Features

Watching The River Flow: On Tour With Phil Lesh And Bob Dylan (Fall 1999)

Back in the fall of 1999 Phil Lesh & Friends took to the road for a tour with Bob Dylan. Lesh’s band on most of these days included 4/5 of the what would be known as the Phil Lesh Quintet as the bassist was joined by Warren Haynes, Rob Barraco and John Molo. Rather than Jimmy Herring, a young Derek Trucks appeared on guitar for many of these gigs with Jorma Kaukonen (and others) contributing as well. Here’s a feature story on the tour, which originally appeared in the April 2000 issue of Relix.

When it was first announced that former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh would be embarking on an extensive tour with Bob Dylan, rock fans were overjoyed. The two artists have crossed paths many times over the years as Dylan and the Dead shared both a common musical vision and an audience made up of many of the same devoted fans.

This tour was the biggest excursion undertaken by Lesh since his liver transplant provided him with a new lease on life less than a year earlier. The tour would cover 17 dates in mostly college arenas, as well as touching down in some of the favorite touring stops that the Grateful Dead enjoyed for so many years. The shows were advertised with both artists receiving equal billing on the posters and advertisements. Shortly before the tour began, Lesh and Dylan decided that for the sake of the ease of production process and soundchecks, they would agree to a coin toss to determine who would perform first. Lesh, having won the toss, elected to play first at each of the shows. The tour was set; the only thing left to do was to prepare for the road. For Lesh, though, that meant some unexpected detours along the way.

Phil Lesh and Friends decided to do some warm up shows at The Fillmore Auditorium in Denver with Paul Barrere and Billy Payne from Little Feat who were signed on to perform with Lesh on the first leg of the Dylan tour. By all accounts, these shows were a resounding success as the Little Feat members blended perfectly with the hard jamming sounds of Phil Lesh and Friends.

While Steve Kimock had always been the cornerstone of all the previous Phil and Friends shows, the guitarist walked off the tour after the opening performance with Dylan in Champaign, Illinois. Since his abrupt departure, the guitarist has never given a full accounting of the reasons for bailing, leaving many fans bewildered. That said, Kimock returned to San Francisco on the eve of the biggest showcase of his life. Also complicating matters was the dismissal of roadies Steve Parish and Ramrod. The reasons for their dismissal appeared to be some old issues between the Dylan and Dead road crews. Lesh addressed this matter on his Website several days later when he posted a message under his pen name Reddy Kilowatt. “I will not allow old politics and ego to poison what I am striving to do,” he said, “a tour where the only mission is to do our best to honor the music, the musicians, and the community.”

While the loss of such a significant musical partner such as Kimock could have spelled doom to a lesser band, the departure actually opened new doors for the bassist as Lesh quickly discovered. Phil Lesh and Friends played its next two dates with Paul Barrere and Billy Payne before guitarist Derek Trucks signed on to the tour in time for a rollicking Halloween show in Chicago, which was the last show on the tour with the Little Feat guys.

Like a young Jedi knight wielding his light saber, Trucks’ soulful, high-soaring, slide-guitar playing added an unheard element in the Phil Lesh and Friends sound. Trucks’ arrival came at just the right time as Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes and Zen Tricksters keyboardist Rob Barraco joined the tour at the next gig, providing what would be the core band for most of the remaining shows on the tour.

While the Internet chat groups debated what was occurring on the state of affairs with Phil Lesh and Friends, we left San Francisco to embark on our first Grateful Dead related tour since the band’s 20th Anniversary shows back in 1985. The following recounts some of the moments that occurred on the last half of the tour.

After an afternoon exploring our nation’s first capital, we descended on Temple University. Philadelphia is an old city, and this newly constructed venue stands in stark contrast to the surrounding buildings, many of which are over 100 years old. While we don’t make it back east very often, we were greeted by many old friends including Relix publisher, Toni Brown. Toni is a celebrity in her own right in these parts and while we chatted, many fans came by and gave us their warm wishes. We were heartened to learn that Phil had jammed with Bob Dylan the previous night in Delaware performing “Friend Of The Devil.” In recent years, Dylan has included the Dead classic in his set.

Proving that the world is indeed a small place we also ran into Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Adams, who had come out to catch her first sets of Phil and Friends shows. Jerry Garcia’s former wife gave a big thumbs-up to what she had heard the evening before. Throughout the tour, the venues employed a reserved seat policy in the stands, with an open general admission for fans on the floor. Admission to the floor required a wristband, which caused some delays for folks who were trying to make it down to the floor area.

The show’s format had changed a bit since the last Phil and Friends shows at the Warfield Theater. As the house lights remained on, Phil Lesh and the band—drummer John Molo, keyboardist Rob Barraco, and guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes—eased into a jam that increased in volume and energy. As the lights dimmed a good five minutes into the beginning jam, Lesh and the guitarists floated like butterflies with some sensitive passages that soon increased in intensity. Trucks and Haynes certainly work well together, and in this context, they were simply awesome. Quoting instrumental passages from “Mountain Jam” and “Blue Sky,” Lesh’s bass always ringing at full throttle, the band embarked on what had to be a good 25-minute jam before morphing into “Crazy Fingers.” Rob Barraco’s tenure with one of America’s best jam bands, the Zen Tricksters, certainly served him well as his vocals hit the mark. Barraco was playing a Hammond B-3 organ that was previously used by none other than the late Ron “Pigpen” McKernan.

“Unbroken Chain” was greeted like a long-lost friend. Lesh’s voice was met with a thunderous ovation, and the song’s intricate middle section was performed masterfully. Phil and Friends were joined by blues queen Susan Tedeschi for “Dupree’s Diamond Blues” and “Turn On Your Lovelight,” which proved to be the highlight of the show. Tedeschi demonstrated her prowess as a masterful guitarist, adding some fiery guitar licks with Trucks and Haynes.