Phil Lesh and Friends 1999-08-22

Phil Lesh and Friends
1999-08-22
County Bowl
Santa Barbara, CA
(Download or Stream)

My first experience with Phil Lesh and friends was in the summer after I graduated from high school. My old friend Critical Chris and I decided to go Gathering of the Vibes in upstate New York. I was already big into Gov't Mule and the Grateful Dead, and Mule was featured one of the nights of the festival followed by Phil Lesh and Friends. We had a devilishly smart plan to fund our entire trip by selling grilled cheese sandwiches once we got inside the festival. Who could possibly turn down a delicious and competitively priced grilled cheese sandwich? Apparently a lot of people, because we sold very few of them.

I found this Phil Lesh and Friends show by accident. I was searching for something with an entirely different vibe, but was drawn in by Soulshine on the track list. Warren wrote the song for the Allman Brothers, and he took it with him when he left for Gov't Mule. If you asked me in high school what my favorite song was, I would have told you hands down Soulshine. Older and wiser now, I am no longer bold enough to answer that question with anything less than a top 25 list. This potent blend of memories combined, and I downloaded the show and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich.

Youth, large, lusty, loving--youth full of grace, force, fascination, 
Do you know that Old Age may come after you with equal grace, 
force, fascination? 

Day full-blown and splendid-day of the immense sun, action, 
ambition, laughter, 
The Night follows close with millions of suns, and sleep and 
restoring darkness. -Walt Whitman

The set is rambling and perfectly fit in with my day off today.  There is a lazy organ intro to Soulshine, and drawn out My Favorite Things. The show ends entirely within the vein of the Grateful Dead with a upbeat and loose version of Iko, Iko.  Sound quality is good.  Sorry about the lack of pictures in this post. I had difficulty finding royalty free images....