Goldenvoice/AEG Live presents Phil Lesh & Friends - Celebrating the Warfield's 100th Birthday
the Warfield
982 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102-4012 USA
8:00 PM, Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2022 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2022 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

promo art

[8:31 PM] {band huddle!}
[8:33 PM] {Mother Hips blasting on the PA; lights down; performers out; no cake!}

1. [8:35 PM] Cumberland Blues (GL) >
2. [8:44 PM] Bertha (GL)
   [8:53 PM] {full stop}
3. [8:54 PM] Tennessee Jed (RM)
   [9:05 PM] {pause}
4. [9:07 PM] Loser (NC)
   [9:17 PM] {pause}
5. [9:18 PM] Brown-Eyed Women (RM)
   [9:25 PM] {pause}
6. [9:26 PM] Pride of Cucamonga (PL)
   [9:31 PM] {horns off; noodling}
7. [9:32 PM] It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (RM)
   [9:40 PM] {set ends}

[10:13 PM] {Rusty out for set two: time to limber up!}
[10:18 PM] {lights down, performers out}

1. [10:20 PM] New Speedway Boogie (RM)
   [10:33 PM] {pause}
2. [10:35 PM] the Wheel » {pause without stopping – continuous noodle; drop JC, JH} »
3. [10:46 PM] Cassidy (NC+GL) » [10:56 PM] {noodle; JC & JH back onstage} »
4. [10:57 PM] Eyes of the World (JC) » [11:07 PM] {transition} »
5. [11:08 PM] Let it Grow »
6. [11:20 PM] Dark Star » introductory exploration » [11:22 PM] {2nd verse – WTF!} » jam » [11:28 PM] {first line of first verse} (GL) » [11:30 PM] {Brian Rashap out to whisper in Phil's ear} » [11:31 PM] new jam (kinda like Mason's Children)
   {full stop}
7. [11:35 PM] Rock Steady (JH)
   [11:41 PM] {pause}
8. [11:42 PM] Brokedown Palace (RM)
   [11:47 PM] {set ends}
   
   Encore
   [11:50 PM] {greetings from Phil; band introduction; very abbreviated donor rap}
9. [11:53 PM] Mission in the Rain (GL)
   [12:01 AM] {show ends, group bow}

• Holly Bowling: piano;
• James Casey: tenor saxophone, lead and harmony vox;
• Natalie Cressman: trombone, lead and harmony vox;
• Jennifer Hartswick: trumpet, lead and harmony vox;
• Grahame Lesh: guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Phil Lesh: bass, lead and harmony vox;
• Rick Mitarotonda: guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• John Molo: drums.

Dumping rain early to day, but tapering after lunch, and relatively dry by the time we get to the Warfield. About as nice as one could expect for a late December day! We get in line and spend the time chit-chatting and catching up with friends and family gathered from near and far. So far, so good!

Door time comes and the ADA line heads in. Way too many folks with questionable claims have jumped into that queue, but what ya gonna do? At the end of the night, everyone has to live with themselves! We wait our turn, eventually pass through the security portal and ticket check, then get our wrists banded (like wild ducks!), and hustle for the SPOT. Where will it be? The first tier center rail is completely gone (damn those ADA cheaters!), but there's a big space for us dead center, 2nd from the rail, with friendly peeps from Terrapin Nation to share the next few hours. Home again!

[7:45 PM] The floor is starting to pack in tight. It's the usual thing: someone claims to be “just saying hello” but they stick around long past the pull up of the welcome mat. Can't do much about things outside my own little bubble.

[7:55 PM] Photo and video people out: maybe that means the show will start close to the official time? One can hope! In the meantime, there has been a small disturbance in the force, and somehow Ting has ended up with a rail spot. Like puzzle pieces a bunch of us slide here and there and reorganize into a new and different configuration. Strange!

[8:29 PM] Phil & Molo at side monitors: can't be too long now! Looks like a cake being torched up too. Fun!

So it's an interesting show. The syntax is definitely first set/second set, but the grammar is peculiar. It's like trying to make sense of a non-English menu at a foreign restaurant. You can recognize the pictures when you order, and you think you can ID the mystery meat, but the sauce and spices in each bite can be really surprising. I'm good with surprises as long as they're tasty treats; no Whizzo Chocolate for me, thanks!

I thought Loser was the highlight of the first set. Natalie is a great singer, and she managed to stay close to the traditional path of the song while still finding ways to impart her own steps. And while I have no complaint with any of the other tunes, I'll also refrain from memorializing them. They were fun, like flowers in bloom or fireworks going boom. Look sharp and enjoy them when they happen!

Set two was full of good surprises: fun to dance to, and fulfilling to experience. Noteworthy peaks were Eyes of the World and Rock Steady. 😜 I forget when the latter one entered the Grateful Dead repertoire. Maybe in '69 when Aretha played the Fillmore? 🤪 I was nonplussed that the horn trio probably spent more time singing (both lead and harmony vocals) than playing their horns. Maybe fitting horns into the mix requires more practice time than was allotted? Or maybe the issue was that with two guitarists and keyboards taking solos, the horns were being careful to stay in lane and prevent the songs from exploding to even greater durations. I dunno! I'm gonna hope for more horns tomorrow…

Thanks to TJ, you can hear the show via the live music archive. Way to go!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2022 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2022 event list! ☸ On to the next event!