Last night, Buffalo, New York-based jam giants moe. kicked off summer tour with the first of four consecutive nights at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California. The first set was played almost entirely without bassist Rob Derhak and consisted of Grateful Dead tunes supported by Phil Lesh on the bottom end.

Part of a highly concentrated Fourth of July weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area, moe.’s run consists of three shows in the 250-capacity Grate Room at Terrapin Crossroads, featuring Phil Lesh as a special guest on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, from June 28th through 30th. On Sunday, July 1st, an afternoon matinee will take place in the larger outdoor garden area where fans will be treated to a set of music from both moe. and Phil Lesh & the Terrapin Family Band. They take Monday off, and on Tuesday, July 3rd, they play The Catalyst in Santa Cruz as they make their way south and then out to Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Thursday’s show was full of loose laughs and wide-eyed conversations among friends, families, and strangers as a line for entry winded around the corner of the building. By 7:15, the doors were open, and barely 45 minutes later, moe. walked on stage—sans Rob—with Lesh following and setting up front and center.

The band wasted no time, opening shortly after 8 p.m. with “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo”, which segued beautifully into “Franklin’s Tower”. After an enthusiastic “Althea” (first-time played for moe.) and about 50-minutes into the set, Lesh took over the vocals for an emotional and stretched out “Box of Rain”. There were some moments where the jam wasn’t sure where it needed to go, but true to the spirit of the songs, everything worked itself out, and before long, they had all locked into each other’s grooves.

“Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo”

[Video: nugsnet]

“Althea”

[Video: Must Have Media]

Assembly of Dust frontman Reid Genauer took to the microphone for an “Estimated Prophet” that slipped, slid, and floated its way into “Eyes of the World”. Guitarist Al Schiner took over the lead vocals while percussionist Jim Loughlin and Lesh went back and forth, egging each other on with impressive runs. Loughlin continued to shine on into “The Other One”. Even though that is the song Derhak joined the stage for, the dark and descending xylophone melody sounded like a Rhodes piano and captivated for several minutes. With plenty of back-and-forth acrobatics between the two bassists, Derhak eventually put his bass down to handle lead vocals for “Hard to Handle”, the final song of the set.

“The Other One”

[Video:MrTopdogger]

“Hard To Handle”

[Video: Must Have Media]

The second set featured simply the five members of the band and no mo’. The music continued around 10:22 p.m. with guitarist Chuck Garvey taking the revered “St. Augustine” for a scorching slide. Ten minutes into the song, Derhak appeared to be steering the jam, but Garvey wouldn’t back down, eventually going back and forth with Loughlin’s xylophone after a monstrous segue into “32 Things” twenty minutes later.

“St. Augustine”

[Video: nugsnet]

By 11 p.m., the band had just started the third song of the set: a standalone version of “Prestige Worldwide”. Schiner stepped up to Garvey’s relentless soloing with a sizzling lead tone of his own, making for a remarkable back-and-forth duel throughout the tune. moe. took their time settling onto “The Road”, giving each instrument a time and place to shine before coming together for a soul-shattering peak.

Derhak switched to a five-string bass for the band’s second play of “Hi and Lo” in 2018. If you’re the kind of person that pays attention to song titles and track listing, this also marked a literal departure and the beginning of a musical descent into the other-worldly. “Hi and Lo” segued into “Tubing The River Styx”, which in turn fell straight into “The Pit” before finally segueing back into “Lazarus” to end the second set with another continuous 40-minute selection of tracks.

What little lyrics had been uttered in the first forty minutes, there was a strong theme of “good” and “light” that was quickly challenged by the typical dark forces associated with the journey of the song titles. After reaching Beelzebub in “The Pit”, moe. brought us the image of “Lazarus” dancing upon his grave, back from the dead. It’s hard to imagine that this isn’t reflective somewhat of the band’s sigh of relief following a successful battle between their brother, Derhak, and the looming “pit” of his recent (and successful) bout with cancer. They encored with “Time Again”, a bust-out treat that hasn’t been played since February of 2017, and only sporadically at best before that.

You can check out photos of last night’s show below, courtesy of Joshua Huver of Must Have Media.

Setlist: moe. with special guest Phil Lesh | Terrapin Crossroads | San Rafael, CA | 6/28/2018 

Set One: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo* > Franklin’s Tower*, Althea*, Box Of Rain*, Estimated Prophet** > Eyes Of The World* > The Other One***, Hard To Handle***

Set Two: St. Augustine > 32 Things, Prestige Worldwide, The Road, Hi & Lo > Tubing The River Styx > The Pit > Lazarus

Encore: Time Again

Notes: * w/ Phil Lesh, No Rob | ** w/ Phil & Reid Genauer, No Rob | *** w/ Phil Lesh