Lesh Keeps Legacy Alive

Bassist and Friends jam their way through Grateful Dead's classics

By Candace Horgan

Special to The Denver Post

Feb. 13 , 2001 - Former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh brought his band, the
Friends, and an all-star cast to the Fillmore Auditorium over the weekend for
a great show of mostly Grateful Dead tunes.

The lineup included former Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes, for mer
Aquarium Rescue Unit guitarist Jimmy Herring, keyboardist Rob Barraco, and
drummer John Molo. Haynes and Herring are both outstanding guitarists, and
their playing added an extra bite to Friday's show, the first of two at the
Colfax Avenue ballroom.

The band started the first set with a long meandering jam, as if they were
feeling each other out. The jam lacked direction, and went on too long before
winding into the country-tinged "Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodeloo."

The band hit its stride in the second half of the song, as Herring and Haynes
soloed and Lesh added some jazzy bass lines.

"Smokestack Lighting" and "Shakedown Street" both highlighted the differences
between Lesh's band and the Dead. Herring and Haynes are exceptional
guitarists, and their playing has a crunchy, distorted edge that added to the
Dead songs. "Smokestack" had Haynes singing the verses and alternating solos
with Herring, while on "Shakedown" Barraco took the vocals.

While Lesh is an excellent bassist, singing has never been his forte. He
refused to sing with the Grateful Dead for 12 years, despite providing the
vocals on recorded Dead classics like "Box of Rain."

Though he is no Van Morrison, his vocals have improved tremendously. On a
cover of Robbie Robertson's "Broken Arrow," Lesh, Haynes and Barraco
harmonized beautifully, while the vocals on the first set closer "Cold Rain
and Snow" excelled. Herring and Haynes soloed as the song wound to an
crashing crescendo.

Jazz great John Coltrane once said something to the effect of for every five
minutes of jamming, you find one minute of something great. Lesh's second set
proved this axiom true.

The group came out and started with an uninteresting, free-form jam, Herring
and Haynes alternating solos and Lesh providing the anchor. The jam finally
wound into "Help on the Way."

Herring, who used to play in the Jazz is Dead combo, put his experience from
that session to good use, playing jazzy, distorted solos to great effect
while Haynes was content to provide support.
The band then explored the jazzy instrumental terrain of "Slipknot!'', in
which they finally caught fire in a jam. Both Haynes and Herring took strong
solos to start, experimenting with different themes. Though the jam got
spacy, the band managed to keep the playing tight on this excellent
rendition.

The troika concluded with a blistering version of 'Franklin's Tower.'
Herring's opening guitar solo rang out through the Fillmore, and when Lesh
sang 'When you get confused, listen to the music play,' the crowd roared its
approval.

An extended version of Buddy Holly's 'Not Fade Away' alternated between the
supercharged main riff and extended jazzy improvisations. This really didn't
work; 'Not Fade Away' is a pure rock anthem, and the song lost its edge
during the spacy jam.

The jam finally wound into a reggae-ish cover of the Allmans' "Soulshine,"
which Haynes sang passionately. Herring, who used to play a Paul Reed Smith
guitar, has switched to a Fender Stratocaster for the Friends' shows to
differentiate himself from Haynes in the mix.
On the closing solo of 'Soulshine', Haynes would play a line and Herring
would echo it perfectly. Her ring's bright, punchy Stratocaster sound
provided a nice contrast to the singing tone of Haynes' Gibson SG.
Lesh and company closed the second set with 'Morning Dew,' a song that was
always a showcase for Jerry Garcia when the Dead played it. Such is the
song's aura amongst fans that when Lesh started, most in the audience fell
silent and listened in appreciation. Though Lesh's rough voice is no match
for Garcia's heartfelt singing, Lesh acquitted himself well on the vocals.

Judging by this show, Lesh has become the torchbearer of the Grateful Dead
legacy.

Lesh's former bandmate, Bob Weir, is slated to bring his band Ratdog to the
Paramount Theatre in mid-April; tickets are not yet on sale.

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