Phil Lesh Reunites ‘The Q’ For Mountainous Capitol Theatre Performance

Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh reunited the lineup of his long-running “The Q” version of Phil Lesh & Friends on Thursday night for the first of two shows at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. “The Q” first toured in Fall of 2000 and was Lesh’s main project until The Dead started touring again in 2003. Lesh’s quintet finds him joined by guitarists Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring, keyboardist Rob Barraco and drummer John Molo.

Ever since the band was formed, Lesh liked to open each show with a bit of a jam ahead of starting the first actual song. That trend continued on Thursday as a stretch of improv led into a cover of Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy.” Barraco then fronted the group on “China Cat Sunflower” ahead of the band’s take on “Let It Ride” by Ryan Adams. Rob stepped back into the spotlight for a blazing “Passenger” which was followed by “Cosmic Charlie,” “Cassidy” and a set-closing “Spots Of Time,” a song Warren wrote with Phil.

Grateful Dead rarity “Mason’s Children” kicked off the second set and gave way to improv based on The Allman Brothers Band’s “Mountain Jam.” A mountainous sequence continued with Lesh singing “Mountains Of The Moon” before “The Q” dusted off the original “Night Of 1,000 Stars” from their lone studio album. The conclusion of “Mountains Of The Moon” followed. It was then back to late ’60s Grateful Dead for “The Other One” > “Cryptical Envelopment” as well as “St. Stephen.” The band ended the set with a cover of Wilson Pickett’s “In The Midnight Hour.” Most songs following “Mountain Jam” featured at least one tease of the song’s main theme. Phil Lesh & Friends said farewell with a “Days Between” encore sung by Warren.

“The Q” returns to The Capitol Theatre tonight. Audio can be heard on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead Channel, while a video webcast is available via nugs.tv.

Audio (Taped by Dave Malloy)

Videos (Captured by Sean Roche)

[Jam > Dear Mr. Fantasy]

[Let It Ride]

[Spots Of Time]

[Mountain Jam > Mountains On The Moon, Night Of 1,000 Stars]

[St. Stephen > In The Midnight Hour]

[Days Between]

Setlist (via Ratdog.org)

Jam > Dear Mr. Fantasy > China Cat Sunflower > Let It Ride, Passenger > Cosmic Charlie, Cassidy, Spots of Time Set Two: Mason’s Children > Mountain Jam > Mountains of the Moon > Night of 1000 Stars > Mountains of the Moon > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment, St. Stephen, In The Midnight Hour Encore: Days Between