Phil Lesh continued his 83rd birthday party continued on Saturday night as the Grateful Dead’s founding bassist played his 99th show at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Having played 13 shows there with the Grateful Dead proper in ’70–’71 and now looking forward to his 100th show with assorted friends since its reopening in 2012, it can easily be argued that no room has been more instrumental in perpetuating the culture and lore of the Grateful Dead than the famed rock palace known simply as The Cap.
The aging Lesh deserves equal recognition for his hand in creating the culture as he does for surrounding himself with multi-generational talent to help him push it into the future. It has been said that the Grateful Dead never had to adapt to the times because they dragged the times along with them. That all changed, however, when Jerry Garcia died—or perhaps even before that—and Lesh has now been successfully adapting for the better part of thirty years.
Phil’s current and presently favored group of friends—Goose’s Rick Mitarotonda, John Medeski, John Molo, Grahame Lesh, James Casey, Nicki Bluhm, and Katie Jacoby—is getting more and more comfortable lining up night after night with the only man to ever play bass for the Grateful Dead. While they may not be hitting triple-digit Cap numbers any time soon, Saturday night pushed the core of this Phil & Friends lineup to ten shows played overall.
An energetic first set kicked off with “Deal” before “Jack Straw” took over and the band began to heat up. “Peggy-O” followed with Mitarotonda and Bluhm engaged in a lovely duet before Katie Jacoby and John Medeski’s interplay on the violin and organ, respectively, gave way to beautiful four-way harmonies between Rick, Nicki, Grahame, and James. Jacoby, who is married to Joe Russo’s Almost Dead guitarist Scott Metzger and herself no stranger to the Grateful Dead catalog, was an early standout on violin throughout the evening’s first three songs. “Cassidy” followed before the evening’s real story began to take shape.
Phil & Friends – “Deal”, “Jack Straw” [Pro-Shot] – 3/18/23
Relatively quiet up until that point, James Casey first made his presence felt with a jaw-dropping sax solo during “Loose Lucy” that broke the room open with sustained applause. It was more of the same during “They Love Each Other” as even Phil Lesh paused to salute Casey’s contributions. A somewhat unexpected but appropriately celebratory placement of “One More Saturday Night” then followed as Mitarotonda piloted the first set to a close.
Related: James Casey Discusses His Colon Cancer Journey On ‘TODAY’ [Watch]
Violin and saxophone are not standard instruments in the Grateful Dead lexicon and James Casey and Katie Jacoby, huddled together on stage left, continued to be the most dynamic part of the show as the second set opened with “Eyes Of The World”. Casey, a cancer survivor who is still undergoing treatment, gave a profoundly beautiful layer of meaning to the lyrics “wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world” before he and Jacoby went back and forth on the soprano sax and violin to help the band find its way to “The Eleven” and, ultimately, “Uncle John’s Band”.
Phil & Friends – “Eyes of the World” > “The Eleven” [Pro-Shot] – 3/18/23
[Video: Relix]
“Dark Star” explored the limits of the time-space continuum before ceding its ownership of the night sky to a lovely and unique cover of The Beatles’ “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”, Casey once again at the vocal helm. The evening’s finest improvisation followed as the band first found its footing with a return to “Dark Star” and then landed on a sprightly groove that had the sold-out crowd humming.
Phil & Friends ft. James Casey – “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” (The Beatles) – 3/18/23
[Video: Marc Komito]
Mitarotonda kept the energy at peak levels with his finest work of the night on the rendition of “China Cat Sunflower” that followed. With “I Know You Rider” off the table after a previous appearance at The Cap this week, the band abruptly (read: awkwardly) transitioned into the closing, instrumental “Refrain” segment of the “Terrapin Station” suite to close the set.
Phil was the first to return from the encore break with his donor rap before introducing the band, with Casey winning the evening’s loudest, longest, most sustained round of applause. Joy and good cheer bubbled over as Phil & Friends then led the capacity crowd in an arm-in-arm singalong of “Ripple”.
99 shows down… Don’t miss the finale of Phil Lesh’s 83rd birthday run when he returns with his friends du jour for his 100th show at The Capitol Theatre tonight. Never miss a Sunday show! Watch a livestream of the final performance via FANS.
Below, listen to a full audio recording of the show and check out a gallery of photos via Maggie Miles.
Phil & Friends – The Capitol Theatre – 3/18/23 – Full Audio
Setlist: Phil Lesh & Friends | The Capitol Theatre | Port Chester, NY | 3/19/23
Set One: Deal, Jack Straw, Peggy-O, Cassidy, Loose Lucy, They Love Each Other, One More Saturday Night
Set Two: Eyes Of The World > The Eleven > Uncle John’s Band, Sugar Magnolia, Dark Star > Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds > Dark Star > China Cat Sunflower > Terrapin Station
Encore: Ripple
Band featured Phil Lesh (bass) Rick Mitarotonda (guitar, vocals), Grahame Lesh (guitar, vocals), John Medeski (keys), John Molo (drums), James Casey (saxophone), Nicki Bluhm (vocals), Katie Jacoby (violin),
