79 Memorable Moments with Phil Lesh at The Cap

41. December 30, 2014

The second show of PhilRAD’s New Year shows marked Phil’s remarkable thirty-first show at The Cap in 2014. For this show, Phil led the band through a two-hour show playing favorites from the immense Grateful Dead catalog. The show was filled with sing-along tracks and intense jams between the members on stage. The band was able to show incredible on-stage chemistry which was all the more impressive considering this was just their second show together. The show was concluded with an encore of Jerry Garcia's incredible track “Ruben and Cherise,” of which you can see video below.

42. December 31, 2014

After Phil Lesh’s unforgettable year at the venue, it was only logical for him to play the last show of the year. Phil and his band celebrated the end of 2014 with a three-set show that saw them play strictly Grateful Dead songs. The energy was incredible in the venue as everyone celebrated the beginning of 2015 together.

43. March 15, 2015

After a long three month period without a Phil Lesh performance, Phil found himself at back The Cap for his seventy-fifth birthday. This would be the start of what became an annual show run for Phil’s birthday. With the new year, he brought along new band members. For this run of shows he enlisted The Allman Brothers' Warren Haynes to play guitar, Eric Krasno also on guitar, Rob Barraco on the keys, and John Molo on drums. The show featured multiple jams throughout both sets. The show concluded with the entire crowd singing Phil happy birthday. Below is a short clip of the entire crowd singing happy birthday to Phil!

44. March 16, 2015

For the second night of Phil’s 75th birthday celebration, Phil returned with the same band as the night prior. Phil and Friends would take this opportunity to build up momentum for the second set by performing a jam filled cover from Warren Haynes former band The Allman Brothers: “Blue Sky.” First the audience was treated to a solo by Krasno then another solo featuring Bracco and his piano, and lastly the audience witnessed Warren Haynes rip through a magical solo that seemingly never ended.

45. March 18, 2015

After a day off from performance, Phil and Friends were back at The Cap but with minor changes to his band. For the last two shows of the birthday celebration, Barry Sless replaced Eric Krasno. A standout performance of the night was a knock-your-socks-off rendition of "Not Fade Away."

46. March 19, 2015

For the finale of Phil Lesh's seventy-fifth birthday run, he and his bandmates made sure it was a night no one in the audience would forget. The show opened with “Cassidy” and was followed by “Bird Song”, both songs debuted at The Cap in 1974 and 1971 respectively. Also toward the end of the first set, Phil and friends played the Phil Lesh written track “Pride of Cucamonga” which was never actually played live by The Grateful Dead. Midway through the second set Phil again played a song written by himself. Before he played the song he shared an interesting tidbit about the track, saying that “What’s weird about that song is I sort of did it as a joke. It’s a take on a Fleetwood Mac tune called “Station Man.” Attached below is a video of Phil and the band performing his track “Passenger”.

47. October 30, 2015

After Phil’s longest break from performing at The Cap since it reopened back in 2012, he returned to The Cap for his annual Phil-O-Ween show run. For this show, Phil brought along Stanley Jordan and Tony Leone in addition to Jason Crosby and John Kadlecik. Below is a video of Phil and friends performing “All Along the Watchtower”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZO2SjU9i64

48. October 31, 2015

For the Halloween show of 2015’s annual Phil-O-Ween run, Phil came back to The Cap with the same group of musicians as the night before with the addition of Scott Matzger who provided additional guitar. After a night filled with Grateful Dead covers Phil and friends threw in a surprise for the audience. Late in the second set Phil and Stanley Jordan broke in the the Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child”. Below is video of the band jamming to the classic Jimi Hendrix record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xnuvVVBSsw

49. November 1, 2015

For the third and final show of 2015 Phil-O-Ween special, Phil and Friends tasked themselves with revisiting a past Grateful Dead show from November, 1st 1985. For the thirtieth anniversary of the show, Phil and his band revisited the tunes from that electric night. Rather than recreate the show in its entirety, the band explored the tunes from that day working off each other to create their own legendary performance.

50. November 5, 2015

For this show Phil and his band - which consisted of John Molo, Jason Crosby, Barry Sless, Scott Law, and David Nelson - performed a complete recreation of the legendary February 19th, 1971 show that the Dead performed at The Cap. The band ended with an encore of “Casey Jones” which left the audience eager for two more nights of Phil and Friends.

51. November 6, 2015

After an incredible recreation of a classic Grateful Dead show at the Cap from 1971 Phil returned the next night with the same group of musicians plus a new addition. For this show, he enlisted his son Grahame to play guitar with him on select tracks.

52. November 7, 2015

Like the night before, Phil and his bandmates came into ready to give the crowd an unforgettable show. Below is a video of the band performing Frankie Vaughan's hit “Garden of Eden”.

53. March 15, 2016

For his first show at The Cap in 2016 Phil performed for his 76th birthday show. This show also marked the first time Phil came to The Cap with The Q. Otherwise known as The Quintet, The Q consists of Warren Haynes, John Molo, Rob Barraco, and Jimmy Herring. Below is the performance of “Althea” with Warren Haynes.

54. March 17, 2016

For the second show of Phil’s 76th birthday run, he returned once more with The Q. One of these surprises was a performance of the Ryan Adams song “Let it Ride”. Below is a fan-recorded video of the performance.

55. March 18, 2016

This show marked the last show of Phil's 76th birthday celebration run. To open the second set Phil and The Q opened with the Phil written song "Unbroken Chain". Below is a video of Phil and The Q performing "Unbroken Chain".

56. May 27, 2016

After a long two months of no Phil and Friends, he was back at The Cap for a set of shows on Memorial Day weekend. All of Phil's friends for the show had experience with Phil performing on The Cap stage. His friends for the show were Warren Haynes, John Medeski, Eric Krasno, and Tony Leone. This show featured Phil and friends exploring many different sounds of rock music, including nods to the Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, and The Band. As the show reached max spaciness, Phil and Warren brought the show back to earth with the "Spots of Time".

57. May 28, 2016

Phil again returned to The Cap with the same band members as the night before, but he also brought along a new friend who had yet to perform with Phil Lesh and Friends; making his Phil and Friends debut was the legendary Melvin Seals. He was there to offer another guiding hand for a show that would feature a deep exploration into multiple corners of rock music. The musical selection for the night featured tracks from The Beatles, Traffic, Cream, and again more nods to the Allman Brothers and The Band. Below is a video of the group performing the Phil Lesh and Friends staple "She Said, She Said".

58. May 29, 2016

For the last of Phil's 2016 Memorial Day weekend shows, he returned with the same band members as the night prior. Below is one of Melvin Seals' incredible piano jam.

59. October 28, 2016

For the third annual Phil-O-Ween show run Phil brought a great selection of musicians: Larry Campbell, Luther Dickinson, Barry Sless, Jason Crosby, John Molo, Theresa Williams, and Nicki Bluhm. For the encore of this show, Phil and his long list of friends did a rollicking rendition of "Turn on Your Love Light".

60. October 29, 2016

For the second night of the 2016 Phil-O-Ween festivities, Phil brought back the same group of performers as the night before. This night they performed a skillful rendition of the Allman Brothers' "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed", video of which is available below.

61. October 31, 2016

For the last show of Phil-O-Ween 2016, Phil again brought back the same group from the rest of the run. To cap off 2016's Phil-O-Ween, Phil and Friends performed the classic Halloween track "Sympathy For The Devil."

62. March 15, 2017

After a short hiatus, Phil returned to The Cap for his 77th birthday celebration. For this special celebration, he elected to bring Jason Crosby, Joan Osborne, John Kadlecik, Stanley Jordan, and Mark Levy. Everyone aside from Mark Levy has been a regular on Phil and Friends show, but for Mark Levy, this would be the first time he performed with Phil and Friends on The Capitol's stage. Below is a fan video of the performance of "Bertha".

63. March 16, 2017

Even though Phil's birthday had already passed, he wasn't ready to stop celebrating. Surprises have become customary for the Phil and Friends shows but no one could've sees this performance coming: during the second set, Phil and Stanley Jordan broke out into the classic song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Attached is a video of Stanley and Phil delivering that unforgettable performance of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

64. March 17, 2017

For the last show of Phil Lesh's 77th birthday celebration, he and his band made sure to leave a mark on the audience. They played through many notable Grateful Dead tracks, and finished off the show with a "U.S Blues" encore. Below is a fan-recorded video of the show's final song.

65. May 26, 2017

For the 2017 Memorial Day weekend slate of shows, Phil brought along a superstar set of friends that included Jackie Greene, Jason Crosby, Tony Leone, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Karl Denson, Robert Randolph, Ross James, and Alex Koford. Attached is a video of the group transitioning from one great Dead song to another: "Slipknot" going into "Help On The Way".

66. May 27, 2017

Phil returned the next night with many of the same friends, though the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was replaced by Neal Casal. Deciding to open the show on an emotional note and build the energy up from there, he begun with a soulful performance of "Box of Rain". And build the energy he did - the show ended with three high energy jams of "I Know You Rider", "Sugar Magnolia", and "One More Saturday Night".

67. October 31, 2017

Phil made his triumphant return to The Cap stage on Halloween for his annual Phil-O-Ween show. And this time, The Cap (and the city of Port Chester) had a surprise: Deputy Mayor and Port Chester Trustee Luis Marino presented Phil with the key to Port Chester! As The Cap explained in a statement, "Phil Lesh received the Key to the Village not just for his triumphs in the music industry, but also for his promotion of unity, community, and self-expression in his music and his actions... [he is] the ideal candidate to receive this prestigious honor from the place that has become his home-away-from-home.”

68. October 31, 2017

Even beyond the remarkable honor of being granted the key to the village of Port Chester, Phil and Friends also put on a fantastic Phil-O-Ween show. The band debuted three new covers: "Old Man" by Neil Young, "The Apartment Song" by Tom Petty, and a highly appropriate cover of the Halloween classic "Monster Mash". With the help of The Preservation Jazz Hall Band, Phil opened the second set with an energetic cover of the classic song "Werewolves in London".

69. March 2018

For Phil's return to The Cap for his 78th birthday, The Cap made sure to welcome him in style by putting up a "Phil-board" wishing him a happy birthday! The billboard stayed up for a month, making sure that even after his shows were played and the day celebrated, Phil would know how much The Cap and the entire village of Port Chester appreciated him.

70. March 14, 2018

Phil kicked off his 78th birthday run by doing a co-headline show with Steve Winwood, a pairing affectionately dubbed "PhilWood" after the announcement. Phil, joined by members of the Terrapin Family Band, put on an electrifying performance that didn't stop until after midnight. The band also played the lost Robert Hunter gem “Jack O’Roses” — originally part of the “Terrapin Station” suite but never played by the Grateful Dead — which perfectly set up their following performance of "Terrapin Station".

71. March 15, 2018

Phil's 78th birthday show with the Terrapin Family Band was a special show for more than one reason. Though certainly, any birthday performance is significant, this show was made more so by the Port Chester Fire Department (Harry Howard Hook & Ladder Co. #1) coming on stage before the second set began to make Phil an honorary member of their team, complete with a decked out helmet. You can watch a video of the fire chief and crew members explaining the importance the Grateful Dead has played in their lives below, which includes a clip of the moment Phil is given the honorary membership on stage.

72. March 15, 2018

Of course, the show itself was remarkable even beyond the gift Harry Howard Hook & Ladder Co. #1 bestowed upon him. The second set especially was full of energy, and it was clear that the entire crowd was feeling it. After playing classics "The Music Never Stopped" and "Shakedown Street", Phil and the Terrapin Family Band transitioned into the aptly named "Get Off Your Ass and Jam", a cover of a song by Funkadelic. By the end of the night, no one was tired despite dancing the night away.

73. March 16, 2018

Phil’s third-night of his 2018 birthday run included many non-Dead songs like The Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane,” Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” and the Rolling Stones’ “Tumblin’ Dice.” Phil & The Terrapin Family band were joined by John Scofield during this epic show. Here's the band performing "St. Stephen."

74. September 6, 2018

As always, it wasn't long until Phil returned to The Cap. Though he only returned for a single show, that was more than enough to bring down the house. With the help of the Terrapin Family Band, Nicki Bluhm, and Eric Krasno, Phil played an amazing set that started with the classic Grateful Dead song "Jack Straw". Rounding out the set with a few covers and some Dead deep cuts like "Cream Puff War" and "Easy Wind", Phil made sure that this was a show to remember.

75. October 31, 2018

For this year's Phil-O-Ween celebration, Phil teamed up with members of the band Twiddle to form a collaboration colloquially known as "Phiddle." Without a doubt, this collaboration was worth the hype. In addition to some standard Grateful Dead songs like "Althea", "Shakedown Street", and "Sugar Magnolias", Phiddle also delivered with stunning covers of "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Highway to Hell" to close out the night.

76. November 1, 2018

For the second night of Phil-O-Ween, Phil enlisted the help of jam legends Karl Denson and Jimmy Herring. With the two of them rounding out the already spectacular Terrapin Family Band, it was inevitable that the show would be one no one would forget. Adding in two Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young only cemented that.

77. November 2, 2018

The last night of Phil's 2018 Phil-O-Ween run was just as good as the last two shows would lead one to expect. Phil and Friends played a stirring rendition of the Phil Lesh composed "New Potato Caboose" in addition to an extended "St. Stephen" jam. Another fun surprise came about when Phil and Friends did a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City", video of which can be seen below.

78. March 14, 2019

For the beginning of his 79th birthday show run, Phil played an absolutely spectacular show with assistance from Jackie Greene, John Scofield, Benmont Tench, Luther Dickinson, Amy Helm, John Molo, and his son Grahame. This show is already considered one of the best Phil has played, and one look at the setlist is all you need to confirm this. With "Scarlet Begonias", "Eyes of the World", and "Uncle John's Band", how could it not be an incredible show? Combine this set filled with high energy jams and an audience who returned that energy right back to stage, it was the only appropriate way to kick off Phil's 79th birthday run.

79. March 15, 2019

And, of course, tonight's show. Tonight will not only be Phil's 79th birthday show, it is also the 79th show he has played at The Cap since it reopened in 2012. So join us tonight in wishing Phil the happiest of birthdays while we also celebrate all of these great moments from his past 78 shows.