Full Show Friday: Phil Lesh & Friends - 3/17/13 Terrapin Crossroads

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Phil Lesh Quintet!

Some months our Full Show Friday's will focus on specific artists, years, venues, tv shows, festivals or some combo of it all. 

This months Full Show Friday Series focuses on concerts from Phil Lesh who passed away late last month.

A few months ago, I had the pleasure to see Phil in his natural environment, live on stage. He was playing his final run of shows with the famed PLQ, and I wrote down some immediate thoughts, because it was obvious that Mr. Lesh was close to the end of his touring days. Here they are, and we will repost them each Full Show Friday this month as a tribute to the great musician:

Death comes for us all, but those who have truly lived will always live on in memory and Phil has no worries about fading away while there are still fans of adventurous music out here. From his 30 years in the The Grateful Dead, to a whole second career, one in which RtBE would argue he carried on the true spirit of the Dead better than anyone, Phil lived for 'the sound'. He twisted it, he inverted it, he played with and for it. He described that searching in his book, but it really came out in his playing until the very end. 

When asked a few summers back who was my favorite member of the original band was, I had to say Phil. Sure Jerry truly is the Dead, but Phil is that spark, that spirit, especially post liver transplant as he went on to play such unique renditions of the songs that even mistakes were opportunities for adventure. He was the one Dead member I followed and was lucky enough to catch on numerous occasions, always in awe of his playing; as a fellow bass player I could never get to his level, but it was fun to dream. 

From all of the varied lineups I saw him play with, to the reality of becoming an organ donor because of Phil, to writing about his amazing shows in '99 a few years back, it has all been a trip. May his spirit continue to search for the sound in whatever is beyond this life.   

The last Q show was a mixed bag of emotions personally for me. For most of the night things were great, if not as explosive as the past 15+ Quintet shows I have been lucky enough to see (not counting other Friends lineups I caught). However, anyone who was there and watched Phil during "Unbroken Chain" will have some disconcerting feelings.

As mentioned in the original review of the show:

Next came "Unbroken Chain" and unfortunately, Lesh was just not up to delivering this one on this night. It was amazing how much he sang before this effort, but this complicated original proved too much for him. He forgot full verses, where he was in the song, and had major issues with his in-ear monitors. As the song wrapped up Phil said "Sorry about that" into the mic, yet the fans may have given him the biggest cheer of the night after that, all were super supportive. His age clearly showed here, and I don't think one of those fans would have faulted him if that was the end of the night, however Phil was not going out like that.

This is also a bit more personal as I am dealing with aging parents and the look Phil had on stage, his home away from literal home, was a look of confusion, anger, and mostly fear that I have seen up close.

This is incredibly hard to deal with whether it be with a family member or a beloved musical icon. That helpless feeling is overwhelming. I kept thinking the show was going to end at any moment, he would just walk off stage, I wouldn't have blamed him. One thing I instantly knew though was that this would be the last time I would see him.  Even if he continued to tour, I just personally had a great experience that night in March, with a band I love, and I didn't need to have another go around.  I was done and couldn't have been happier. 

Aging is brutal, perhaps dying younger is just as bad or a blessing, we won't know until we are each there in that moment moving towards the great beyond, a place where Phil is now, but the beautiful thing about artists is that they will never die.  All fans of the Grateful Dead get to experience him each time they cue up a live show, or an album, or just a simple memory. 

So for the month of November, RtBE will highlight Phil in the best way possible, through his music. 

Today we go back to 2013 and Phil's club house, Terrapin Crossroads. Also for this show, his friends include longtime bandmate Bob Weir as the band play this excellent, intimate show. 

Phil Lesh - Bass & Vocals Bob Weir - Guitar & Vocals Stu Allen - Guitar & Vocals Jeff Chimenti - Keyboards & Vocals Jason Crosby - Keyboards, Fiddle & Vocals Joe Russo - Drums & Vocals 

Set I: Feel Like a Stranger Rubin and Cherise Woman Are Smarter Here Comes The Sun Dancing In the Street Comes A Time Samson and Delilah 

Set II: Estimated Prophet Dear Mr. Fantasy Cassidy The Wheel The Other One The Mountain Song All Along The Watchtower I Know You Rider 

Encore: donor rap Ripple