My pal Vince and I are drive up to Milwaukee to see the band at Summerfest at 8:00. Hoping for two sets, but suspecting it may be one long fest set (which is what Ratdog did there last year).

http://summerfest.com

It's a gorgeous, perfect day outside and should be excellent show weather. Perhaps we'll catch a bit of MOUNTAIN or THE ROOTS after P&F concludes, but hopefully they'll keep us rocking until last call. Will try to report back latenight or tomorrow.

remember.. phil is like 90% cooler than bobby.. so expect a 2 setter ;) teehee

testing...

lock and load...

roger roger major major, we read you loud and clear.

http://www.live365.com/stations/2012_live

listen to last nights set2 if yer interested

shakedown street pride of cucamonga
me & my uncle
ball & chain??
sittn on top of the world

loser
bertha

Thanks PTBarnum


shakedown street
pride of cucamonga
me & my uncle
ball & chain??
sittn on top of the world
loser
bertha

set break

teresa williams sang on shakedown and bertha and at least one other tune in between.

LC played fiddle on Uncle, B&C and Sittin....

and pedal steel on Pride

Nice crowd pleasing first set...

Not a typical Phil crowd, but 15 bucks gets u in the door for Phil and 25 other bands...

U have to pay extra to see Stone Temple Pilots in the Marcus Amphitheatre...

golden road
don't let me down
st stephen

11
particle dude singing
wharf rat

CUBS WIN

Don't Let Me Down? Beatles?!

golden road
don't let me down
st stephen

Set 2 pieced together from Zoner Texts and calls

Set 2:

Golden Road
Don't Let Me Down
St. Stephen
Molitz Jam
Jam
Jam
Eleven
Jam
Jam
Wharf Rat
Jam
Scarlet Begonias
Sugar Magnolia

E: Ripple

With a I know You Rider in there somewhere after Eleven

Not Ohficial

Set 1:

Shakedown
Pride of Cucamonga
Me & My Uncle
Gone Wanderin
Big River and or SOTOTW
Loser
Bertha

Set 2:

Golden Road
Don't Let Me Down
St. Stephen
Molitz Jam
Jam
Eleven
Jam
Wharf Rat
Jam
Scarlet Begonias
I know You Rider
Sugar Magnolia

E: Ripple

Not Ohficial

Thanks PTBarnum..PurpleH..Big_b

Rider came after Scarlett

nice setlist!! bet it sounded awesome

Nice show, very well attended. First set short and sweet, saw the Shakedown coming a mile away courtesy of Larry and Jackie. Phil's new bass is kickass, looks like it was designed by the same guy who makes Prince's guitars. Jamming on Shakedown was solid and deep, and Cucamonga was a personal first for me, well savored at that. Larry's pedal steel added nicely on this one, and Jackie smoked his guitar solo on the bluesy break. Me and My Uncle was taken at a slow pace and rephrhased very nicely by Jackie, a very cool version. Gone Wandering was nice, not a tune I know well, thoroughly enjoyable country rock. Sittin' was pretty short and sweet but packed a good punch, one of my favorites. Loser was very well done - again Jackie took ownership of the phrasing in a cool way, and the other guys kicked in for huge vocal choruses. Jackie telegraphed Bertha and it sounded kind of slow to me, so I took a bathroom/beer break, got back just in time to realize they were taking a break themselves. During Bertha the guys around me noticed that the dots on Phil's bass lit up with blue lights. First set, just about 60 mins on the nose.

Break was nearly an hour, too, which seemed a bit much for the festival setting, but we were pumped to be getting a second set, so no complaints. Golden Road was alot of fun with Jackie handling lead vocals and Phil digging in on the choruses. The guitar pyrotechnics started flying during this one. Don't Let Me Down was another tune that had me at 'hello'. Very well played and sung by Jackie with great chorus help from the others. They handled all the changes in feel real well on this one. St. Stephen was also seen coming a mile away after a brief stop, and then the jamming commenced in earnest for the first time all night. Phil was really digging in here and playing very demonstratively with the other guys for a few minutes before putting his head down and getting into a bass trance. This triggered a sweet run of group improv with some exemplary synth playing from Mr Molitz (who was as audible as I've ever heard him, which I was digging). The big jam wound its way into the Eleven with Molitz handling primary vocals and Phil/Jackie doing the call and response thing. They tore through the vocal section here pretty quickly and then resumed jamming out, dropping the 11 beat feel before very long. Another big varied jam led us into a tasty Wharf Rat, another song I really like, and which I felt Jackie did a gorgeous job with. The bridge got a little screwed up and tentative, but the verses and fly away portions were rock solid and very emotionally rendered. They flew right into a quick invocation of the Eleven theme out of Wharf Rat but then immediately ditched back into jamsvile and made their way to Scarlet Begonias. Fill was calling audibles into the mics to get them in sync for this one, which made for a bit of a noodly waiting-around passage, but then suddenly Phil busted the main riff and started singing. He took the verses in good voice and had support on the choruses. It was an interestingly jammed version with everyone contributing. They brought this one pretty much to a stop and then tripped right into a new tune that I swore was Going Down The Road, but then it switched a bit as the singing started and suddenly we were hearing the Rider. Same themes continued, great vibe with the band and crowd and the guys took this one up and up. Sugar Mags to close it out started a little mellow to my ear but got amp'd up as it went and rocked hard. The SSDD transition was a little goofy but they got on track very quickly. Phil hit what I think was the lowest note we heard out of that big new bass all night on the final notes of the tune - it was great, he hit the note very carefully several times just letting out a huge smooth wave of bass. It wasn't bomb like, much less attack than that, but it sounded pretty huge and I had a great view of him carefully executing it. Phil gave a nice rap and said "I don't know why my other band never played here, this is a great place", or something like that, which got huge applause. The Ripple encore was short and sweet and very cleanly delivered.

All told, a mighty fine show to my ears, not too wild or insane (as expected for a fest like this), but adventuresome enough to get things going it the audience. Teresa was a real nice vocal addition on several tunes, and Larry did his usual excellent job instrument hopping. Jackie had the full keyboard rig in place but never touched it. Phil played that big new black bass the whole show and seemed to love it. Happy Fourth, all!! (Note, the obligatory US Blues was left on the shelf tonight).

p.s. I was about 20 rows back directly out from Phil, just in front of the soundboard. Both the mix and the volume were ideal for me - loud enough to rock hard, but not ear splitting, and extremely clean from start to finish. It really sounded excellent. There was very little wind and the air was cool and clear as a bell - I bet some great recordings were made out there today.

One more note on Phil's new bass - it did indeed have blue-lit dots on the fretboard, which were on from Bertha through the end. The thing is MASSIVE. There was at least 6+ inches of space between the bridge and the tailpiece (kind of like a Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster), which is not something I notice on basses alot, and the body was carved out and extended to accomodate all this extra string, which I'm guessing is all part of Phil's scheme to scatter our personal molecules for us when he plays. Can't wait to learn more about this instrument - I have to guess it's another Modulus Graphite, but the exagerrated body style (esp that top horn and the extended tailpiece) gave it a much more radical appearance than Phil's other Mod's. I am secretely hoping that there is in fact some connection to whoever makes guitars for Prince...

Sounds like a Carl Thompson bass. He makes Les Claypool's basses.

It's a Ritter bass.

also a donor rap there before Ripple

Scott -

Thanks for your thoughts!

Nice reviews.

yes its a ritter look online...thanks for the reviews...

Is this Phil's new bass? Only one that looks really Princely... http://www.ritter-basses.com/ritter-basses-baesse/ritter-basses-jupiter-gallery.htm

hey, did you guys hear that Phil got a new bass? it lights up and stuff and it's really pretty.

Time flies with all the usual ups and downs in life. But sometimes things happen that are more outstanding than others: As a big fan of PHIL LESH - bass player of the legendary GRATEFUL DEAD - I feel very honored to have received a custom order from him a while ago. Within the next days I will publish some pictures of his recently finished Custom Jupiter 6-String "THE EYE OF HORUS"...

From the Ritter basses web site from link from vermonter.

Thanks for the Ritter scoop, Turtle.

And to Unic 54, WOW, I look forward to your posting on that one! Congratulations and nicely done! That bass was a pleasure to behold and Phil looked damn happy with it all night. He seriously tore into it a few times, especially during St. Stephen, which was one of my favorite moments of the night - A classic Phil bass attack, just gorgeous to behold.

Here's what I was about to post about the bass just before Mr Ritter himself chimed in:

I'm pretty sure Phil's rocking the piano-finish model. I see no mention of the lit-fret-dots on there. Maybe that's a custom Phil option. The 'string fin' body extension for the tailpiece is even cooler up close than it looked from 20 rows away. I was wondering last night where the controls were, and sure enough they are on the back of body where only the player can see them. No less than TEN bolts connect the neck to the body - that's a considerable upgrade from most others I've seen! What a monster.

The Ritter website is pretty cool if you're into that kind of thing. There are pictures of every bass they've ever made, complete with the names of each (known) owner. I didn't find Phil's. I'm guessing it's a 2008 and that list isn't built out yet. That's an incredible selection of basses on there.

...

i love that bass!!

Great photos Purplehaines!

aside from the jam, the fam, the tunes and the loons, one of the most touching moments that the i witnessed that night was after Set One was laid gently to bed; a sister held up her copy of (I assume) Searching For the Sound down in the front row and Phil stopped as he was walking off stage and got down low and they talked for a few seconds and then he signed it for her. awwwwwww

the big new jam that they did was almost long enough to be called an instrumental song and it was most definitely the FRESHest, tightest, most tribal piece of groupmind aural occurrences that my head has tasted to date. you will know exactly what I mean once you hear it.

the taper's section there was on either side of the sbd and was filled with some old school dead serious masters of the game. I trust that we will be blessed with some very fine treats from this show.

saw many many many Phil's Kids there and as long as you managed to get up in the metal bench section the vibe was all the way live

the next level is now

Google 'Sun Alex Allan' for more info and pics etc.

Be nice if someone with techno talent could drag the windsurfing pic over here for peeps to see..

that WAS sweet nem



phil, a beacon of light



:-)

thanks dave c. glad ya like 'em. they look a lot better in high res though.

okay a few more

here ya go paddieu

shakedown opener rocked out. then things started to drag a bit. i was 2nd row dead center and some people were passing around this blue lightsaber thing. as soon as it got real dark -- about 3/4s through 1st set -- phil looked at the lightsaber (which lit up the EXACT same color as phils bass) and started waving to the woman holding it directly in front of me. once he got her attention he turned on the lights on his bass and started laughing. from there on out the rest of the show just took off.

Holy Newbie!!!!!!!!!!!!

SCOTT!! magnetosphere by ass...whats the new bluegrass band called again?

I showed my buddy the sticker you gave me, the huge tall ass dude w/ the mohawk, and somehow apparently I gave it to him

(so i need another sticker LOL)

OK folks...say Hi to Scott (3rd row FOB..hehe)...I could tell you stories man, if I remembered them...furthermore! This VINCE he casually mentions is a MADMAN!!!! He's a die-hard hard-core showgoer and for various reasons I feel lucky to be in his circle (you too Scott)

speaking of which, I'm still dissapointed he didn't get Mickey to say 'It's Not Polite To Point!"



my only review of the show, I've already said in the Other folder...X-FACTOR...from liftoff to the end...wow

>>Holy Newbie!!!<<

or is it 'Holy Lurker!!!'???

Good Day phriends of Phil.

Can anyone recommend a site other than bt.etree.org that keeps up with the shows that are available for download? I am looking for this show, but have not been able to find it. I know there were tapers there. There was a section to the left of the soundboard and someone had a really nice set of microphones in front of the soundboard for the first set.

I know it is out there.....I just need to find it.

Thanks for the help!!!

Dan, there's a huge archive of streamable/downloadable Phil shows on archive.org. Click here to browse them by year:

http://www.archive.org/browse.php?collection=PhilL eshandFriends&field=year

The Summerfest show isn't there yet, but I bet it'll show up eventually.

>>FRESHest, tightest, most tribal piece of groupmind aural occurrences that my head has tasted to date.

okay maybe not the MOST but still a pretty healthy jam 8)