One of the most anticipated collaborations of the summer that raised eyebrows when it was first announced in March, was that Phil Lesh and his ever-changing lineup of musical “friends” would be collaborating with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline in the Sacred Rose Festival outside of Chicago. While the worlds of The Grateful Dead and Wilco previously merged on 2016’s Day of the Dead album where they recorded “St. Stephen” live with Bob Weir, this was always a collaboration, we know would happen sooner than later.
So this one-off project called Philco that also featured keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, guitarists Stu Allen and Grahame Lesh, vocalist Elliott Peck, longtime Lesh drummer John Molo, and saxophonist/flutist Karl Denson made its debut Friday night and stuck to more song-oriented Dead songs like “Jack Straw, “Dire Wolf,” Pride of Cucamonga,” “Franklins Tower” (sans Help>Slip) “New Speedway Boogie” and “Ripple”. There was still some jamming as “Viola Lee Blues” and “Shakedown Street” had its liftoff moments. Included were two songs from the Wilco catalog – one “Airline to Heaven” from the Woody Guthrie penned Mermaid Avenue Vol. II and Wilco’s own “Via Chicago.” Check out some of the highlights and setlists below..
