Phil Lesh & Friends - "Sweetwater Sessions"
Tue. Sept. 23rd, 2008
Sweetwater Station
Larkspur, CA

Rehearsal 7:35pm - 9:35pm

Greatest Story Ever Told
Ramble On Rose
Big Boss Man >
I'm So Gone
Crazy Fingers >
Easy Plateau
Don't Let Me Down >
Wharf Rat >
Dark Star >
SO MANY ROADS (Jackie Capo on 3rd Fret says Jay)
Franklin's Tower

Donor Rap/Band Intros
U.S. Blues

Phil Lesh - Bass, Vocals
Larry Campbell - Fiddle, Guitars, Vocals
Jackie Greene - Guitars, Vocals
Steve Molitz - Keyboards, Vocals
Jonathan Levine - Drums
Barry Sless - Pedal Steel

Another sweet night at the Sweetwater. The "Don't Let Me Down," Beatles cover and the "So Many Roads" into "Franklin's Tower," were out of this world...

Jay says Jackie had the capo on the third fret during "So Many Roads," and boy did he sing the heck out of it. There was that "moment" when everyone in the room knows something special is happening and we are all experiencing it, and it was tremendous!

in 3 days it will be the 39th anniversary of my first dead show. tonight took me back there...

it'd be neat to be able to hear these "sessions"

sucks no taping is allowed :-(

Nice to hear that Mandala, that is some "history!"

who wrote Easy Plateau?

>>>sucks no taping is allowed :-(

that's what they requested, but a stealth taper could have pulled it off easily. i had planned to bring my mini-disc recorder, but was discouraged after last night's report.

thought i heard a rumor they might be recording these for eventual release. that's why they're calling them the sweetwater sessions?

Easy Plateau is a Ryan Adams tune. No taping, but the band is recording for themselves.

From tonight

Phil & Friends means dogs too!

Barry & Steve

Larry Campbell

Phil & the lit up Ritter bass

Never enough Barry!

Phil & Jackie

fantastic images Rob..i shared them with LL..hope ya dont mind ;)
jamie

who is that bald dude who seems to always hang around phil now that hes got his new bass

hes the dude with his arms folded looking all disgrutled in that last pic

Too good senor says bear

That "bald dude" is Robbie Taylor, legendary member of the GD crew and more recently (last 10 years) Phil's stage manager and other crew leading duties.
Best in the biz...

Ryan tunes the past few nights, I suspect a guest sit in at the Nokia.

Greatest Story Ever Told (2) Last Played: 5/17/08
Ramble On Rose (16) Last Played: 11/29/03
Big Boss Man > (11) Last Played: 6/13/08
I'm So Gone (12) Last Played: 6/14/08
Crazy Fingers > (32) Last Played: 2/24/06
Easy Plateau (4) Last Played: 2/24/06
Don't Let Me Down > (8) Last Played: 7/26/08
Wharf Rat > (45) Last Played: 8/2/08
Dark Star > (91) Last Played: 7/13/08
SO MANY ROADS (1) Last Played: FIRST TIME PLAYED
Franklin's Tower (105) Last Played: 8/31/08

Donor Rap/Band Intros
U.S. Blues (16) Last Played: 7/7/06

With Barry playing both nights is there any word that he may be part of the upcoming tour? That would be the shit.

And how was the drumming?

great pics, thanks for sharing!!





excuse my utter ignorance, but what does (Jackie Capo on 3rd Fret says Jay) , mean?


( I know what a fret is)

It means that he wanted to play first position, open chords for the song but that the key it was being played in required bar chords if he didn't capo up the neck. A less kind interpretation would be that he couldn't play the chords without doing them in first position, thus requiring a capo.

ok cool, interesting, got it, much obliged.

Not really the case with capos. Some people just like the sound of open chords. While Jackie is not the best guitar player technically, I'd be really surprised if he couldn't play barre chords or easily transpose keys. He is a pretty acomplished musician.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barre_chords

Barry let me/us know last night that he will be traveling with the band without any certainty at this time for the nokia...

How does that affect his Nelson status?

Aren't they playing 11/4 - 11/8?

Or will he just head on back for that run?

Beautiful shots, Rob!! Looks like you got there early, huh?? Love that shot of Phil!

What you shooting - is it an SLR or a point-and-shoot? If a P&S, that's one nice little camera!

Hey, hope to run into you at Friday's RRE show.

Thanks y'all, I was fortunate enough to be up close. Thanks John & Jay. Camera is nothing fancy, just the Canon Powershot A95 5.0 mp. Share them!

We talked to Barry for awhile, he will be "around" for some fall shows. More Barry please!

Levine held is own on the skins, not sure when Molo is due back, maybe tonight.

Alex - my wife & I will be at RRE Friday, let's gather for chat & fun...

If they're bringing Barry on board for some or most of the tour, at least don't relegate him to pedal steel for 99.99999% of the time?

Is this me being picky? :-/

>>>Is this me being picky? :-/

Probably, but I agree with the sentiment.

It seems clear that he's not going to really be a non-pedal steel guitarist in this lineup, though.

Better he's there on steel, than not there at all.

they asked people not to puff last night, but then emphasized: "especially near jackie"...

Hmmm, I did notice on Monday night a kind puff floated up into Jackie's face and he literally jumped out of the way, away from the mic, mid-vocal.

Yeah, it was interesting hearing that announced on the PA...

Jackie seriously does not like that puff near him, I think that should be respected by all... Odd for a man who has a problem with the cigs, but let's respect his wishes!

We need all the Barry we can get. I too would prefer he play more guitar, but he is silky sweet on the pedal steel, so we'll be glad for what we get.

well mr robbie taylor always seems to be real sour on stage

maybe cus hes just way into the sound

when i saw phil at slow foods his bass was having all sorts of problems

he even made a funny face and glaced over at robbie during ujb as he sang "got some things to talk aout here beside the rising tide...:


aperently they still had alot to talk about coserning his new rig

it was also way cool last night 2 c barry chatting w/ stu allen b4 the show. jerry lives!

I am a working musician and my chances to see Phil are a lot thinner than they used to be... However, a pal o mine invited me to the show last night....

This has probably been disussed on the board somewhere but I was intrigued by Phil's new bass.

Turns out it's a custom Ritter Bass from Jens Ritter... this was custom ordered by Phil at the last Anaheim Namm Show. This particular bass is known as "The Eye of Horus."

http://livefrom.musicplayer.com/clip.aspx?key=1FF5 1CEC50F49DFB&ctx=feat

http://www.ritter-basses.com/ritter-basses-baesse/ ritter-basses-jupiter-gallery.htm


Personally, I find it visually - a bit over the top...

Certainly Phil kicks butt regardless of what bass he plays (though I'd personally prefer he avoid playing upright bass) but to my ears - this Ritter custom bass sounds more trebly and less profound in the low register than his Modulus basses.

This could be because he was not using his usual Meyer "18 speakers... not sure.

Fun show last night for sure - especially So Many Roads which just seemed to be the hot moment of the set.

-(Grateful) Ted
SF, CA

he just had his cabinet with the smaller speakers last night, but if you check out his rig on big shows those sit on a cabinet that looks like it has a 30" woofer in it - about the same diameter as a bass drum...

Maybe I'm crazy, but I personally preferred the non-MIDI sound of the non-Modulus basses (Big Brown, in particular!).

I'm a traditionalist, what can I say!

love the pics of Barry -- sans headband -- wearing a DNF Hawaii '07 tanktop

regarding jackie greene and " puff" i know a friend who met him at a solo gig in Colorodo and shared a joint with him after the show. said he was a little timid towards it, as it wasnt something he did often, but he did enjoy!

Great pictures......not doing cartwheels over that song selection though.

How can some one who smokes cigs threw out every preformance he can be so against a puff of smoke. I have seen him stop playing and walk to get a cig mid song before and don't forget rule #1 you never stop playing.