Welcome To Now

Today we celebrate the one year anniversary of Welcome To Now! Founded on March 25th, 2009, WTN has been there over the past year along with all you freaks out there, sharing in the groove and digging the wonderful music taking place all across this great land. In honor of this special day, let’s look back at the 10 biggest musical moments of the past year in Jam:

1. PHISH RETURNS

Phish @ Hamtpon - 3/07/09

Phish returned to the stage in 2009, with a more than triumphant year of playing. The reunion began with a historic 3 show run at Hampton Coliseum in March. Things just got better as the year went on for The Phish – the band released a new album, ‘Joy’, and hit the road for a big 2-leg summer tour, Halloween at Festival 8 in Indio, CA, an East Coast fall tour, and New Years in Miami. All in all, 2009 was a great year to be a Phish-head!

Hampton Fluffhead

2. PHIL AND BOBBY GO FURTHUR (JOHN K. LEAVES DSO)

Lesh, Weir, and Kadlecik - Dec. 09'

Phil Lesh and Bob Weir shocked deadheads everywhere in August of 09′ when they announced their newest post-Jerry Dead project: Furthur. Unexpected to all, Phil and Bobby called on John Kadlecik, aka ‘Faux Jerry’, aka ‘The Ghost of Jerry’, DSOs long-time axe-man, to join the band. The new project laid to rest indefinitely both Phil Lesh and Friends and Ratdog, and dealt a major blow to DSO, leaving them without a front man. In the 6 months the band has been together, they’ve played a big coming out 3-show run in Oakland, a brief Northeast December tour, New Year’s run in San Fran, and a smoking Winter tour of the East Coast and Midwest. Coming up in 2010, the band will hit the stage for a Memorial Day Festival and a mini-tour of the Northeast in late June and early July.

Furthur NYE 2009 Poster

3. THE DEAD REUNITE FOR TOUR

The Dead - Spring 09'

Months before Furthur, the Core Four reunited for the first time in over 5 years for a one-off Spring Tour across the US. The boys were joined by Warren Haynes on lead guitar and vocals, and Jeff Chimenti of Ratdog on the keys. Check out a few tour highlights below for download!

The Dead 09 Logo

Download Tour Opener – 4/12/09 Greensboro, NC
Download Madison Square Garden, 4/25/09
Download 5/2/09 – Final show at the Spectrum
Download The Dead at Shoreline – 5/10/09

4. BISCO TAKES FANS HIGHER WITH BIG NOKIA NYE RUN

Bisco - Fall Tour 2009

The Disco Biscuits closed out a fantastic year of playing with their second Annual  5 show run at the Nokia Theater in New York City. By all accounts and from personal experience, this string of shows was top-notch and a real exclamation point on the year for the band. Check out choice downloads, videos, and news from 2009 in the Bisco Archive.

Bisco NYE Run 09 Flyer

5. PHISH FESTIVAL 8 & ROLLING STONES MUSICAL COSTUME

Phish - 10/31/09 Set 1

Phish re-launched two traditions on Halloween weekend 2009 with their first festival of Phish 3.0 along with a highly anticipated Halloween musical costume set – The Rolling Stones’ ‘Exile on Main Street’. Breaking new ground, the band also performed an intimate and picturesque acoustic set at Noon on Sunday, with complimentary donuts and coffee for phans. Truly a magical weekend, and it’s now going to be seen like never before in a full length 3D film being released April 30th. Check out this crisp video/audio stream of the Sunday acoustic set here!

6. ABB BACK WITH A VENGEANCE: BEACON, MOUNTAIN JAM, AND MORE

ABB Beacon Marquis 2009

After canceling their annual Beacon run in 2008 due to Greg Allman’s battle with Hepatitis C, the band returned in 2009 with a guest-filled 40th anniversary run at the Beacon Theater. The run included guest stops from a star-studded cast including Clapton, Lesh, Weir, Helm, Scaggs, Anastasio, and McConnell. The band kept trucking in 09′ with spring and summer festival appearances including Wanee and Mountain Jam as well as big summer and fall tours. The band just wrapped up a fantastic 9 show run at the United Palace in New York city, is sounding better than ever, and has more shows plotted for 2010 already. Check out setlist, vids, and a review of the final night at the United Palace here.

Haynes, Trucks, and Clapton - Beacon 2009

7. PHIL LESH CELEBRATES 70TH BIRTHDAY WITH SPECIAL PHRIENDS

Lesh, Robinson, Weir, Greene, and Kadlecik - 3/12/10

On March 12th 2010, Phil Lesh celebrated his 70th birthday (technically 3/14/10) with a big bash at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, CA. The evening featured a fun 3 set format complete with an opening acoustic set and 2 raucous electric sets featuring special guests from throughout Phil’s solo career including John Molo, Chris Robinson, Jackie Greene, and Steve Molitz. Give it a listen here:

Download Link ~ Stream Link

8. PHISH DOES BONNAROO, JAMS WITH BRUCE

Phish at 'Roo 2009 - First Tube

Breaking with long-standing tradition, Phish played their first mainstream festival with 2 separate appearances (an extended late night set and a 2 set show) at 2009’s Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, TN. The band realized a long time dream and provided the festival’s highlight with a big collaboration with Bruce Springstreen, who also headlined the festival in 09′. The boss and the boys treated fans to a fun cover/bust-out of ‘Mustang Sally’, as well as performances of Bruce’s own songs ‘Glory Days’, and ‘Bobby Jean’. To re-live this special moment, check out this smoking video of Glory Days:

9. STRING CHEESE REUNITE FOR BIG ROTHBURY GIG

SCI @ Rothbury 2009

The String Cheese Incident reunited for a special one-off show at 2009’s Rothbury music festival. The band put on a massive spectacle of a show enhanced with massive light and art installations. The show went off with flying colors, so much so that the band has decided to tour further in 2010, with gigs at Red Rocks and beyond already announced and more in the works. To get a taste of the Cheese to come, buy the Soundboard of the Rothbury show here.

SCI at Red Rocks

10. TREY BRINGS BACK CLASSIC TAB

Markelis, Lawton, Anastasio, and Paczkowski

Having brought back the core four of his Classic Tab Band – Russ Lawton, Tony Markelis, Ray Paczkowski, and, of course, Big Red himself – in the Fall of 2008, Anastasio hit the road with a bigger-and-better Classic TAB band a few months ago in the Winter of 2010. For the tour, Trey added to the core four with a 3-piece horn section featuring TAB vets Jeffier Hartswick and Russell Reminton along with new-comer cutie Natalie Cressman. The tour was a massive success and featured some of the most enthused and passionate guitar work from Trey since Phish’s 2009 return. Check out lots of downloads, setslits, vids, and more in the TAB Winter Tour archive, enjoy!

And remember folks, WELCOME TO NOW!