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ZONE
OUT with the ROLLING RIDER
This
Week: Sun and Phun
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Fort Lauderdale -- Sunrise Music Theatre -- 4-13-01 __________________________________________________
The Rolling Rider received more than his share of treats this Easter weekend. Sporting the tell-tale tourist sunburn, yours truly was privy to some serious ear candy, from the newest of the new, to the most ancient of passages. Like the Grateful Dead revealing it's new secrets during Mardi Gras or Chinese New Year, the celestial Sunrise Theater proved a worthy venue for Phil Lesh and his friends to "warm up" the vista cruiser (pun intended) and embark on spring tour. Featuring a crowd of eager Phloridians simply in rapture at the chance to have the circus in their town, the first pairing on the tour was a thing of beauty. indeed, Phil and Friends is no static entity.
Flowers...birds chirping...and, you can now add new Hunter songs to your list of 'first signs of spring'. 'Celebration' kicked of the tour, a fledgling number with rousing vocals sung by all the band members. From there, the friends began to scrape away a layer of sand, a la their now standard early first set searching 'jam'...this morphed into a resounding and magnificent version of the 'Eleven', complete with lyrics, which collapsed into some friday the thirteenish jamming reminiscent of the Grateful Dead's beloved 'space'.
Warren's light shone through the fog, and brought the boys into a strong version of 'Soulshine'. This really took the Friends to the next level, resulting in a an intro to 'Uncle John's Band' which was surely some of the most delicious playing of not only the weekend, but in recent memory. 'It's the same story, the crow told me, it's the only one he knows'...The crowd relished in wonderful version of 'Uncle John's', and then went into a veritable frenzy as Phil performed a truly beautiful version of 'Get Together'. Vocally, Phil has simply owned this tune since it's inception. "Just one key unlocks them both"... 'Get Together' was paired nicely with a rousing 'Not Fade Away' to end set one. 'Not Fade' was a spotlight for what seemed to be the new mode for Phil and Friends musically: very powerful vocal harmonies combined with absolutely thunderous playing.
Set Two began with a 'Low Spark' jam, which did not materialize, but rather, took us on a bee-line into the nectar of the 'China Cat Sunflower'. It's these kind of tunes that leave you shaking your heard, wondering, 'how do they DO that?'. The answer has to be a kind of synchronicity that has to be attributed to the fact that these guys are really starting to mesh as a band. 'Copper dome bodhi' rang true!, although it's like Hunter said, 'although the lyrics are abstract, their ones we all seem to understand without even a thought...'. 'China Cat' segued into an 'Uncle John's' reprise, and then into triumphant 'St. Stephen', truly a treat for the Phlorida phaithful. 'Stephen', taking the crowd to a fever pitch, was interpolated with Warren's showcase, 'Sugaree'. After the guitar duel between Warren and Jimmy, the boys revisited 'St. Stephen'.
Rob Barracco then had his first chance to really shine vocally, captaining a spirited version of 'I Am the Walrus', which even included the haunting 'everybody's *&^%$# up' outro sung by the crowd and mimicked by some dripping technical effects. Not to be outdone, Warren then switched gears for a soulful rendition of 'Tastes Like Wine', which at it's conclusion hinted at the 'Wheel'...the ribbon around set number two was a masterful sequence of 'Wheel > Good Lovin > Gimme Some Lovin' jam > Wheel > Other One' which was blistering throughout.
As always,
the most obvious was the least obvious. We had forgotten about our long-awaited
'Here Comes Sunshine', and we're treated to it in the rare encore slot.
on this number, as on many throughout the night and the weekend itself,
there was deft playing on the strings and captivating keyboard work. Although
one cannot mistake the fact that Warren Haynes is really stepping up and
taking alot of the load on his shoulders (singing all Brent tunes, most
Jerrys, and some others), it is Rob Barracco that is, in his subtle fashion,
finding his crucial niche as a Friend, and contributing the melodies that
often give this driving rock and roll band an angel's wings and heaven's
touch.
respectfully yours, Rolling Rider .....
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