Phil Lesh & Stu Allen Lead Thunder & Lightning: Bass Bombs & Ballads! At Terrapin Crossroads

Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh as well as guitarist Stu Allen hosted a pair of Thunder & Lightning: Bass Bombs & Ballads! shows at Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads venue in San Rafael, California on Saturday and Sunday. As promised, Lesh & Co. provided those in attendance with “thunderous bass bombs and electrical ballads” during last evening’s culmination of the two-night run.

A cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue” was served to open Sunday’s first of two sets that featured Lesh and Allen accompanied by Jay Lane on drums, Jason Crosby on keyboards and Scott Law on guitar. The rest of set one focused on ballad-y material from the Dead’s repertoire, including “Candyman,” “Stagger Lee,” “Jack A Roe,” “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo” and “Crazy Fingers.” Lesh helped supply lead vocals (which were mostly handled by Allen) on the set-closing “Uncle John’s Band.”

The second set got underway with “Playing In The Band” which led to improvisation that ultimately landed on “Shakedown Street” as the “thunderous bass bombs” started to emerge from Lesh’s rig. The 77-year-old was in charge of singing lead on his “Unbroken Chain” and he stepped to the mic again later in the set for a run through the Dead classic which he also wrote, “New Potato Caboose.” Between those tunes, the band fit in “The Music Never Stopped” and the epic that made its live debut 41 years ago today: “Terrapin Station.” A sequence of “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Throwing Stones” closed out set two. Allen, Lesh and their band mates came back for an encore consisting of “Franklin’s Tower.”

The entire February 25 Thunder & Lightning: Bass Bombs & Ballads! show at TXR (minus “Tangled”) can be viewed in the audience-shot videos captured by Ted Silverman below:

[Candyman]

[Stagger Lee]

[Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo]

[Jack A Roe]

[Crazy Fingers]

[Uncle John’s Band]

[Playing In The Band]

[Shakedown Street]

[Unbroken Chain]

[The Music Never Stopped]

[Terrapin Station]

[New Potato Caboose]

[Help On The Way > Slipknot!]

[Throwing Stones]

[Franklin’s Tower]

Setlist

Set One: Tangled Up In Blue, Candyman, Stagger Lee, Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo, Jack a Roe, Crazy Fingers > Uncle John’s Band

Set Two: Playing In The Band > Shakedown Street, Unbroken Chain, The Music Never Stopped, Terrapin Station > New Potato Caboose > Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Throwing Stones

Encore: Franklin’s Tower