PHILCO, aka The Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline, gave their debut performance at the inaugural edition of Chicago's Sacred Rose Festival on Friday night. They played two sets, mostly Grateful Dead songs, with Jeff Tweedy singing lead vocals much of the night, including on "Ripple," "Dire Wolf," "U.S. Blues," "Franklin's Tower," and more.
Margo Price also came out to sing a cover of Buddy Holly & The Crickets' "Not Fade Away," and played tambourine on "Shakedown Street," which featured lead vocals from Karl Denson (who also played saxophone and flute). There were a couple Wilco songs, too: "Airline to Heaven" from Woody Guthrie tribute Mermaid Avenue, and "Via Chicago," which was the penultimate song of the second set.
The band also included keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, guitarists Stu Allen and Grahame Lesh, vocalist Elliott Peck (who sang lead on"Mr. Charlie" and "New Speedway Boogie") and drummer John Molo. Check out video, setlist and a full audio recording of the PHILCO set below.
The final day of Sacred Rose Festival (Sunday, August 28) ended up being canceled in the early evening due to lightning and severe thunderstorms, after organizers paused the festival twice earlier in the day. Headliners Khruangbin and Kamasi Washington were among the artists who didn't get to play.
SETLIST: Phil Lesh & Wilco @ Sacred Rose Festival 8/26/2022 (via)
Set 1: Dire Wolf (Grateful Dead cover) (Jeff Tweedy lead vocals) Doin' That Rag (Grateful Dead cover) Mr. Charlie (Grateful Dead cover) (Elliott Peck lead vocals) Jack Straw (Grateful Dead cover) Airline to Heaven (Woody Guthrie cover) (Jeff Tweedy lead vocals) U.S. Blues (Grateful Dead cover) (Jeff Tweedy lead vocals) Not Fade Away (The Crickets cover) (with Margo Price)
Set 2: Shakedown Street (Grateful Dead cover) (with Margo Price) (Karl Denson lead vocals) Viola Lee Blues (Cannon’s Jug Stompers cover) Pride of Cucamonga (Grateful Dead cover) New Speedway Boogie (Grateful Dead cover) (Elliott Peck lead vocals) Franklin's Tower (Grateful Dead cover) (Jeff Tweedy lead vocals) Via Chicago (Wilco cover) (Jeff Tweedy lead vocals) Ripple (Grateful Dead cover) (Jeff Tweedy lead vocals)
