Phil Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band at Terrapin Crossroads Bar, October 21, 2013

Phil Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band
2013-10-21
Terrapin Crossroads Bar
100 Yacht Club Drive, San Rafael, CA
7:00 PM, Monday, October 21, 2013

[Phil is out there noodling by 7:05 PM, but I'm stuck outside with about a hundred other heads, waiting to be let into the show, so I can't report anything more than what I could hear through the walls…]

1. [7:13 PM] Bertha (GL)
2. [7:22 PM] Dupree's Diamond Blues (RJ)
3. [7:33 PM] Ship of Fools (AK)
4. [7:39 PM] Ramble On Rose (BL)
5. [7:47 PM] Bird Song (PL)
6. [8:05 PM] Sugar Magnolia (GL)
7. [8:15 PM] Long Black Veil (BL+GL)
8. [8:22 PM] Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (PL)
9. [8:30 PM] I Don't Care (RJ) »
10. [8:34 PM] (Turn On Your) Lovelight (RJ)
11. [8:43 PM] Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodle-oo (PL)
12. [8:54 PM] Wharf Rat (BL)
13. [9:08 PM] Help on the Way (GL) »
14. [9:13 PM] Slipknot! »
15. [9:19 PM] El Paso (RJ) »
16. [9:22 PM] Slipknot! »
17. [9:23 PM] Franklin's Tower (PL)
    [set ends 9:31 PM; band stays present “on stage”]
     
    Encore
    [9:32 GL introduces band; PL donor rap]
18. [9:35 PM] GDTRFB »
19. [9:42 PM] AWBYGN
    [show ends 9:45 PM; thanks, goodnight, group bow]

• Ross James: guitar, pedal steel guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Alex Koford: drums, harmony vox;
• Brian Lesh: guitar, mandolin, acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Grahame Lesh: acoustic guitar, guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Phil Lesh: bass, lead and harmony vox.

Free show in the bar with Phil? Hell yeah, I'll go!! Quite a crowd tonight … ain't no standing room at all. Managed to find a square foot or two near the waitress access to the main bar – got me a sliver of a sightline to the band and a decent angle on the PA. Not the best spot, but beggars can't be choosers, and really, I was just glad to be inside given the overall chaos.

The gig started out a little rocky, but got better and better and they chugged along. Bird Song was quite spacey, while the following Sugar Mag was a bit more of a rocker than usual. The Lesh brothers have tweaked Long Black Veil enough to be interesting (always good to freshen things up), even if it's a little hard to imagine either one as the protagonist. Phil made similar tweaks to Tom Thumb's Blues – changing the lyrics yet again. Now he's “back in New York City” again, but only after dissing the Tea Party and the Speaker of the House. I Don't Care, a Justin Townes Earle tune, was a treat, delivered by Ross with bombast and aplomb, much like his surprise insertion of El Paso within the Slipknot! jam later in the show. All in all it was an awesome way to spend a Monday night. Maybe I'll head out there again next week too!

Oh, and the Dogfish Head American Beauty imperial pale ale? Gone! I guess they misunderestimated demand from the NorCal beer drinking public; guess I shoulda made the haul over there last week instead of assuming it would stay on tap more than a few days. I s'pose I'll have to settle for a bottle from my local specialty retailer…

Remembered another little thing: Phil was playing a new Ritter bass today! Lots of knobs (?7! I counted 'em!) along the bottom edge of the body. LED lights. Fairly standard shape. Got a red dragon inlay on the neck. Sounded great. Ting has shared some pictures on Facebook; I've posted a few on Google+, including the one linked earlier in this paragraph.

Back to the calendar!