Phil Lesh Movies
In 1995, guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody left the Allman Brothers Band to form Gov't Mule, a power trio who blended the jam-friendly boogie of Southern rock with the high-powered blues influences of bands such as Cream and Canned Heat. After three studio albums and two live sets, Gov't Mule had won a loyal and growing cult following when Woody died of a drug overdose in the summer of 2000. The band had been working on material for their next album when Woody passed on, and guitarist Haynes and drummer Matt Abts decided to move forth with the project as a tribute to their late bandmate, calling in a number of well-known bass players to sit in on various tracks. One of those contacted was Mike Gordon of Phish, and Gordon decided to make a film about the historic sessions in tribute to Woody, as well as his surviving bandmates and the many musicians who stepped in to assist with the project. Gov't Mule: Rising Low is a documentary about the sessions which produced The Deep End; among the guest musicians are Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, Les Claypool of Primus, Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane, Jason Newsted of Metallica, Billy Cox of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies, Chris Squire of Yes, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2002
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Featuring the most successful jam bands since the Grateful Dead, the 2002 Bonnaroo Music Festival brought over 70,000 fans to Adelphia Coliseum in Manchester, TN. This release features performances from Widespread Panic, Trey Anastasio (from Phish), Galactic, and much more. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- 2001
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While psychedelic rock pioneers the Grateful Dead had been making audio recordings of their shows since the 1960s, in the late '80s -- when their popularity had grown enough that they were regularly playing sports arenas and stadiums -- they started using video screens on-stage to provide a clear view of the band for everyone in attendance, and the group's staff began archiving the video feeds from their live shows, as well as the music. Grateful Dead: A View From the Vault, Vol. 2 presents the video from the band's June 14, 1991, show at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., along with the concert's original live audio mix. Selections include "Jack-A-Roe," "Big River," "The Music Never Stopped," "Dark Star," and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," among others. As a bonus, this video also includes four songs from a July 12, 1990, performance at the same venue. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2000
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No rock band ever attracted a more loyal audience than the Grateful Dead, whose followers would often travel alongside the band, drifting from show to show, selling food, T-shirts, or trinkets in the parking lots of their venues in order to pay for their tickets, or simply panhandling from more solvent fans to scrape up enough money to move onto the next show. The downside of the "Deadheads" bohemian carnival lifestyle became clear during the Dead's 1995 summer tour, during which violence between the audience and security forces led to the cancellation of one show, and a horde of ticketless fans tore down a fence at another concert, turning it into a free event -- much to the band's consternation. The End of the Road is a documentary that looks at the events of the summer 1995 tour, which proved to be the group's last when guitarist and leader Jerry Garcia died a month later. While the film features no performance footage of the Grateful Dead, The End of the Road does include interviews with several group members, including Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and Mickey Hart, as well as a number of people who worked with the Dead and the many Deadheads who followed the band. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1990
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The Grateful Dead had been archiving audio recordings of their concerts for years when, in the 1980s, they also began keeping a library of video recordings of their shows, often from large-venue performances where a multi-camera video setup would be used to provide a better view for those in the back of the hall. Grateful Dead: A View From the Vault, Vol. 3 is the third home video release from the Dead's concert video archive; this preserves the June 16, 1990 performance at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA. Selections include "Touch of Gray," "Friend of the Devil," "Estimated Prophet," "China Cat Sunflower," and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1990
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On July 8, 1990, the Grateful Dead played one of their legendary three-hour-plus shows for a sold-out crowd at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium. To augment their famous light show (and to give folks in the back a better view of the band), the group employed a multi-camera video setup that allowed everyone in the arena to have a close look at the Dead in action. Given the Grateful Dead's habit of obsessively documenting their performances, it's no great surprise that they held on to a copy of the video feed used that evening, and Grateful Dead: View From the Vault is a home-video release of this performance, mastered from the Dead's own archive copies of the evening's video display and the original two-track soundboard audio mix. The video also features three additional songs from a performance in St. Louis two days earlier. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1989
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Deadheads might feel a chill watching this release that features sets from a 1989 Grateful Dead show in East Troy, WI. Sitting front and center is Jerry Garcia who seems livelier than usual. His subdued antics are familiar to well-traveled fans, many of whom attended this same concert. Less hearty followers seem to appreciate the simple camera angles; most of the footage consists of close-ups of Garcia and the band. More heartwarming is the two-and-a-half-hour playing time, which includes 23 songs. Tunes like "West L.A. Fade Away" and "Desolation Row & Deal" poignantly season the soundtrack. Though diehard groupies can well recall the summer night and the full moon, Downhill From Here adds a solid memory of America's favorite hippies. ~ Sarah Ing, All Movie Guide
- 1987
- NR
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They used to say "There's nothing like a Grateful Dead concert," but this video offers the next best thing -- two and a half hours of the Dead onstage at Oakland Coliseum on New Year's Eve, as they stretch out (as only the Dead could) on such songs as Bertha, Uncle John's Band, The Music Never Stopped and Hell In A Bucket. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Even though the long, strange trip engineered by the The Grateful Dead finally reached the end of the line in 1995, there still remains extensive documentation of the journey. Dead Ahead is two hours of live concert psychedelia from the band's legendary string of shows at Radio City Music Hall. With Dead classics such as Ripple, Mexicali Blues, Franklin's Tower, the mid-set extended jam of Drums & Space, and the Buddy Holly classic Not Fade Away, even those that missed the live experience will catch a glimmer of why the Dead kept trucking for over 30 years. ~ Ed Atkinson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
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Shot December 31, 1978, The Grateful Dead: The Closing of Winterland is a concert film featuring the seminal jam band performing a six-plus hour show to mark the last night of San Francisco's legendary Winterland Arena. In front of an audience that included such celebrity guests as Dan Aykroyd, John Cippolina and Ken Kesey, the Grateful Dead performed 27 songs, including "Fire on the Mountain," "Thank You, Uncle Bobo," "From the Heart of Me," "Playing in the Band," "Dark Star," "Good Lovin'," and "The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band There Ever Was." ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- The Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, (more)
