Last night, Phil Lesh celebrated his 78th birthday with a bonafide family affair at his East Coast home-away-from-home, the historic Capitol Theatre, a room that shares a long and loving history with the founding Grateful Dead bassist.

In addition to the hosting the band’s three-night run, The Village of Port Chester, impresario Pete Shapiro, and The Cap went above and beyond to make sure Phil Lesh’s birthday didn’t pass without the proper pomp and circumstance. First, at the beginning of this month, they erected a billboard outside the venue—visible to all commuters on the adjacent Metro North train tracks—wishing the Grateful bassist a happy 78th. You can see Phil’s birthday billboard below:

The venue also hosted a birthday card signing via their Facebook page yesterday. In a live stream, the venue asked all Phil’s fans to comment with a “heart” emoji, and they would add the commenter’s initials to Phil’s card. Hundreds of comments later, the card was full and the Phil love was clearly as strong as ever.


[Photo: The Capitol Theater]

But the birthday revelry didn’t stop there. Signs were posted in the venue with the headline “SHH! IT’S A SURPRISE!” The posted bill went on to explain that the crowd would collectively sing “Happy Birthday” to Phil at the start of the second set when Grahame Lesh gave the cue. You can see the instructions below:

[Photo: Fans.com user jaxilla]

After a great first set with special guest guitarist John Scofield that featured a number of Dead classics as well as tunes by Bob Dylan and New Riders of the Purple Sage, Phil and company once again took the stage for set two. As they did, Grahame gave the agreed-upon signal, and a thoroughly amused Phil basked in the loving glow of the Capitol Theatre crowd—which was singing to him for a change.

However, there was one final birthday surprise in store, as the Port Chester Fire Department took the stage and gave a short speech in Phil’s honor. They thanked him for doing what he does with a custom helmet and fire jacket, an honor normally reserved for members of their crew.

Riding high on the beautiful buzz of love and appreciation, Lesh, Scofield, and the Terrapin Family Band delivered a fantastic second set, beginning with a segment that mixed covers like Funkadelic‘s “Get Off Your Ass And Jam” and Led Zeppelin‘s “No Quarter” with a few Dead classics (“The Music Never Stopped”, “Shakedown Street”).

The remainder of the set was comprised of one incredible, extended stretch of music. First, a reading of the first portion of “Dark Star” took the band into the cosmos. While in sonic space, the band was appropriately visited by the recently-departed Stephen Hawking in the form of an extended clip of Hawking speaking about the Universe via his famous computerized vocal synthesizer. “Dark Star” moved into “Help on the Way”, which in turn faithfully flowed into “Slipknot!”. After a detour through “Casey Jones” and back into “Slipknot!”, the band completed the classic trifecta with a rolling “Franklin’s Tower” before eventually returning to “Dark Star” to complete its second verse. Finally, a towering “Morning Dew” provided a perfect exclamation mark on a great set.

As the band and crowd all sang along to the “Ripple” encore, the birthday love that abounded all day remained palpable. After a truly memorable birthday celebration, it was clear to all in attendance that Phil and his extended family—those on the stage, those behind the scenes at The Cap and, of course, those in the audience—truly do love each other. Lord, you can see that it’s true…

Phil Lesh & The Family Band return to The Cap tonight to close out their three-night run.

Watch pro-shot video of the Phil Lesh birthday festivities below, and listen to full audience audio via taper Keith Litzenberger.

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band w/ John Scofield – “Mason’s Children”, “Tennessee Jed” [Pro-Shot]

[Video: Nugs.tv]

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band w/ John Scofield – “Happy Birthday”, Port Chester Fire Dept. Speech, “The Music Never Stopped”

[Video: Nugs.tv]

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band w/ John Scofield (Full Audio) – 3/15/18

[Uploaded by: cabinetmusic]

Setlist: Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band wsg John Scofield | The Capitol Theatre | Port Chester, NY | 3/15/18

Set One: Mason’s Children, Tennessee Jed, It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, Bertha, Henry, Playing In The Band > I Know You Rider

Set Two: The Music Never Stopped, No Quarter > Shakedown Street, Get Off Your Ass And Jam, Dark Star (verse 1)* > Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Casey Jones > Slipknot! > Franklin’s Tower > Dark Star (verse 2) > Morning Dew

*with extended Stephen Hawking vocal sample

Encore: Ripple