Terrapin Crossroads presents Songs to Phil the Air featuring Phil Lesh with Ross James, Scott Law and Isaiah Mitchell
the Backyard Stage at Terrapin Crossroads
100 Yacht Club Drive, San Rafael, CA 94901 USA
5:00 PM, Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[5:10 PM band out]

1. [5:12 PM] When I Paint My Masterpiece (SL/RJ)
   [5:20 PM done; pause to change Phil's mic cable]
2. [5:23 PM] Chinatown Shuffle (RJ)
   [5:26 PM dead air]
3. [5:27 PM] Friend of the Devil (PL)
   [5:35 PM pause to set up Phil with a new EQ unit for his bass]
4. [5:39 PM] Dark Hollow (SL)
5. [5:46 PM] If You Gotta Go, Go Now (RJ) $
6. [5:53 PM] Me & My Uncle (SL)
7. [6:01 PM] The Music Never Stopped (RJ/SL)
   [6:09 PM, another break to mess with Phil's rig]
8. [6:11 PM] Sitting on Top of the World (SL)
9. [6:19 PM] the Harder They Come (SL)
10. [6:27 PM] Ripple (PL)
    [set ends 6:32 PM, no encore]

• Ross James: guitar, lead & harmony vox;
• Scott Law: guitar, $ slide guitar, lead & harmony vox;
• Phil Lesh: bass, lead & harmony vox;
• Isaiah Mitchell: guitar, harmony vox.

We manage to circumvent today's Bay Bridge mess, and zoom in to TXR about ten minutes before showtime – just in time to grab a couple spots in the second row, right in front. Yay! The sun is still pretty strong, but a stiff breeze keeps it from feeling overwhelming. The guys – all but Phil – are onstage getting things together. Should be ready to go any minute now, right?

Phil comes out a few minutes after five, and as he begins plunking around, he occasionally grimaces. Hmmn. Is our leader in pain? Nope. Turns out something is wrong with the sound of his bass. A sort of extra-crunchy edge on some of the notes. Like, one out of 50 or so. In other words, enough to be annoying once you know what to listen for. But I'm ignorant – I don't even notice the noise until half way through the set! So anyways, the start of the set is put off for a minute or six as the crew tries to satisfy Phil, but eventually he decides to forge ahead, after all, the show must go on, right?

By the end of Friend of the Devil, I've finally figured out that Phil's rig is still making crunchy buzzes despite the first few fix attempts. Ross seems to be laughing about it – might as well make use of the gremlins in the system, eh? Seems like the crew eventually gives up trying to figure out a fix. Fortunately, it's no more than a very intermittent thing.

Like all of the other Songs to Phil the Air sets, this one is pretty loose and lazy. Playing without a drummer means that the music is free to ebb and flow quite a bit more than usual. Sometimes this is a good thing, but other times it's as if the band members are walking a thin line between keeping things together and letting the tune completely fall apart. I can see how some listeners might be put off by this – Oh, so you want to argue whether or not the Music Never Stopped? – but I kinda like the increased entropy of the drummer-less configuration, mostly for hearing familiar songs rebuilt in new surroundings. Today's Ripple was upbeat and muscular. Very electric, despite the lack of drums!

Chris Peterson joined us in the bar for dinner. While we're waiting for our pizza, Gary Shamshoian crashes the table (and hijacks our conversation to talk about his satirical screenplay: Crock Work Orange about a parallel universe where Trump actually gets things done). It's a nice evening in the bar!

Eventually, Craig gets started in the bar with the Casual Coalition (at least a half hour later than the official 7:30 PM start time) just about the same time that we're getting ready to head out. I wouldn't have minded staying to hear more, but Ting wants to get home before dark, so we only hear the first two tunes:

• She Belongs to Me (SL)
• Million Dollar Bash (CM)

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!