Then & Now: Phil Lesh & Friends – Life Is A Carnival

Today we continue a new column called Then and Now in which we let our readers compare a recently busted out version of a tune to a take from before the song was put on the shelf.

Phil Lesh and Friends completed a tour-opening run at the Wellmont in Montclair, New Jersey on Friday night where they were augmented by Jason Crosby (God Street Wine, Robert Randolph and the Family Band) on fiddle at various points during the show. Crosby helped on a cover of Life Is A Carnival by The Band which was sung by John Kadlecik who added a little Jerry-flair to Lesh’s version.

The Grateful Dead/Furthur bassist first played Life Is A Carnival with a Phil and Friends ensemble that featured Lesh, John Molo, Jimmy Herring, Chris Robinson, Steve Molitz, Barry Sless and members of Railroad Earth on February 12th, 2005 at a Mardi Gras themed show in San Francisco, Calif. Here’s a soundboard-sourced, streamable track of that performance…

And now check out a killer video of Friday’s take on The Band classic featuring Lesh, Kadlecik, Joe Russo, Jeff Chimenti and Jackie Greene thanks to YouTuber sgibson818

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One Response

  1. Surprisingly, I think the more recent version is superior. Russo kills it. The 2 part vocals by john and jackie are excellent.

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