On Friday night, Phil Lesh returned to Colorado for the first time in four years, playing the Fox Theatre with his Terrapin Family Band and nailing down one of three shows across this weekend at the intimate Boulder venue. The last time that the Grateful Dead bassist came to Colorado was back in 2013, when he played two nights with Furthur at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Since then, Lesh has cut back significantly on his touring schedule, instead opting for dates closer to home and at his iconic San Rafael venue, Terrapin Crossroads. Despite a fairly long time away from the Centennial State, Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band — composed of Lesh’s son, Grahame Lesh, as well as Ross James, Jason Crosby, and Alex Koford — did not miss a beat, putting on an energized performance at the 660-person venue.
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To kick off the first set, the ensemble opened with “The Music Never Stopped,” perhaps as a nod to the time Phil Lesh spent away from Colorado, then switching to “Big River,” making for two high-energy numbers to start the show. The group sounded tight, as they moved through the first set, with a particularly solid “Viola Lee Blues” that aired on the side of rock-centric and David Crosby’s “The Wall Song” (a song played by the Crosby, Stills, & Nash musician, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, and Mickey Hart back in 1970 as “Jerry Garcia and Friends”) toward the end of the set. For the second set, the ensemble came back with a non-stop string of numbers to start things off, moving through “Playing In The Band,” “Unbroken Chain,” “Dark Star,” “The Other One,” then back into “Dark Star,” ahead of “Stella Blue.” After the ballad and a brief pause, they picked things up with “Sugar Magnolia” into “Scarlet Begonias,” ahead of the final song of “Throwing Stones.”
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Lesh himself spoke on the energy of the room was palpable during the start of his traditional “Donor Rap,” which came ahead of the encore, noting that “It’s been a long time, but this little place is really nice. I remember doing some rehearsals here many years ago, and I always liked the feel of it. I thought that was really confirmed tonight.” The group then ended the night with “Truckin'” into “Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad.” You can listen to the full audio below, courtesy of Gerry Gladu.
[Photo: Andrew Scott Blackstein]