Photo by Keith Griner via @BBowlNashville on IG
Alongside Griffin Goldsmith, Taylor Goldsmith, Lee Pardini and Trevor Menear of Dawes, as well as singer Nicki Bluhm and Terrapin Family Band/Midnight North guitarist Grahame Lesh, Grateful Dead bassist and longtime road-warrior Phil Lesh wrapped his final show at the Brooklyn Bowl Nashville on July 31.
An up-tempo “Bertha” set the evening off right, and the band continued to run through a number of Grateful Dead favorites through the evening.
By the middle of set one, “Friend of the Devil” gave way to a cover of Smokey Robinson’s “I Second That Emotion,” which many in the crowd identified as one of the Jerry Garcia Band’s favorite vehicles.
The Lesh-composed “Box of Rain” ended the first half, and for their sixth and final set of the run, Lesh & Friends wasted no time, performing “Feel Like a Stranger,” “Easy Wind” and “He’s Gone,” before a nice “Estimated Prophet”> “Standing on the Moon” segment.
However, it was the evening’s “Ripple” encore that truly resonated the evening’s emotional heft.
Wrote the Brooklyn Bowl Nashville afterwards, “Our souls have been fed with the beloved music that’s become the soundtrack to our lives, and the energy and joy in the room each night felt like true magic. Thank you to Phil Lesh and his incredible lineup of friends, and thank you, Nashville, for making these three nights an experience we will never forget!”
Check out the full setlist and clips from the show below:
Phil Lesh
July 31, 2021
Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
Set I: Bertha, Pride of Cucamonga, Loser, Friend of the Devil, I Second That Emotion, Here Comes Sunshine, Box of Rain
Set II: Feel Like a Stranger, Easy Wind, He’s Gone, Estimated Prophet> Standing on the Moon, Eyes of the World, The Music Never Stopped
Enc: Ripple