Phil Lesh And Terrapin Family Band Covers Wilco To Open Chicago Run [Watch]

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band rolled into Chicago to play their first of two shows at Thalia Hall on Thursday. While Lesh doesn’t tour as often–rarely at all anymore–as he did in his days with the Grateful Dead, the bassist and the TFB seem to be starting a tradition of honoring local music heroes in the various cities they visit. The band paid tribute to fellow rock artists including Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix during a show in Seattle last month and kept the honorary covers going on Thursday with a live rendition of “Misunderstood” by Wilco finding its way into the setlist.

The night’s performance began with a pair of early Dead favorites in “China Cat Sunflower” and “Mr. Charlie”, with Elliot Peck singing lead on the latter. Peck remained at the mic to sing a cover of Bob Weir‘s “Looks Like Rain”, only to be replaced on vocal duties by Ross James, who then led the way in performing “Throwing Stones”. Next up was “Jack Straw”, followed by “Black Peter”. The first set continued with the band taking the audience on a ride with a trio of uptempo Dead hits starting with the classic “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” song combination, which continued into “Casey Jones” to take the show into set break.

The band returned to the stage to start the second half of the show by revisiting “Slipknot!”, which transitioned right into another song out of the Weir songbook in “Cassidy”. The band then went from Weir to Garcia with a cover of the Jerry Garcia Band‘s “Reuben & Cerise” before returning to “Cassidy”. Next up was “Dark Star”, which transitioned into a cover of Paul Kanter‘s “Mountain Song” and back into “Dark Star” to close out their performance of the mystic psych-rock ballad. The show continued with “Scarlet Begonias”, followed by “Eyes Of The World” and the always-climactic “Terrapin Station” to end the set. Fans can watch the fan-shot video below to hear a portion of last night’s second set closer.

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band – “Terrapin Station” – 3/7/2019

[Video: Mortal Death]

The band returned to the stage for a two-song encore beginning with a vocally-harmonic rendition of “Uncle John’s Band”, followed by their cover of Wilco’s “Misunderstood”. Fans can watch the fan-shot video below to hear the band’s live version of the 1996 Wilco tune.

Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band – “Misunderstood” (Wilco cover) – 3/7/2019

[Video: Tomorrow’s Verse]

Lesh’s 2019 performance schedule continues to grow with the recent additions of Mountain Jam and Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival onto his concert calendar. Fans can head to Lesh’s website for the full list of upcoming performances and tickets.

Setlist: Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band | Thalia Hall | Chicago, IL | 3/7/2019

Set One: China Cat Sunflower, Mr. Charlie, Looks Like Rain (Bob Weir cover), Throwing Stones, Jack Straw, Black Peter, Help On The Way > Slipknot! > Casey Jones

Set Two: Slipknot! > Cassidy (Bob Weir cover) > Reuben & Cerise (Jerry Garcia band cover) > Cassidy, Dark Star > Mountain Song (Paul Kantner cover) > Dark Star, Scarlet Begonias, Eyes Of The World, Terrapin Station

Encore: Uncle John’s Band, Misunderstood (Wilco cover)