Terrapin Crossroads presents Phil Lesh, Jackie Greene, and the Terrapin Allstars: Jason Crosby, Jeremy Hoenig, Lebo, and surprise special guest, Bob Weir
the Backyard Stage in Beach Park at Terrapin Crossroads
100 Yacht Club Drive, San Rafael, CA 94901 USA
5:00 PM, Tuesday, May 18, 2021

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[4:15 PM] Soundcheck still going when we arrive today. I'm distracted by conversation with friends, but they certainly work on Scarlet Begonias and a strange salsa/samba jam that I don't recognize.

[5:19 PM] {band onstage & noodling}

1. [5:21 PM] Scarlet Begonias (JG)
2. [5:31 PM] Cold, Rain & Snow (PL)
   [5:41 PM] {JG swaps from Gibson to Danelectro}
3. [5:42 PM] Me & Bobby McGee (L)
4. [5:50 PM] Brown-Eyed Women (JG)
   [5:56 PM] {JG swaps back to the Gibson}
5. [5:58 PM] Ship of Fools (L) »
   [6:01 PM] {Weir arrives alone carrying a guitar, and walks into the back stage area from the restaurant patio}
6. [6:07 PM] Viola Lee Blues
   [6:13 PM] {Weir climbs onstage in the middle of the jam}
7. [6:19 PM] Feel Like a Stranger (BW) »
8. [6:32 PM] Samson & Delilah (BW)
   [6:40 PM] {Lebo swaps to lap steel guitar}
9. [6:40 PM] Jack Straw (BW) »
10. [6:52 PM] Wharf Rat (JG/BW)
    [7:06 PM] {Lebo swaps back to acoustic guitar}
11. [7:06 PM] Dead Flowers (JG)
    [7:13 PM] {show ends; Phil introduces the band; donor rap; goodbye; no encore}
    [7:15 PM] {all done; PA tunes turned up; performers gather for a group hug}

• Jason Crosby: Nord Electro 6D keyboard;
• Jackie Greene: Danelectro ?DC59 guitar, Gibson SG guitar, lead & harmony vox;
• Jeremy Hoenig: drums;
• Dan "Lebo" Lebowitz: acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar, lead & harmony vox;
• Phil Lesh: bass, lead & harmony vox.
  
  with special guest:
• Bob Weir: guitar, lead & harmony vox.

Bright and sunny today. Slightly breezy. Neither cold nor hot – just exactly perfect! Lots of empty tables today. I don't think the place is much more than 2/3 full. I guess Tuesday is a tough sell?

Scarlet Begonias is no surprise, given that it was sound checked, but it's nonetheless welcome: always good to start with a high-energy number!

Today's version of Viola Lee Blues was rather similar to the previous one. It's been altered slightly from the version that Phil has been playing for the past twenty years. I'm not educated enough in music to be able to explain better, sorry. The introduction has definitely been toned down a bit, and without the in-your-face crashing chord, the song is lot harder to recognize. Bobby joined about half-way through the tune, and did an admirable job of immediately stirring additional weirdness into the jam. Soon afterwards, Jackie played the descending blues riff of Going Down, and when Bobby followed, I wondered briefly if we were going to get a real bust out, but it was just a tease, and the jam soon turned back towards stranger spaces without any sort of name.

I thought Feel Like a Stranger was taken at an awfully slow tempo – too bad, as that kills the dancing vibe for me. On the positive side, the guys stretched it out in all sorts of interesting ways before Bobby pulled a classic move: changing key to non-verbally announce, “Surprise, now it's Samson!” I'm pretty sure the rest of the guys were unprepared for that one. They might have known it was coming, but were they ready? NOPE! Fortunately for them, Bobby was still playing at a slow tempo, and with an extra few seconds to think through every measure, they were ready to roll after another few bars.

Jack Straw began with the same slow pace (imagine unhorsed cowboys crawling through the desert, chasing the mirage of water), but thankfully perked up quite a bit by the end: not fast, but enough to make me notice and do a happy dance.

Jackie and Bob traded verses and/or lines throughout Wharf Rat. I think they started out with a plan, but got mixed up along the way, and ended up relying on pointed nods or other body English to make it through the finale. Despite that, I was glad to hear it: always good for us sinners to listen to songs about salvation and redemption, right?

Dead Flowers was a snazzy lagniappe. I assume it was NOT on the setlist, and something pulled out of thin air by Jackie when they decided to do one more for the night: if they sound checked it earlier, I wasn't paying enough attention!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2021 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2021 event list! ☸ On to the next event!