help of the 78-year-old bass player, the augmented act first offered up “Catfish John,” which Deadheads are familiar with as being a staple for both Old & In The Way and the Jerry Garcia Band. Leftover Lesh then served up “Big Boss Man,” the blues tune that was originally sung by Pigpen and in later years by Jerry Garcia. After Phil left, Leftover Salmon ended their two-hour performance with fan-favorites “Up On The Hill Where They Do The Boogie” and “Better.”

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band immediately returned the favor as they were joined by LoS’s Vince Herman, Drew Emmitt, Andy Thorn and Erik Deutsch for their opening numbers. The ensemble looked to tunes in their collective wheelhouse as they dug in on a 10-plus minute take on the Workingman’s Dead folk-rock classic “Cumberland Blues” and a rollicking “Viola Lee Blues.” From there, Phil – along with Grahame Lesh (guitar/vocals), Elliott Peck (vocals), Jason Crosby (keyboards), Ross James (guitar/vocals) and Alex Koford (drums/vocals) – dove head-first into an old-school classic from the Dead’s psychedelic-era, “Mountains Of The Moon.”

Over the course of their 10-song main set, the band delivered takes on “Jack Straw,” Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” and “Terrapin Station,” which was proceeded by “Jack O’ Roses” an unrecorded section of the suite that Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band originally debuted back in June of 2013. The back half of their frame featured a heartfelt take on “Morning Dew,” as well a pair of tunes from the Dead’s Americana phase, “Uncle John’s Band” and “New Speedway Boogie.”

The memorable night concluded with Phil & Co. returning to the stage for a three-song encore that saw them bring out Twiddle frontman Mihali Savoulidis. Savoulidis, whose band made their Red Rocks headlining debut the night prior, sang lead on “Fire On The Mountain” and then stuck around for “The Music Never Stopped.” Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band closed things out with the bass player’s signature song, “Box Of Rain.”

Photos by Jeremy Williams

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Listen to audio of Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band’s set and check out the full setlists below:

Audio | Taped by bonobeats

Setlists

Leftover Salmon

Set: Let’s Give A Party (Ants In My Pants), High Country, All Night Ride, Boo Boo, Places, Show Me Something Higher, Southern Belle, Analog, House Of Cards, Evermore, Astral Traveler, Foreign Fields, Game Of Thorns, Let In A Little Light, Winter’s Gone, Burdened Heart, Catfish John (w/ Phil Lesh), Big Boss Man (w/ Phil Lesh), Way Up On The Hill Where They Do The Boogie, Better

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band

Set: Cumberland Blues (w/ Vince Herman, Drew Emmitt, Andy Thorn & Erik Deutsch) > Viola Lee Blues (w/ Vince Herman, Drew Emmitt, Andy Thorn & Erik Deutsch), Mountains Of The Moon, Jack Straw > Like A Rolling Stone, Jack O’ Roses > Terrapin Station > Morning Dew, Uncle John’s Band, New Speedway Boogie

Encore: Fire On The Mountain (w/ Mihali Savoulidis), The Music Never Stopped (w/ Mihali Savoulidis), Box Of Rain