On Wednesday night, Phil Lesh began a run of Northeast shows at New York’s Central Park SummerStage. In addition to his touring outfit, The Terrapin Family Band, which features Phil’s son and guitarist Grahame Lesh, drummer Alex Koford, guitarist Ross James, and keyboardist Jason Crosby, Phil recruited guitarist Eric Krasno and vocalist Nicki Bluhm for the Central Park performance.

The band kicked off the show with a New York-appropriate cover, The Velvet Underground‘s “Sweet Jane”. Next, the band jumped into a cover of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles classic “I Second That Emotion” with Krasno and Bluhm sharing vocal duties. This song has gotten a lot of play from Krasno in the past few weeks in a broad spectrum of settings. Two weekends ago, Krasno performed the song as part of a tribute to Jerry Garcia Band with LettuceJohn MayerBob Weir, and more. Last weekend, he turned in an unplugged version of the song at his intimate Rockwood Music Hall performance.

The band continued to spread the vocals around with live Dead favorites like “He’s Gone”, “New Minglewood Blues”, “Brown-Eyed Women”, and “Peggy-O”. “Alligator” was up next, and featured some exploratory improvisation that flirted with the Allman Brothers Band‘s “Blue Sky” before landing in a smoking Nicki Bluhm-sung “Deal” to cap set one.

Following a lengthy set break and a meandering intro jam, set two commenced with a delicate “Bird Song” sung by Phil, who milked an extended, tension-building pause amidst the song’s final “I’ll show you/Snow and rain” refrain for added emotional effect. “Truckin'” came next, with Grahame Lesh leading the way on vocals and adding an impressive guitar solo to its closing jam. A highlight of the show, Grahame manned the Dead’s classic on-the-road opus like he was born to play it.

An excellent rendition of “Unbroken Chain” followed, featuring a big piano solo from Crosby and a Jimi Hendrix-like solo from Krasno. Visibly delighted by Krasno’s fireworks, a smiling Phil gave some visibly astounded love to the guitarist before beginning “The Wheel”. After covering a little ground on the sing-along favorite (including some teases of The Beatles‘ “Come Together” by Krasno), the band slid into a funky “West L.A. Fadeaway”. Krasno once again took a stellar solo on the “Sugar Magnolia” that followed and continued the trend with a high-energy “Scarlet Begonias”.

As “Scarlet” slipped into “Fire on the Mountain”, Bluhm once again took the reins, delivering a stunning vocal performance on the second half of the classic pairing. Finally, Ross James led the way on a fuzz-rock rendition of Bob Dylan‘s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, his unhinged vocals and wailing guitar highlighting the set-closing number. When Phil returned to the stage for an encore, he thanked the NYC crowd for bringing the absolute best out of the band—as always—before Bluhm led the way on a heartbreakingly soulful reading of “Brokedown Palace”.

Phil Lesh’s New York run continues tonight with a sold-out performance at The Capitol Theatre (click here for a webcast of the show). On Friday, Phil will head to Harlem’s iconic Apollo Theater for a HeadCount benefit with some “very special friends” including the Terrapin Family Band, Bluhm, Krasno, Robert RandolphTalib Kweli, and the Harlem Gospel Choir.

For a full list of Phil Lesh’s upcoming tour dates, head to his website here.

You can view a gallery of photos from the performance below via photographer Andrew O’Brien, and watch full crowd-shot footage of the performance below via taper Zman (Steven J. Ziegler):

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band w/ Eric Krasno & Nicki Bluhm – 9/5/18 – Set 1

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band w/ Eric Krasno & Nicki Bluhm – 9/5/18 – Set 1

Setlist: Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band w/ Eric Krasno & Nicki Bluhm | Central Park SummerStage | New York, NY | 9/5/2018

Set One: Sweet Jane, I Second That Emotion, He’s Gone, New Minglewood Blues, Brown-Eyed Women, Peggy-O, Alligator* > Deal

Set Two: Bird Song > Truckin’, Unbroken Chain > The Wheel > West L.A. Fadeaway, Sugar Magnolia > Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

Encore: Brokedown Palace

*Contained Allman Brothers “Blue Sky” tease