Grahame Lesh on Monday brought the four-show Unbroken Chain celebration of Phil Lesh at The Capitol Theatre to an emotional close with the most notable of his father’s Phil & Friends lineups, the Phil Lesh Quintet, otherwise known as The Q.
While the late Grateful Dead bassist made a point of regularly refreshing his band lineups and bringing new voices into the fold, The Q—which featured Phil alongside guitarists Jimmy Herring and Warren Haynes, drummer John Molo, and keyboardist Rob Barraco—had staying power. In addition to touring together regularly from 2000 through 2003, they recorded the only Phil Lesh & Friends studio album, 2002’s There and Back Again, which featured several new songs from Lesh and Robert Hunter, a later-years Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter favorite, and various songwriting contributions from Haynes, Barraco, and Herring. While Phil continued performing with The Q and a long string of other band lineups until months before his passing in 2024, There and Back Again wound up serving as his final major studio effort.
More so than any other Phil & Friends lineup, this particular group always felt like a capital-B “Band”—a fact that underscored the emotional weight of the night as Grahame, who typically plays guitar, wielded his father’s famous “Big Brown” bass and manned the low end for the second half of a now-rare live performance by The Q: Herring, Haynes, Molo, Barraco, and Lesh.
But while the sadness of Phil’s absence lingered in the air, this seasoned squad took to its new organ with ease and maintained its impact as one of the most exciting “Dead things” you can see in the 2020s.
First, the group eased in with an opening frame featuring Grahame Lesh on guitar and vocals alongside Warren Haynes (playing Jerry Garcia’s “Wolf” guitar), Jimmy Herring (who sounded like he’s feeling more than fine after recently returning from a 2024 cancer diagnosis), Rob Barravco (the Dark Star Orchestra keyboardist and vocalist who went from paying tribute to the Dead to creating with its members), and John Molo (the longtime rock of Phil & Friends, and now of Grahame & Friends) along with Phil’s bass tech, Brian Rashap (of The Mother Hips), piloting the instrument he helped steward in the Grateful Dead bassist’s later years with eerily Phil-like feel.
Tasteful touches dotted the setlist, like a “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” tease fluttering out of “Bird Song” or a full-blown “Good Times, Bad Times” interlude and a nebulous “Mountain Jam” segment (a nod to Jimmy and Warren’s time with the Allman Brothers Band) sandwiched inside “St. Stephen”.
Deep cuts from the deep Dead catalog like “Mason’s Children” and “Doin’ That Rag” became roaring, rocking, show-stealing highlights. Longtime improvisational staples like “Dark Star” and “Viola Lee Blues” served both as launchpads for Herring/Haynes virtuosity and recurring thematic touch points, popping up throughout the show to remind the crowd of the distance traveled.
Selections from There and Back Again like “No More Do I”, “Liberty”, “Rock N’ Roll Blues”, and more added new entries in the post-Dead history of Phil Lesh, of his friends, of The Q. Inspiring high points were plentiful, from the carnival of guitar tones invoked during a late-second-set “Terrapin Station” to the probably-not-easy-to-play-on-bass-for-a-guitarist “The Eleven” earlier in the frame.
A set-closing “Unbroken Chain” felt appropriate on many levels, whether you took it as a token nod to Phil, an acknowledgment of the weekend’s festivities, or a comment on the way love, family, and connection can ensure that stories keep going even as characters fade away.
Related: Phil Lesh Reconvenes His Old Friends (& His Best Friend) On Third Night At The Cap [Videos]
The most moving moment of all, though, came when Grahame Lesh took the stage following set two to deliver his dad’s ever-present Donor Rap. While he mainly repeated the words Phil had said countless times—words of gratitude for the many extra years of life afforded to Phil by Cody—they resonated more deeply than ever coming from Grahame’s mouth on this weighty night at the end of four days of bittersweet celebration.
The encore that followed, which pushed toward 1:00 a.m. when all was said and done, featured a perfect, powerful one-two punch: First, “Patchwork Quilt“, the Phil & Friends song he wrote for There and Back Again about the day Jerry Garcia died. Then, “Box of Rain”, the quintessential Phil Lesh song, sung by the son who continues to carry his legacy.
Thank you, Grahame. Long live Phil.
Below, listen to a full audio recording of the show via Cam Keough, view a gallery of photos via David Gray (@graypeakimages), and view the full setlist from the Unbroken Chain Phil Lesh birthday tribute finale. Revisit our coverage of the first three nights of Unbroken Chain at The Capitol Theatre here: Night 1 (3/14/25) | Night 2 (3/15/25) | Night 3 (3/16/25).
Unbroken Chain: Grahame Lesh & Friends (The Q) – The Capitol Theatre – 3/17/25 – Full Audio
The Q ft. Grahame Lesh, Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, John Molo, Rob Barraco – Jam > “Dark Star” > “Viola Lee Blues” [Pro-Shot] – 3/17/25
The Q ft. Grahame Lesh, Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, John Molo, Rob Barraco – “Terrapin Station” – 3/17/25
[Video: Matt Frazier]
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Setlist: Grahame Lesh & Friends (The Q) | The Capitol Theatre | Port Chester, NY | 3/16/25
Set One: Jam > Dark Star [1] > Viola Lee Blues [1] > Doin’ That Rag, Passenger, Bird Song, The Wheel > Viola Lee Blues [2], Rock N’ Roll Blues, Liberty
Set Two: Jam > Mason’s Children > St. Stephen > Good Times, Bad Times (Led Zeppelin) [3] > The Eleven > Dark Star [2] > New Speedway Boogie, Terrapin Station > No More Do I > Viola Lee Blues [4], Unbroken Chain
Encore: Grahame Donor Rap/Band Intros, Patchwork Quilt, Box Of Rain
[1] First verse
[2] Second verse
[3] Partial
[4] Third verse
Notes: Full show featured surviving members of the Phil Lesh Quintet, a.k.a. The Q: Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Herring (guitar), John Molo (drums), Rob Barraco (keys). First set featured Grahame Lesh on guitar and vocals and Brian Rashap on Phil Lesh’s “Big Brown” bass. Second set featuring Grahame Lesh on Phil Lesh’s “Big Brown” bass. Warren Haynes played Jerry Garcia’s “Wolf” guitar for the full show.
