moe. welcomed an array of special guests to their Capitol Theatre shows last weekend in honor of their guitarist Chuck Garvey who was recently hospitalized due to a stroke. Special guests on Friday included Scott Metzger, Aron Magner, Warren Haynes, Shannon Lynch, & Emma Derhak (daughter of moe.’s very own bassist Rob).
Metzger sat in for the first three songs which included an “Annihilation Blues” opener and “Stranger Than Fiction.” Aron Magner then tagged in for the remainder of the show. The first set ended with an emotional “Bring You Down.”
Spirits were high and lots of love was expressed for both Chuck and the band all weekend. The special guests provided an incredibly lively dynamic to some classic moe. material like Warren Haynes sitting in on a second set “Opium” and a super charged set-ending “Recreational Chemistry” as well as some beloved classic covers like Pink Floyd’s “Time” & Led Zepelin’s “Immigrant Song” which both served as the first night’s encore.
Saturday night saw Strangefolk’s Reid Genauer sit in for the first two songs, including “Akimbo” which featured Chuck’s nephew also on guitar. Nate Wilson manned keys for almost the entire night, lending his prowess to first set songs like “Captain America” and “Moth.” The second set was highlighted by Schleigho’s Suke Cerulo who amazed on guitar.
An intense “The Pit” and the classic Chuck song “Four” were just some of the gems from this set. But perhaps the best thing seen all weekend were video images of a rehabilitating Chuck himself playing guitar that were streamed on the walls of the Cap, indeed giving hope for the new year.
moe. ~ The Capitol Theatre ~ Port Chester, NY ~ 12/10/21
I: Annihilation Blues*, Stranger Than Fiction*, Dangerous Game*^%, Deep This Time^%, Blue Christmas^%&, Where Does The Time Go?^%, Bring You Down^
{Entire show without Chuck. #Chuckside * w/ Scott Metzger ^ w/ Aron Magner % w/ Shannon Lynch & w/ Emma Derhak $ w/ Warren Haynes
moe. ~ The Capitol Theatre ~ Port Chester, NY ~ 12/11/21
I: All Roads Lead To Home*^, Akimbo*^&, Big World^ > Ricky Marten^ > Captain America^, Zed Naught Z^&, LL3^ > Moth^%
II: Blue Jeans Pizza^$, New Hope For The New Year$, Tubing The River Styx^$ > The Pit^$ > Silver Sun^$, White Lightning Turpentine^$, Four^$ > Spine Of A Dog^$#
E: Okayalright^$#
* w/ Reid Genauer ^ w/ Nate Wilson & w/ John Carlo Pecheone % w/ Kirin Rogers $ w/ Suke Cerulo # w/ Emma Derhak
Phil Lesh wrapped up his second three-show run at The Capitol Theatre on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. The evening featured Stuart Bogie and Amy Helm joining Phil, along with Eric D. Johnson, Josh Kaufman, Elliot Peck and Grahame Lesh from Midnight North, Joe Russo and Heartbreaker’s keyboardist Benmont Tench.
Phil Lesh has one more run of shows at The Cap this month, with Phil-O-Ween weekend, from Oct. 29-31, including Nicki Bluhm, Larry Campbell, Griffin Goldsmith, Taylor Goldsmith, Grahame Lesh, Trevor Menear, Lee Pardini, M.C. Taylor and Teresa Williams.
Phil Lesh and Friends – The Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY – Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Set 1: Jack Straw, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Ship of Fools, Peggy-O, Tennessee Jed, Touch of Grey
Set 2: Truckin’, So Many Roads, Caledonia Mission, Bird Song, Let It Grow, Stella Blue, Rag Mama Rag, Not Fade Away, Morning Dew
Jam band supergroup Dead & Company make their summer tour stop at the land of chocolate, Hershey Park, on August 28. With them as always, following is their eclectic, eccentric, and electric fanbase: the Deadheads, as colorful as their kaleidoscopic visions can take them. The fanbase is incredibly kind, tight knit, dedicated, and functions as a self sustaining community that follows the band.
The band started the night with “The Music Never Stopped,” a good way to get things going. “Touch of Grey” proved to be a most apropriate song, one whose message we can all relate to in the midst of a worldwide health pandemic. Mayer shines on “Tennessee Jed” with some fancy chicken picking and long time superstar vocals on “Mr.Charlie.” The band wrapped up the first set with an incredible “Cassidy,” featuring iconic Weir vocal parts and a fast, fun, everyone sing a long “Don’t Ease Me In” to end the set.
The second set blasted off with a psychedelic “Here Comes Sunshine”, featuring Mayer leading everyone into the sun, vocally and theoretically speaking ofcourse. Now Bobby gets to shine on vocals as the band goes into an epic “Estimated Prophet”. Dancing shoes are coming on and the band pulls of several extended, even for Grateful Dead standards, improvised sections on a massive “Eyes of The World”. Mayer gets to shine on vocals again with “Althea”. And now comes time for the rhythm devils as the rest of the band leaves.
After “Space” Dead & Co went into an unexpected Miles Davis cover of “Milestones,” a most psychedelic and sonically unexpected spectacle. They switch gears into “Going Down The Road Feeling Bad” and quickly again into “Death Don’t Have No Mercy.” This featured a somber Weir on vocals, really belting out about death and loss. And to close out the set, a most apropriate “One More Saturday Night” played with all the vigor and groove a Saturday night show should have.
Bobby declares that there is a strict curfew in play so they’ll skip the formalities of getting off stage and get right to the encore which was a thumping sing along, “Quinn the Eskimo.”
Dead and Company – Hershey Park Stadium, Hershey, PA – August 28, 2021
Set 1: The Music Never Stopped -> Easy Answers -> The Music Never Stopped, Touch of Grey, Tennessee Jed, Mr. Charlie, Black Throated Wind, Cassidy, Don’t Ease Me In
Set 2: Here Comes Sunshine > Estimated Prophet > Eyes of the World > Althea > Drums > Space > Milesstones > Going Down the Road Feeling Bad > Death Don’t Have No Mercy > One More Saturday Night
After nearly all Music Festivals worldwide postponed their events in 2020, the return of those festivals has begun, bringing with it joyous fans, packed houses and the livemusic that has been missing for far too long. Peach Fest 2021 marked the first large scale music festival to return, held over July 1-4 at Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA.
Thursday, July 1
Kicking off Thursday afternoon with sets from Eggy, Mikaela Davis, Twiddle, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and Dark Star Orchestra, the muggy air and intermittent rain was an afterthought for those in attendance. Spread out between the Peach and Grove stages, the acts all had full crowds, with few attendees missing a full range of live music. A wide selection of jam, funk and, in the case of Davis, harp music, kept the crowds satiated, and it was only Day 1.
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Friday, July 2
The Mushroom Stage, where Goose performed a breakout set in 2019, opened up Friday at Peach Fest 2021 with Thumpasaurus, Ghost Light and Aqueous. Nicole Atkins, followed by Live at the Fillmore East, a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Allman Brothers Band seminal live album (stay tuned for our look back at the album and performance on July 6!).
What felt like a celebration of a steady return to normalcy found both musicians and patrons delighted to be back. Friday night the crowd was rocked with two sets from Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD) and Umphrey’s McGee following with a two hour late-night set.
Russo gave special thanks to his drum tech/nephew Evan Roque for taking over his role behind the kit two years earlier while Joe was tending to his newborn child. Roque then sat in with Joe for an encore of “Samson & Delilah.” Umphrey’s McGee’s late-night set included a mind-blowing sit-in from lead singer from Doom Flamingo, Kanika Moore, who joined the group for a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused.” The Chicago septet closed the set with “Glory” -> “Hajimemashite” -> “Glory” followed by “40’s Theme.”
Watch Moore’s sit-in below and stay tuned for a full report on Saturday’s music!
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Saturday, July 3
A wet Friday night gave way to a much drier, enthusiastic, and jam packed Saturday at Peach Fest 2021. Spirits were high for Oysterhead and everyone raging at Turkuaz late-night. The rain picked up around 5pm when Oteil & Friends started a set of Allman Brothers tunes, welcoming the Allman Betts Band for a couple of of songs to help clear up the rain. Dopapod played an incredible, packed set at the Mushroom Stage, a welcoming sight for a Northeast Festival favorite.
On the Grove stage, Andy Frasco welcomed a cast of friend including Taz, Mike Gantzer, and members of Doom Flamingo. Frasco recreated his Peach 2019 set by crowd surfing over to the pool from the stage. Later at the Grove, Trey Anastasio sat in with fellow Ghosts of the Forest member Celisse.
Oysterhead took the stage for a highly anticipated performance, their first together since Fberuary 2020 in Colorado, and also Les Claypool’s last time on stage. Opening with “Mr.Oysterhead,” they worked through much of their catalog with Anastasio taking command on many songs, including a surprise cover of Phish’s “First Tube.” To close the night, Turkuaz played an irresistible dance set of Talking Heads covers, featuring a surprise King Crimson cover, “Thela Hun Gingeet,” with KC guitarist Adrian Belew joining them for the set.
One more day to go Peach Fest! Have a Happy 4th of July!
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Photo: Jesse Faatz
Sunday, July 4
Never miss a Sunday show, so they say, and what a SUNday it was! The weather finally gave way to a fun in the sun packed last day of Peach Festival 2021. Patrons were excited to utilize the water park and enjoy an independence day full of leisure.
Sunday started off with the Peach guitar pull, a tradition started in 2019. Later in the day Warren Haynes played a mostly acoustic, solo set. This proved to be slow but also genuine and touching, playing a soul warming “Hallelujah” (Leonard Cohen), an always loved “Soulshine,” and a well played “It Hurts Me Too” amongst an array of wonderfully executed tunes.
The main event came soon after Warren, with two sets of The String Cheese Incident. Playing a monstrous first set, opening with “Texas” and paying tribute to Independence Day by closing with the Grateful Dead’s “U.S. Blues,” with Warren Haynes sitting in.
The second set opened up with another sit-in, this time by “The Blind Boys of Alabama” followed by a reggae, bass heavy sequence of “Best Feeling” > “Exodus” > “Best Feeling.” The second set was incredibly energized and even featured a Drums section. SCI paid tribute to the Allman Brothers Band with a performance of “Jessica” as their encore.
The music was over but many of the patrons were not looking to end their nights just yet. Circling to and past the “Thunder Dome,” a DIY stage in the campgrounds consisting of a tent a and few canopies. At night it hosted as many people that could be accommodated, with musicians playing late into the night.
Another Peach fest in the books. See you next year!
Trey Anastasio headed south from Saratoga Springs for two nights of shows at the Beacon Theatre on Tuesday, June 22. The performances mimicked his Beacon Jams shows of Fall 2020, but now with the addition of a vaccinated crowd.
With a crowd hanging on every note, Anastasio repeated some songs from the Saratoga Shows, as well as played some tunes for the first time on this run, including “AC/DC Bag.” Highlights from SPAC were found with the Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski joining for “Fluffhead,” “Mercury,” “The Lizards,” “What’s The Use?,” and “Harry Hood,” among other compositions that left few dry eyes in the house.
Anastasio and crew return to the Upper West Side and the Beacon Theatre for one more show on Wednesday, June 23, with the show starting at 8pm.
Setlist: Trey Anastasio, Beacon Theatre, NYC – June 22, 2021
Set 1: Everything’s Right, AC/DC Bag > Backwards Down the Number Line, Fluffhead*, Brian and Robert*, Stash*, Ghost, Shade#, Mercury*, The Lizards*, Dirt#, Sand#, Wolfman’s Brother*, Blaze On, What’s the Use*, If I Could*, Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.*, Pebbles and Marbles*, Harry Hood*
Encore: More, First Tube*
* – with Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski # – with Jeff Tanski
For the final performance of this five show run, Anastasio continued to do what he does best, wow audiences with acoustic renditions of classic Phish and TAB hits, with string arrangements. Check out the setlist and photo gallery below! Setlist via Phish.net
Setlist: Trey Anastasio, Beacon Theatre, NYC – June 23, 2021
Set 1: Theme From the Bottom [1], Sample in a Jar[1], Divided Sky [2], I Never Needed You Like This Before [3], Free[1], The Wedge[3], Water in the Sky[2], The Inlaw Josie Wales[2], Twist[1], Bouncing Around the Room[3], Drift While You’re Sleeping[2], 46 Days[1] > Steam[1], A Life Beyond The Dream[2], Split Open and Melt[3], Joy[2], Farmhouse[1], Chalk Dust Torture[1] -> Back on the Train[1] > Chalk Dust Torture[1], Slave to the Traffic Light[2], You Enjoy Myself[2]
[1] Trey on acoustic guitar. [2] Trey on acoustic guitar; with the Rescue Squad Strings and Jeff Tanski on piano. [3] Trey on acoustic guitar; with Jeff Tanski on piano.
