Jackie Greene celebrated his 36th birthday (which is actually today November 27) with a show at San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre on Saturday November 26. The show consisted of 3 sets plus an encore. The first set started out with Jackie’s regular touring band (Nathan Dale, Jon Cornell and Fitz Harris) and guest Jason Crosby playing a mix of Jackie-penned favorites and covers. Just after the halfway point through the set, the band was joined by guitarist Mark Karan and for the last 2 songs of the set by his old band mate, Bruce Spencer.
The second set was a 5-song acoustic family affair featuring Bob Weir. Bobby’s “Gonesville” and “Lay My Lily Down”, both off his new solo album Blue Mountain, were followed by Jackie’s “Gone Wandering” and “Light Up Your Window”. The set ended with Grateful Dead favorite, “Ripple”.
Set three saw Jackie joined by his brother, Alex Nelson, and Weir for the set opening “Jack Straw” and “Standing on Shaky Ground”. The third song of the third set saw Phil Lesh and Nicki Bluhm joining the band for more Grateful Dead classics including “Scarlet Begonias” and “Fire on the Mountain” which were followed up by a Dark Star sandwich with Jackie’s “I’m So Gone” as the filling in the middle. To our knowledge, this is the first time that Weir and Lesh have publicly shared the stage since the 50th Anniversary “Celebrating the Grateful Dead” concerts. Ross James and Bruce Spencer joined the festivities to close out the set with “Shakedown Street”>”Another Brick in the Wall”>”Shakedown Street” and the classic duo of “Chinacat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider” to close.
The night was rounded out with an encore that began with all in attendance singing “Happy Birthday” followed by “Sugaree”.
Jackie’s birthday show has become a fantastic post-Thanksgiving annual event that features numerous special guests. This year, as in years past, all in attendance were treated to a joyous and satisfying night of music.
Watch fan-shot video of the super-funky Temptations song, “Standing on Shaky Ground” and “Dark Star> I’m So Gone> Dark Star” (both courtesy of nowiknowuryder).
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