Trey Anastasio Takes Grateful Dead Fare Thee Well To Higher Register On Night One

Photo by Jay Blakesberg

The long awaited answers to questions were revealed last night (6/27) in Santa Clara, California as the the debut show of the Fare Thee Well run took place. The five-date run of shows headlined by the “core four” of the Grateful Dead — Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann — to mark the band’s 50^thanniversary also included Trey Anastasio on guitar along with Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti on keys.  The questions of who would sing what, where each person would stand on stage and what eras they would pull the setlist from were revealed – at least for one of the five nights. For viewers on the web-stream, it was noticeable that the focus was on the core-four, with cameras barely cutting to Trey, Jeff or Bruce for more than a few seconds, even when they were clearly soloing. Considering the high price of the stream, the shaky camerawork and lousy angles hurt the viewing experience.

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Although the band got off to a rough start, kind of finding themselves onstage, most noticeably with Hart and Kreutzmann trying to find their groove, the band evolved in the most organic forms from a rusty “hey get to know you” band to an almost well oiled machine by the end of set 2. It’s hard to blame them though, as one can only imagine the pressure placed on them for these gigs, and, it was only night one. The MVP for night one goes to Anastasio who carried the band with brave leads and adventurous soloing that made this version of the Grateful Dead more than just being a feared tribute or nostalgic act to something of relevance and worth the hype. Not to mention, he seemed to be having the most fun, smiling the whole night, even when Bob Weir looked like he was about to smash his guitar over Phil’s head because things weren’t going his way.

Anastasio saved an otherwise humdrum set one  when he picked up the steam heavy during “Viola Lee Blues” following a rather hum drum performance of “Cumberland Blues” earlier in the set. Highlights in a more lucid second set included “Dark Star” which had some fascinating jamming as well as a powerful “St. Stephen” and a touching/ moving “Morning Dew.” With only four more nights to turn 50 years of history of a cultural and musical institution into a righteous farewell, the pressure is on for the boys to deliver a bigger bang – but by the time they reach Chicago, they should be on target to bring the heat.

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Set List:

Set One:

Truckin’
Uncle John’s Band
Alligator
Cumberland Blues
Born Cross-Eyed
Cream Puff War
Viola Lee Blues

Set Two:

Cryptical Envelopment
Dark Star
St. Stephen
The Eleven
Turn On Your Love Light
Drums/Space
What’s Become Of The Baby
The Other One
Morning Dew

Encore:

Casey Jones