Someone has to start the thread...

Beantown Pub for the pre-show anyone???

anyone got any predictions for this great first night in Boston???

Since most folks will be reading this thread I'm asking here... Any word if there will be soundboard downloads from this tour? Free or pay? I saw a concert once at the Orpheum. Megadeth in or around 1989. Pretty intense show. I remember the Orpheum being a nice place. I like how it is at the back of that street/alley. Someone should take a pic of that view and post it here. Wish I could join all of you this evening!

I'd like to suggest Molitz gets moved more toward center stage. I thought he was too far removed from the band at The Fillmore and Red Rocks. I like to think if he was closer to all the players we might hear more of him. Best I can tell it is the pedal steel that is in the way. Should be an easy reconfig I think.

FYI, the answer is yes.

Terrapin soundcheck via GDad from LordHenry

anyone know what time they do soundcheck?

Terrapin...that would be nice. I also heard rumor that at some point they soundchecked Cold Jordan at one point on the tour.

Hopefully RBCowin will be proofreading the setlist,

i remember back in the days of the "Q", a buddy got the setlist from the woman that ran the light show....what was her name???? we were freaking people out saying "next they're gonna play Alligator", and of course, when they did, people thought we were MAGICAL :-)

Candace Brightman (what a name for a lighting person)

I would have hated having you next to me that night!

We used to do that with a little taste of the dragon in the 70's! ...Then we started having to listen to the musical queues. I'm kinda broken up right now but my wife is in the Orpheum balcony...her psychic waves aren't apparent right now unless they opened with Shakedown...anyone posting live?

BTW, the Orpheum's balcony is mounted on a long curving I beam. When Phil shows breakthrough and the crowd is reaching climax, the whole thing bounces up and down... alarmingly so. I've seen newbies start looking around nervously and then finally concede and start grooving to the bounce until the whole thing is travelling several inches up and down to the rhythm of the music, "Bertha, boing, Don't cha', boing, come round here, boing, any mo-ore!" You know your in the moment when it's happening.

We saw the setlists at the 10/5 Riviera show. It's more fun not knowing what's coming next, imho. Phil certainly goes out of his way to tease things just to fool those of us who got really good at pickingup on the musical queues.

Any setlist from tonight. I can't get into chat room from my work.... Seeing a lot of birthdays, though

go to the other stuff folder

Un Ohficial

Set 1:

Jam,
FOTD Phil on extra last verse,(Larry mandolin)
Pride of Cucamonga^ (Pride Awesome)
Big River
I'm so Gone
Loose Lucy
Walkin Away^ (a Jackie song)
*Special Guest Peter Wolf*
Pack Fair and Square*#
Brown Sugar*

^ LC on Pedal Steel
* Lead Vocalist J. Giels Band
# Big Walter Price and the Thunderbirds 1955 also on 1970 J.Giels album..


Set 2:

Do You Remember (maybe Spots of Time) ~ Bass sounds so good,
China Cat
Eyes>
Jam>
Hard Rain> wow
Viola Leeeeeeeeee>
Althea>
Jackie Tune>
The Seven Tease>
Led Zepplin Tease>
Viola
Scarlet>
Fire

Donor Rap

E: Acoustic Ripple

Per Zoner at show text messeges

Pack Fair & Square

Well, no more slipping and dodging around with you
Well no more slipping and dodging around with you
If you want to be my baby, you know what you have to do.

Life is like a card game, you always take a chance
Life is like a card game, you always take a chance
Well, there’s no money honey, and there ain’t no fine romance.

You gotta pack fair and square, baby don’t try to give me the air
You gotta pack fair and square, baby don't try to give me the air
When you’re around me baby, you gotta treat me fair.

Lookie hear woman, and tell me what you going to do
Lookie hear woman, and tell me what your going to do
I’m getting sick and tired, of worrying over you.

You gotta pack fair and square, baby don’t try to give me the air
You gotta pack fair and square, baby don't try to give me the air
When you’re around me baby, you gotta treat me fair.

I got no one to love me, no one to call my own
I got no one to love me, no one to call my own
From now on darling, it seems you going to leave me alone.

You gotta pack fair and square, baby don’t try to give me the air
You gotta pack fair and square, baby don't try to give me no air

When you’re around me baby, you gotta treat me fair.

Just got back and I have one word, Peter F'n Woober Goober with the Green teeth" Wolf!!!

I had a great time at this show, the music hit me perfectly big time.

ah... to wander back in time through the storied halls or what shall remain the Boston Orpheum
(moment to sigh and ponder nostalgically)
times up.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself this evening,
there are witnesses,
All I can say is words dont come close to how much
I Love Phil!!Thanx

personally I might have opted out of the end of set one antics of wagon jumping,but that is this man's view
musically these guys bring it,
I enjoyed the new flavors that jgreene brought
and feeling LC play with PL brought tears to me ears yet again
oh by the way MOLO is stall rat-tat-tatin in me brain
drove Westbound through the rain...
music is the key...

ps...I'm sooo Gone*

YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA

Phil on the East Coast baby !

Weather today was just exactly perfect. Just the kind of weather you want in this old town of Boston. The kind that lingers in your bones and lets your skin breathe. Phil makes my cells breathe. The Orpheum is beautiful and dilapidated. It looks aged and worn like a good book. Grateful Dead songs filled in the text of that book tonight and they spoke loud and true to all within. There is something so special about this experience. Seeing the hero musicians engage the audience and bring about something so powerful and experiential to harness the collective mind. It literally is the finest occurrence I have had the pleasure to witness.

The band is tight. It’s weird, when the lineup was announced it did feel a little lackluster. As if there was no one but Molo and Phil to really live up to past delights. And though we love and admire the others we we’re sure of what they could bring. Well I now know that is a good thing as we have given these musicians freedom to build. This ensemble has to play that much harder and rely on each other to build and create. The result was their amazing ability to feel out the situation. It’s all about the group mind, it’s been since ’65 and it is the legacy. Everyone played so well…they played to the music.

The band came out to a roaring beantown crowd that sounded very hungury for their Phil. Larry grabbed that mandolin and away they went into a light hearted mellow jam. It build up to a rhythym reminiscent of Mountain Jam which peaked into the opening riff of Friend of the Devil. It was nice and cute with beautiful solos from Jackie and Larry. Molo keeping it smooth back there. Jackie sang this one but surprisingly enough Phil came in at the end to sing the extra verse of FOTD.

“You can borrow from the devil
You can borrow from a friend
The devil'll loan ya twenty
But your friend got only ten”

That was way cool brah.

FOTD ended and Larry went over to the pedal steel. Phil counted them off and away they went into a most countrified version of Pride of Cucamonga. The steel was loud and powerful as Larry worked in the intro note for note to the album. Fuckin solid. 3 cheers to the sound guys at the Orpheum tonight. They did a fantastic job and everyone was very audible and loud. The Steel arrived by gravity to our ears. You could not deny its power! Phil sang beautifully (yup that’s right) and they broke it down into the blues riff jam. Fuck ! that’s heavy. Jackie did a great job pumping it up right off the bat bringing it to a soaring height.

Here’s something interesting, During the end of the jam as they were trying to get back to the regular choruses of Pride, they had a bit of trouble getting there. They missed the que to change when Phil did but it didn’t sound bad or even like a mistake because Phil went with it. This is what he’s been talking about for so long. A perfect example of taking chances with the music, So instead of changing the pentatonic jamming back to the head of the tunes they kept jamming as a result of the change. Now in a major key they turned lead to gold. And then perfectly into the rest of Pride. Definitely one of the highlights of the night.

And here’s another cause they are on Fire.
Big River is such a great song to hear these days. Makes me reflect back to all those old tapes of the dead jammin big river and having Jerry rip it up. IF YA PLAY BIG RIVER YA GOTTA RIP IT UP. They did, Larry did, he fuckin wailed….hard. And he sang it like the best of them. Confidence gives you power. Particle Dude wailed too. I love that bringing down the house sound that a possessed piano player can do. So many notes filled within the space of the theater all being pushed by Phil’s expeditionary bass and Molo that salt of the Earth.

I’m So Gone was very good. Best Jackie song of the night for me because you could see that the band believed in it. And they jammed away !!!!

Loose Lucy next keeping this show rockin hard. Jackie sings the hell out of this. This is a great song these days because the lyrics and jamming mix together to create one hell of a story. A badass and sassy story it is. Jamming was heavy and intense for the most part. Lots of wailing by the guitars at this show! The music is so familiar but done almost of another world. Bless Phil for changing it up like he does, there is so much to explore and he is doing a fine ass job doing it.

Walkin away..jackie song…yup

Phil announces, “we’d like to welcome a special guest Peter Wolf!”

Crowd goes nuts as Peter Wolf of the J. Giels band comes strutting out clad in super tight leather pants. Pete was about as jazzed as you could get. He came on out a rockin as the band tore into Pack Fair and Square. He had a ton of energy. I’ve never seen anyone shake it so hard on stage with Phil not even Sammy Hager who was also clad in leather pants. He was bouncing all around the stage egging everyone on. He sang great though and brought some damn fine energy to the mix. Just was quickly as he came on he dissappreared and they burned into Brown Sugar. Fuckin outstanding. Wolf came back to sing backup. Exciting!

Short Setbreak

Big 2nd Set !

Started very mellow with a chill Jackie tune. Phil’s bass sounded delectable.
I’m now thinking…give me something psychedelic so I can freak out.
Ding! Orders’ ready, Fresh China Cat Sunflower !!
Bravo! What a great feeling when the groove of this song just hits ya. Gets them bones a shakin’. China Cat featured some great jammin especially at the end when your waiting for the Rider to come but then realize it’s Phil and it’s only gonna get jam crazy. Then they sink into Eyes of the World. Phil’s bass leading the way all the way. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the sound of that bass is sonic bliss. Eyes of the World, one of the great gospels of dead lore. So beautiful and meaningful to the heart. It’s real and life affirming to the point of perfect realization. Take a moment to sing the song to you. It’s all there in the poetry.

Larry played very well during Eyes taking most of the solos with Phil helping him out there. What great peaks we could hit and then to have it perfectly calm itself to introduce each verse. The jamming went on and on until it changed and bore out a most rocking and magnificent version of Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall. !!!!!!!! Highlight of the night. The utterly intense lyrics of this song backed by the raw power of the band was something to behold! The whole place was ablaze. We were getting down to the core of our existence!


As that ended the band took a moment to compose themselves before utterly doing away with all form and reason. The mother bomb of the Bflat chord that signals in the coming Viola was intense. When Phil hits a chord you hear it, more powerful than the guitars it’s like the moon beautifully crashing into the earth.

Viola was good, not great but full of groove and mayhem. It just didn’t reach the outer limits enough for me. Jackie is a great player but I feel that he rely’s to much on hitting the peak of his solo that playing around it and building up to it. He likes to hit one wailing note and then keep milking it to the end. It’s cool the first few times but then gets a bit old.

After a bit o jammin they settled into the groove of Althea, just bumpin its way through. A little up tempo Phil steps up to the mike and proceedes to sing it. Cool…he did an ok job singing it putting his Phil mojo into it. It was great to hear but not the best version. It wasn’t sweaty or dirty enough or something to that affect. I like like Space is Getting Hot to burn baby!

The then proceeded into a Jackie tune which I can’t recall at the moment. Like ya’ll care anyway. Phil was dropping a bunch of THE SEVEN teases into the end of it. Hittting that riff he likes to play. Then Larry or someone started rippin on the Led Zepplin riff of a very familiar tune which I can’t recall the name of. It was cool to say the least.

That brought it back to the final verses of Viola. This was very weird as it was suddenly became very mellow in there. Almost somber yet with an overall relaxation in the music. The are lightly playing the Viola line as Phil just steps up to the mike and starts singing the 3rd verse. When I Say mellow I mean mellow. It was weird. The dynaminc volume was very low as they all sang the verse while brushing their instruments. I was like ok wtf? They can’t end Viola like this! And they don’t they follow the weird and start jamming. Is Viola over?
They jam slowly building and building as melody and harmony blend to the musicians dance running up the mountain only to jump off the other side. This they did, and as the sounds swelled they brought the thunder down with a powerful jump into the main Viola riff only to sing it again in all powerful glory.

Wait shows not over yet. Lets just play a monster Scarlet > Fire to finish them off?

And scarlet>fire fuckin ruled !

The scarlet was good but the Fire!!!!!

I was reminded of how powerful this song is.

And we got it with huge soaring jams from Larry and Jackie. They both played it up big time. I was especially impressed with Jackie’s solo. Gdad can attest to this one even over the phone. It was immense with all good feeling.

Donor Rap

Acoustic guitar and mandolin.
Ripple in Still Water
What a beautiful encore.
It’s just simple joy that’s all.

So during the show as the songs are being played, the message sent and received, and the sheer power of it all, from the instruments and connection between musician and listener there is joy. I feel so warm and happy as this all pans out. It is a great feeling, one that only music has given me. I can feel the cells of my body react and vibrate along to the sound. It’s more than emotional it’s physical. It’s the greatest high that stays with you. What a feeling it is. Thank you Phil and Friends and everyone at the show for making that happen.

There was also a point in the show (when things were getting weird) where I came to a sturdy conclusion that after this life ends…that’s it. It’s over. The End. I was startled only to look up to the lights, embrace the music and say “Good! That way this moments means so much more and for me will last forever!”

You did all that and text messaged us updates w/ jams and nuances..??..

Sounds like a great show!
I like the glowing review.
It's how my wife and I felt about the shows in Chicago. We thoroughly enjoyed them, and we know that this is something special. To be savored, to appreciate the goodness.

holy crap. great review! thank you. i totally felt like i was there!

Sounds like a gimmick very fluffy no meat.

sounds fucking awesome as they were night 1 in SB....great review! These guys know what they are doing. I could elaborate on that big time. Thank you Phil.

Lord Henry...thanks for such a passionate review that only a lover of music (this music in particular) could embrace.

Anyone goin to Buffalo?

can anyone comment on when they started and ended??? i know the orpheum has a pretty tight 11pm curfew.........

the kjackie tune in the viola lee was "Cold Black Devil"

the show started about 7:45, set 2 started 9:26, Ripple started 11:18 (forgot to look for end time)

oh yeah, the zep riff was "Heartbreaker"

I could see the on stage clock, Ripple ended at 11:27p (I also thought 11p was the curfew) glad I was wrong!!

Great review of a great show. Hope they bring the same energy again tonight.

Are my ears crazy or did Phil start to tease "Alligator" before they went into Viola. Maybe just my altered state.

What was Peter Wolf drinking when he came out on stage. He looked fairly well buzzed.

Maker's...

Great review LH.

Saturday can't get here quick enough!

I was there, what a fun show...I cant add anything else to what Lord Henry said, except it was great hanging out with him, and I look forward to tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RIPPLE!!!

great review LH

I was at the show and thought the band sounded very good, I was impressed with Jackie Green's singing and song writing, I could have passed on Peter Wolfe performance with the band just before the end of the first set, Phil what were you thinking putting this guy on stage? Stick to the game plan; J. Geils does not go well with PAF! I think the band is still getting familiar with each other and will improve over time. I think they're still a little rough but this particular formulation has tremendous potential. ONE thing I want to know Phil? Why do you keep playing at the awful Orpheum Theater???? the venue is the worst on tour; no ventilation, seats are too small and filthy, to few restrooms, security is reminiscent of the Gestapo; they throw people out for smoking inside without any warning!! Phil Don't Play here anymore;ask your fans! Anyone that has been to the myriad of venues on the East Coast in the Boston area would rate the Orpheum as the absolute worst venue, probably the worst in the entire nation, Why do you think it never sells out? Fans do not wnat to go here twice; once is enough, And those neophytes that like the Orpheum give it time you'll grow to hate it and long for a place like the Beacon in NYC where they leave fans alone!

lol, about the orpheum, i agree i haven't liked it when ive seen shows there, but man you want to talk about a crappy venue...steaming hot...one bathroom - check out the riviera in chicago! only good thing there was that i didn't see anyone thrown out or even warned in two nights.

maritime hall is SF was the worst I've been to. man that place was fucked up...but sure did play well!

imho, i think the orpheum is one of the most beatiful theaters in the country. it has great acoustics and a fantastic balcony taboot. but that's just me. it also might have something to do with my having gotten dosed there for the first time...

btw, i'm more familiar with the beacon than the orpheum (being from nyc), and understand where you're coming from, but the orpheum has an intimacy that the beacon just doesn't have.

Where are Zoners meeting tonight, before, during and after ??

How about the $9 beers ??? The buds down the road at the BEANTOWN were only $4. They must want you to go broke before you get drunk.

Did I hand any Zoners one of my "got phil?" bumper stickers last night ?? I'll be passing some more out tonight. Look for me in my yellow PhilZone Tee down on the floor, row HH.

" they throw people out for smoking inside without any warning!!"

What kind of warning do you need? It's no smoking....You're lucky that you weren't arrested if it was for reefer.

Go to Sidebar....$2 buds and $7 pitchers....best place to hangout before an orpheum show...I was there last night....dead cranking on the jukebox.

Orpheum in Boston is great!! Its Boston in so many ways...yes it is a bit shop worn but its home base!!

Very good show last night, I enjoyed it. I agree this band is good, they definately have room for more growth as the tour goes on. Many high points last night, Jackie's vocals were good, his guitar playing has room for improvement IMO.

Friend of the Devil was my highlight of the first set, Peter Wolf was fun. The second set highlights for me were Eyes, Hard Rain and Ripple. To me this band has not totally gelled yet, but that is expected. I thought Molitz did a fine job, he seems to be finding a good place in the band. This band definately has more potential.

I think the Orpheum is fine, a good venue with good sound. There is no indoor smoking in Mass. and CT. NBD to me.

Looking forward to tonight!!!

Side Bar!! I'm goign for a pitcher or 7 before. Beantown is a little cramped and pricey. Might even have a line.

<<What kind of warning do you need? It's no smoking....You're lucky that you weren't arrested if it was for reefer.


you have me laughing here nick

I didn't know there was a "game plan". I'm glad to hear people enjoyed the show but if eight years later people still expect to see what they saw from '65 - '95 at a Phil show they should read interviews with the man. Peter Wolf absolutely rocks and if I could have heard Pack Fair and Square 30 years after hearing J. Geils do it I would have been ecstatic. Anytime Phil wants to bring any other awesome fellow rocker on stage to play with the band, I hope I'm there 'cause it might be a once in a lifetime experience and I'll be thanking Phil for the chance to see it!

The Orpheum blows, Ive seen about 15 shows there, the sound is good but c'mon its crowded, hot, and you wait forever to get a beer and you cant bring it to you seat.

They're in Boston, so Phil is going to invite Aerosmith on stage tonight.

Truth be known, I would not be surprized to see Trey or Mike Gordon there tonight.

I'm not sure Trey would use this as his first appearence, doesn't he have to stay around NY? It would be nice to see someone on stage for the first set or encore like last night.

Trey, cannot leave Washington Cnty NY for a year, I believe.

VERY quickly (as it's time to leave for tonight!) - show was AWESOME - WAY better than anything I'd heard of this tour via download - some very topical lyrics all night (can't get into specifics but you know how that goes) - Jackie is steppin' up! Too bad the wook asswipes behind me had to be total jerks ("I'm enjoyin' the show so freakin' much I just HAVE to get in your face to let you know how much I'm enjoyin' the show and if you don't acknowledge my gettin' off via high fives every 2 min's I'm gonna slap yer back and hug you 'till you break in half tryin' to make you realize how freakin' cool it is to be at a show and be all into it and all that, yeahhhh scream babble yell whistle clap whistle babble scream yell slap me on the back etc etc") - man I almost clocked this dude in the face - but the dude next to me got more fed up quicker and took care of him for me and they both got ejected - during Ripple no less! Fuckin' Wooks!

See you at the Side Bar !!

If not, at the show !!

Get your " got phil? " bumper sticker tonight by bumping into me.

Look for the YELLOW PhilZone Tee.

Come over and say "Give me a F**K'N Bumper Sticker" and I'll know you're a Zoner.

i like the orpheum been going there since 73. i dont smoke so the more smokers they shitcan the better and it's a sweet deal they dont let booze into the theater also. you nazi pal, bill

Just to add to the clearing up of the Orpheum trash talk: PLQ had some fine runs there starting in 2000. Phil has a history there and loves it.

Yes it's old, but it's an incredible venue. And it only got tough on smoking after the Rhode Island night club fire:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub _fire

That pretty much killed the lax security. You can blame Great White for that crap among others. Prior to that it was live and let live. I walked out the stage right exit on may occasions and shared a smoke with like minded pals during set break. Around the same time Boston began enforcing a city wide night club smoking ban. Saw Robert Pollard go ape shit about this on one of the (or perhaps THE) last GBV tour.

So don't hate. The Beacon is slightly larger, newer, cleaner, more bathrooms, whatever. But the Orpheum has 'it'. If you don't like it, don't go, but don't talk smack about something you are clearly ignorant about, it's annoying.

Oh, and Props to Lord Henry, thanks for a most excellent review, I was not at the show but felt it through your passionate writing, well done!

no puffin' at the orpheum, weak!!!
there better be some serious puffin' up in buffalo!

<<What kind of warning do you need? It's no smoking....You're lucky that you weren't arrested if it was for reefer.

makes me laugh too!

new york has an indoor smoking ban too, but i don't think it's that tight.

Lord Henry........great review. You obviously have a passion for not only playing music but writing about it.

You are the man!!!

wow...lord henry...thanks for that top notch...excellent review...almost felt like i was there

It's a week later, but here's my full belated review.

This was my first night of 8 for the Phall tour. I'd read some set lists and reviews from the start of the tour but hadn't heard any discs. The only reference I had for this line-up was the 7/21/07 Independent show which I thought was quite hot and benefited from the raw youthful energy of Mr. Greene.

My previous Phil show had been the trainwreck 4/9/07 1st night at SOBs so I knew they had pretty much nowhere to go but up. And they certainly soared tonight.

Someone here mentioned the day's perfect weather and that definitely set the mood for me. I'd come into Boston that afternoon via Greyhound from my hometown of Phil-adelphia. It had been yucky humid and frickin' 90 degrees in Philly for the last few days so it was cool (quite literally) to have some real Fall weather. i enjoyed wandering around the city before the show, digging the beautiful old brick and brownstones of the Back Bay.

Before going into the show I wandered near an alleyway entrance to the Orpheum. I could hear Phil leading the band through some a capella vocals though security wouldn't let me linger long enough to figure out what the song was.


I had a really good floor ticket row RR on Phil's side. I loved the venue: it reminded me of the Trocadero in Philly: late 1800s with a fresco on the ceiling and a bit of crumbling plaster. In the halls you could still see the old tubing sticking out from the walls from the original gas lamps. The whole non-smoking thing didn't bother me. It was clearly marked as you entered and in all the halls and bathrooms that smoking anywhere in the building was cause for immediate ejection so people can't say they weren't warned. I don't smoke anything so it didn't affect me. I also liked the no beer in the seating area rule. I didn't have to worry about some guy in the middle of the row climbing past me, going for beer runs every 5 minutes and coming back carrying 6 beers spilling everywhere.
The only thing I didn't like was that security seemed a bit over-zealous about keeping the aisles clear and cracked down on dancers spilling out from their seats.


The sound was excellent. I thought Phil was a tad low in the mix during the first set. I could still hear all his parts, but he didn't have the lead-instrument promininence I've become used to from past Phil shows. In the second set, however he was back to a classic P&F volume. Molitz was low in the mix, of course, but if I focused on him I could hear what he was doing. It was more about texture than Barraco-like prominence.

The first set started off with a jam that I noted as "Wheel-ish" and this became FOTD. This line-up's arrangement is great, pretty much better than any late 70s-90s GD version IMO. I love the bit of tension in the song's changes. It's pretty, but it's a very dark story. And Phil sang the verse that I'm familiar with from Robert Hunter's "Jack o Roses" LP.

FOTD melted into a jam with Larry switching to pedal steel. This was the first time I actually saw him play it. It was always onstage in the previous incarnations, but Sless always did the steel. And unlike with Sless' steel playing we could actually hear it loud and clear! The "Wheel"-ishness continued but then fell into a great Pride of Cuc. Larry's pedal steel definitely made the song. The blues jam in the song was heavy! It reminded me of Led Zeppelin 1. Phil and Friends definitely "Shook Me" on this one!

Big River was great. It was swift and energetic. Mr. Cash AND Jerrt must have been smiling down from heaven.

I'm So Gone is a great Jackie tune. He took some surprisingly raw leads that made me write "Jerry '68?" in my notes. The way he was playing reminded me of the raw way Garcia would play in Cryp>O1 and Alligator in 1968 before he really started to develop that clear bell-like jazzy/country tone of the 70s. Jackie seemed to be of the Neil Young school of soloing too: emotion over technical-prowess- If one ragged note will get the same idea across as 10, just go for the one note! I'm So Gone got into a funky wah jam. This was Molitz's shining moment of the show. He was generally low in the mix but in this jam, mining Particle "space-porn" territory he was loud and clear playing a high pitched clavinet-sounding keyboard. I thought the band was gonna go into a '77-style Dancin'. Everyone on stage seemed into the groove except apparently Phil. As I was really getting into the funk (yeah I'm New Deal/Phish kid) Phil made an abrupt transition into

Loose Lucy. The ending of the funky jam was my one big disappointment of the night. But the band shines on this tune, so I got over it. Jackie really puts energy and soul into the vocals (and harp!) I prefered his vocals to Barraco's (and honestly most of Jerry's versions)

When You're Walkin' Away, a Jackie tune, came next. It sort of killed the momentum. It was pleasant enough, with a Bruce/Dylan feel to it but it was straightford and compact and didn't build off the energy of previous jams in the set. I noted how mild-mannered Molos drumming seemed during it. The "Lion King" seemed caged.

Then Phil unexpectedly announced Peter Wolf of the J. Geils band. He came out in tight black clothes and sunglasses taking swigs of Makers Mark-- a real rock star infiltrating the humble jamsters of the friends. It was surreal. He lead the band through what he called a "boogie woogie" tune. He ran all over the stage in contrast to the jam band style of "stay in one place and focus all your energy on the instrument in your hands." Apparently the tune was one that J Geils band had done, "Pack Fair and Square."
Wolf almost seemed like he was teaching the band the song as they went. It was short (2-3 minutes) and high energy. I'm not a J Geils fan, but it was a brief, fun unexpected excursion.

The rawk continued with a the Stones' "Brown Sugar." It's a great song but Phil playing other classic rockers' hits has always made me feel a bit weird like I'm playing $50 to see a bar cover band.
This song is hard to do wrong and it definitely got the blood flowing, but didn't really go anywhere different than the orginal version. Peter Wolf came back too to add some ending back-up vocals, sharing a mic with Jackie.

then it was setbreak. Damn those hallways and lobbies get hot and crowded!

The 2nd set started off low energy with a mellowish Jackie tune called the Spoys of Time. I'd never heard it before, so I had nothing to really latch on to. I wouldn't mind hearing it again, but the set opening slot seemed a poor choice for it.

But all was forgiven with the following China Cat. I really liked Larry and Jackie playing the melodic solo part in unison, it gave it an Allman Bros feel.

The Eyes that it led to had me dancing hard! Solo after beautiful solo! Judging by the amount of on perspiration, this seemed as if it was gonna be the highlight for me

But then Hard Rains Gonna Fall kicked in. I'd seen this on previous setlists and I thought of the austere early Dylan solo version. I figured it'd kill momentum. But this was an upbeat rockin' version! I wonder if Larry brought the arrangement over from a Dylan tour. Hard Rain had great climaxes in it. The band kept bringing the energy way up and then took it back down only to come charging back full-force again.
This one got a well-deserved long loud round of applause!

Viola kicked in and i was psyched for the triple-deck sandwich I knew was coming! Jackie took some raw leads of the aforementioned Jerry '68/Neil Young variety. And they definitely fit this tune.

Althea in the middle was good, though I missed the Joan summer '06 version with Larry on fiddle

then more great Viola

then a Jackie tune "Cold Black Devil." It kept the energy going though didn't blow me away on this first listen (though it's rare that the first listen of a song really blows you away anyway.)

back to the final segment of Viola Lee. The 3rd verse seemed a bit mellow but after the band sang it, they didn't end the tune they jammed some more and then sang the 3rd verse AGAIN with twice as much enery. That was a nice little surprise!

Scarlet->Fire ended the set and raged like most version do.

The encore was a mostly acoustic Ripple with Jackie handling the lead and the whole theater joining in. You can't go wrong with that one.

A lovely night. I went home to my hostel psyched that tomorrow night I got to go back and do it all again!

I also forgot to mention the fun little insertion of the Led Zeppelin "Heartbreaker" riff during the jam into Viola v3.

Nice review :-) Nope no electric hard rains with dylan..this arrangement has come from nowhere i think !

ahh!! im so jealous that you all got to go... im a beantown homie but live in sf now so i didnt get to see this show. usually i go every year as a sort of anniversary for my boyfriend and i. so sad i missed it!!