June 10, 2010

7 Walkers – The Fox Theater – Boulder, CO – 6/5/10

Boulder’s original hippie generation came out in full force Saturday night to see 7 Walkers, the latest of Grateful Dead spawns to emerge into our musical scene. This time, it’s drummer Bill Kreutzmann giving the band its fuel for publicity, while Louisiana bluesman Papa Mali takes the reigns on stage. Unlike many of the other Dead spinoffs and reincarnations, who rely heavily on the vast catalog they already have, 7 Walkers takes it a step further. They have teamed up with legendary songwriter Robert Hunter on a slew of new songs for their upcoming album, to be released later this year.

When 7 Walkers took the stage, it was surprising to note that The Fox was not at capacity, especially with the name “Bill Kreutzmann” in huge red letters on the marquis outside. This, however, did not upset anyone, as there was now enough room for everyone to sway and spin to the music. An abbreviated Space that worked its way into a bluesy Sugaree kicked off the evening with a familiar spark. Mali, who was raised playing the blues, brings a southern flavor to the San Francisco vibe, much like Warren Haynes though without the same ferocity. From there it was Death Don’t Have No Mercy and He’s Gone, which the mostly older crowd sang along to happily. Bertha came later with a fiery guitar solo from Mali that settled into the ever-comforting Wharf Rat.

Now that the crowd had settled in, it was time for the quartet to break into a new original Hunter tune, appropriately titled 7 Walkers. This is perhaps the song that will define the band for more reasons than that they share a name. It fits perfectly alongside the Dead repertoire but stands out in that the melody is new, lyrics fresh and meaningful, and has a distinct southern blues feel. Another 7 Walkers original, The New Orleans Crawl, played early in the second set, easily settled in and allowed the crowd to bop along in true Bayou style.

READ ON for more from Kos on 7 Walkers at the Fox…

With Furthur having just wrapped its own festival and heading out for plenty of summer fun, here’s an appraisal of the past 15-or-so years of Phil Lesh-anchored bands: some justifiably great, others a real stretch for decency. Marvel at this: player-by-player, there are technically more than 50 alumni for bands called Phil Lesh & Friends, and given the various combinations these artists created for Phil over the years, a constellation of different ensembles and different flavors.

[Photo by Stephen Dorian Miner]

Here’s a look at 15 of them for the memory books, and a few players scraped from the “what if” section of the Dead-addled brain. Feel free to argue. We can take it.

5 Greatest Post-Jerry Phil Lesh Bands

1. The Q (Sept. 2000-Sept. 2003): Some of my fondest music-going memories from the past decade, and definitely – unimpeachably – the most accomplished of the individual Phil bands. What fun they were, and transcendent on their best nights, with those guitar tangles, blazing blues rockers, gooey psychedelics, killer rhythms (Molo – the man!) and gorgeous harmonies. Miss ‘em. Still.

Phil Lesh, Warren Haynes, John Molo, Jimmy Herring & Rob Barraco

2. The Jackie Band (July 2007 – Dec. 2008): A band of twang and finesse, and helpful in that it introduced the talented Jackie Greene to a much wider audience. There were some fine, though not always consistent shows from this crew, and it especially clicked whenever Barry Sless was in the mix, as it freed Larry “The Master” Campbell up to play more things with strings.

Phil Lesh, John Molo, Jackie Greene, Larry Campbell, Steve Molitz, Barry Sless

READ ON for the best and worst Phil-led lineups…

This week’s videos feature bands you should check out at Bonnaroo… In April, recent Blips artist Truth & Salvage Co. released a video for the radio-friendly track Call Back off

It’s hard to believe but tomorrow Phish will take the road to launch their massive 29-date summer tour in Chicago. Summer tour has always been an important time for Phish and this year is no exception. In 2009 the band played a mostly successful run of summer shows, in two legs, after an inspired but mostly sloppy return at Hampton in March.

Phish on Jimmy Fallon – Kill Devil Falls [via theaudioperv.com]

Last summer the band conquered their usual sheds but also returned to some unique venues in St. Louis’s tiny Fox Theater and Red Rocks, a venue that finally welcomed the band back after a 13-year banishment.

This summer’s venues are mostly the standard sheds but the exceptions are glorious. The 6,500 seat, waterside Ntelos Pavilion in Norfolk, VA is a major upgrade over the Verizon Amphitheater in Virginia Beach. The Greek Theater in Berkeley is one of those venues that fans have been fantasizing about for years and Telluride Town Park is perhaps the quaintest place the band has visited since they were touring the country in a van.

While we’re on the subject of venues, I think the time has come for Phish to forsake an entirely outdoors summer tour and start working in some smaller theater and smaller arena dates as they did last summer when they played the Fox and smaller arenas in Knoxville and Asheville. The same approach needs to come to the Northeast, where chances to see this band in an intimate setting have been few and far between. There are very few people who actually enjoy sitting on the lawn at these giant venues and there just aren’t enough pavilion tickets to go around. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for the band to play more places like Radio City Music Hall or Hampton Coliseum or even NBA/NHL arenas like Madison Square Garden or The Wachovia Center in the summer, and forsake a few amphitheater dates.

READ ON for more from Luke on the coming Phish tour…

HT contributor Wade “Wyllys” Wilby has been given the royal sendoff from tour of duty with Umphrey’s McGee as he heads off to focus on his DJ career. Here’s the