Jason Crosby debuted his new band, Crosby Collective, at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA on Saturday with help from special guests Jackson Browne and Oteil Burbridge. The setlist featured an array of creative mashups combining songs by the Grateful Dead, Phish, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, and many more.
The prolific multi-instrumentalist previously performed his mashup of the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil” and Nirvana’s “Lithium”, known as “Friend of the Lithium”, with Oteil & Friends. On Saturday, he unleashed an entire repertoire of unexpected combinations with his band comprised of Burbridge, John Morgan Kimock on drums, Tom Guarana on guitar, Greg Leisz on pedal steel, and Jeremy Jeffers on keys, plus a trio of vocalists AnDre Washington, Chavonne Stewart, and Alethea Mills, whose rich, soulful harmonies helped elevate the performance to another level.
After opening with a beautiful rendition of “Clair de lune” by Claude Debussy, the band introduced the first mashup of the night, which combined the Grateful Dead’s “Jack Straw”, Fleetwood Mac‘s “Dreams”, and the Allman Brothers Band‘s “Melissa”. “Scarlet Dog” then fused “Scarlet Begonias” with Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog”, followed by “I Know You Tweezer”, which incorporated the Dead’s “I Know You Rider” and Phish’s “Tweezer”. “Casey Jones” and Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse” made for another potent pairing, which Crosby Collective recently released under the title “Casey’s Eclipse”, and a combination of Wings‘ “Band on the Run”, Marvin Gaye‘s “What’s Going”, and Neil Young‘s “Southern Man” finished off the first frame.
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Jackson Browne joined in at the start of the second set, which opened with a series of his songs including his classic duet recorded with Bonnie Raitt, “My Opening Farewell”, “Cocaine”, “These Days”, and “Colors of the Sun”. The mashups then picked back up with a combination of Eagles‘ “Take It Easy” and Steve Miller Band‘s “Rock’n Me”, followed by The Beatles‘ “A Day in the Life” with Electric Light Orchestra‘s “Mr. Blue Sky” and the Allman Brothers’ “Blue Sky”.
Lenny Kravitz‘s “Are You Gonna Go My Way” featured lyrics from Jimi Hendrix‘s “Purple Haze” and The Kinks‘ “You Really Got Me”; “(Another Brick in the) Shakedown Quarter” spliced together Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall”, the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street”, and Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter” and contained teases of James Brown‘s “Get On Up”; and “Friend of the Lithium” finished the second set on a familiar note.
Returning for an encore at the behest of the boisterous crowd, the band paid tribute to late Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, with whom Crosby collaborated many times over the past 12 years, with his signature song “Unbroken Chain”. Jackson Browne then helped close the show with his song “Running On Empty”, which segued into the Edwin Hawkins soul classic “Oh Happy Day”.
Check out videos and full-show audio from Jason Crosby’s Crosby Collective live at The Fillmore below, and scroll down to view the full setlist.
Crosby Collective – The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA – 1/18/25 [Full-Show Audio]
[Video: Thephilmor]
Crosby Collective – “No Quarter” (Led Zeppelin)/”Another Brick In The Wall (Pink Floyd)/”Shakedown Street” (Grateful Dead) – 1/18/25
[Video: Deadheadland Films]
Crosby Collective – “Band On The Run” (Wings)/”What’s Going On” (Marvin Gaye)/”Southern Man” (Neil Young) – 1/18/25
[Video: Thephilmor]
Crosby Collective – “My Opening Farewell” (Bonnie Raitt) – 1/18/25
[Video: Thephilmor]
Crosby Collective – “Cocaine” (Jackson Browne) – 1/18/25
Crosby Collective – “Running On Empty” (Jackson Browne)/”Oh Happy Day” (Edwin Hawkins) – 1/18/25
[Video: Joseph Carney]
Setlist: Crosby Collective | The Fillmore | San Francisco, CA | 1/18/25
Set 1: Clair de lune (Claude Debussy), Jack Straw (Grateful Dead)/Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)/Melissa (The Allman Brothers Band), Scarlet Begonias (Grateful Dead)/Black Dog (Led Zeppelin), I Know You Rider (Grateful Dead)/Tweezer (Phish), Casey Jones (Grateful Dead)/Eclipse (Pink Floyd), Band on the Run (Wings)/What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye)/Southern Man (Neil Young)
Set2: My Opening Farewell (Jackson Browne), Cocaine (Jackson Browne), These Days (Jackson Browne), Colors of the Sun (Jackson Browne), Take It Easy (Eagles)/Rock’n Me (Steve Miller Band), A Day in the Life (The Beatles)/Mr. Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)/Blue Sky (The Allman Brothers Band), You Really Got Me (Lenny Kravitz)/Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix)/You Really Got Me (The Kinks), No Quarter (Led Zeppelin)/Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Floyd)/Shakedown Street (Grateful Dead), Friend of the Devil (Grateful Dead)/Lithium (Nirvana)
Encore: Unbroken Chain (Grateful Dead), Running On Empty (Jackson Browne)/Oh Happy Day (Edwin Hawkins)